he was, and by what name
was he called. And the heavenly messenger answered that he was the
ministering spirit of the Lord, sent into the world to minister unto
them who have the heritage of salvation; that he was called Victor, and
especially deputed to the care of him, and he promised to be his
helpmate and his assistant in doing all things. And although it is not
needful that heavenly spirits should be called by human names, yet the
angel, being beautifully clothed with an human form composed of the
air, called himself Victor, for that he had received from Christ, the
most victorious King, the power of vanquishing and binding the powers
of the air and the princes of darkness; who had also given to his
servants made of the potter's clay the power of treading on serpents
and scorpions, and of vanquishing and bruising Satan. And in their
mutual colloquy the angel showed unto Patrick an opening in the ground
that had been delved up by the swine, and therein he directed him to
look for gold with which he might redeem himself from the hands of his
cruel master; and he added that a ship to carry him over to Britain was
ready in a harbor two hundred miles distant, and which, by the divine
will, could not have a favorable wind until he should arrive. And the
vision of the angel, thus saying, disappeared, and his speech ended;
and, as the inhabitants assert, the marks of his feet appear even to
this day imprinted on the rock in the Mountain Mis, in the borders of
Dalnardia; and an oratory is erected there in honor of St. Patrick,
wherein the devotion of the faithful is wont to watch and pray.

CHAPTER XVI.

_How St. Patrick was Redeemed from Slavery._

And Patrick went to the place which the angel had pointed out unto him,
and he found therein no small weight of gold. Wherefore he addressed
for his ransom his hard and cruel master, and with the offering of the
yellow metal induced his mind, greedy of gold, to grant unto him his
freedom. Therefore, being by the aid of Mammon solemnly released from
his servitude, he went his way rejoicing, and hastened toward the sea,
desiring to return to his own country. But Milcho repented that he had
dismissed a servant so very necessary unto him, and, falsifying his
agreement, pursued Patrick that he might bring him back and reduce him
to his former slavery, as Pharao pursued the Hebrews. But by the
divine will, wandering both in his mind and in his course, he found not
him