CHAPTER XXXVI.

_Of the Death of Milcho._

But Saint Patrick, confiding his affairs to his beloved Dichu, set
forward to visit Milcho, his former master, even his tormentor; for so
had he long intended in his mind, that by his preaching he might truly
convert unto the infancy of the Christian faith him now grown old in
his evil days. And Milcho, this man of envious heart, this minister of
death feared lest the preaching of Patrick should penetrate a breast of
stone, and that by his clear and fiery eloquence, or by some
irresistible miracle, he should be compelled to believe. Therefore
held he it as base and shameful to submit unto the doctrine of one who
had formerly been his servant, and to be bound unto the unused worship
of the Creator rather than his accustomed idolatry. So when he heard
that the priest of the Most High was approaching, this child of
perdition gathered together all his substance, and cast it into the
fire; and then, throwing himself on the flames, made himself an
holocaust for the infernal demons. And the holy prelate, beholding
from a neighboring mountain the deadly end of this wicked prince, saw
his soul, in the form of a fiery serpent, plunged into hell; when,
contemplating the infinite depths of the judgments of God, with heavy
tears and sighs uttered he these words: "Of this king, who, lest he
should believe in the Creator of heaven and earth, hath thus doubly
damned himself, the posterity shall not inherit his kingdom, but shall
be bound in servitude that never may be loosed." And all this came to
pass even according to the word of the man of God, for none of his race
ascended after him to the throne of his kingdom; but in a short time
all his generation quickly perished; from the face of the earth by the
sword or by famine, or by captivity and the lowest servitude. Thus
visiteth the Lord the sins of the fathers on their children; and thus
is put the axe unto the tree of death, lest it should bring forth
branches of iniquity. Yet as God is able of stones to raise up sons
unto Abraham, and to produce from thorns roses, the two daughters of
Milcho were, by the inspiration of the Lord and by the preaching of
Patrick, converted unto the faith. And each, after they were purified
by the healing water, was called Emeria; and they lived a holy and
religious life, and after their deaths they were buried in the place
which is called Cluainbroin, and, as Patrick had long before
prophesied, were