_Of the Sentence pronounced on Murinus._
And the saint having blessed and bidden farewell unto the inhabitants
of Dublinia, then by the power of his miracles confirmed in the faith,
preparing himself for the like work, set forward on his journey. And
he came unto a neighboring town, which is now called the Castle Cnoc,
where a certain infidel named Murinus governed. Him did the saint
desire to lead into the path of life; but this son of death, hearing
the fame of his virtue and of his wisdom, which he feared no one could
resist, absented himself from the saint, even as from a fierce enemy.
And the saint required him that he would at the least give unto him of
his abundance; but he, concealing himself in an inner chamber, required
him that he would at the least suffer him to sleep. The which commands
being of each oftentimes repeated, the saint, at the inspiration of the
Spirit, understanding him to be a child of perdition, exclaimed: "Let
him sleep, let him sleep; nor until the day of judgment let him awaken
or arise!" Then the saint departed, and the wretched man sank into the
sleep of death. Thus when the sleeper, covered with the darkness of
unbelief, refused to awake at the heavenly voice which called him from
the dead, that he might be illuminated of Christ, he descended into the
dark grave, there to remain for ever covered with the darkness of
death. Therefore, even to this day, it is among the Irish a frequent
imprecation on a feigned sleeper, Mayest thou sleep, as at the word of
Saint Patrick Murinus slept!