tain,
did he prophesy in the spirit; and especially he foresaw and foretold
the holiness of the blessed David, who was then in his mother's womb.
For there were many country places and towns, the inhabitants whereof
rudely drove away the saint while journeying, lest he should abide the
night among them; and these and their posterity could never prosper or
become rich therein, but strangers and aliens always possessed of them
the wealth and the dominion. But the groves into which the saint was
by those wicked ones driven to pass the night, and which before
produced but few and fruitless copses, were seen, by the blessing of
such a holy guest, to thicken and to flourish with so great abundance
of trees that in no future time could they be entirely destroyed. And
in the rivers, where the deceivers, fraudful both in heart and word,
had shown unto the saint a deep abyss instead of a safe ford, passed he
over safely, having first blessed the passage, and changed the abyss
into a ford; and the ford which before was pervious unto all changed he
unto a deep abyss.

CHAPTER CLXVIII.

_The Acts of St. Patrick after he had Returned._

And after his long journey was finished, he consoled his people with
his presence; and he appointed unto the Lord's field thirty bishops
which he had chosen and in foreign countries had consecrated, for that
the harvest was many, and the laborers few. Therefore began he the
more frequently to assemble holy synods of bishops, to celebrate solemn
councils, and whatsoever he found contrary to the ecclesiastical
institutes or the Catholic faith, that did he take away and annul; and
whatsoever he found accordant to the Christian law, to justice, or to
the sacred canons, and consonant to good morals, that did he direct and
sanction. And daily he shone with innumerable miracles, and whatsoever
with his lips he appointed or taught, that did he confirm by most
signal miracles; whence it came to pass that all deservedly admired
him, by whose kindness all the inhabitants of that island are through
ages blessed; as in the sequel more fully shall we endeavor to show.

CHAPTER CLXIX.

_Of the Threefold Plagues of Hibernia._

Even from the time of its original inhabitants, did Hibernia labor
under a threefold plague: a swarm of poisonous creatures, whereof the
number could not be counted; a great concourse of demons visibly
appearing; and a multitude of evil-doers and magicians. And these
ve