in thee before the men of Erinn"; and he then placed men in ambush
before Patrick in every pass from Ferta-fer-féc to Tara, that they
might kill him. But God did not permit it. Patrick went, accompanied
by eight young clerics (maccleirech), and Benen as a _gilla_, along
with them; and Patrick blessed them before going, and a _dicheltair_
(garment of invisibility) went over them, so that not one of them was
seen. The Gentiles who were in the ambuscades, however, saw eight wild
deer going past them along the mountain, and a young fawn after them,
and a pouch on his shoulder--viz., Patrick, and his eight [clerics],
and Benen after them, and his (Patrick's) _polaire_ (satchel, or
epistolary) on his back.

Laeghaire went afterwards, about twilight, to Tara, in sorrow and
shame, with the few persons who escaped in his company. On the day
succeeding Easter Sunday the men of Erinn went to Tara to drink the
feast; for the _Fes_ of Tara was a principal day with them. When they
were banqueting, and thinking of the conflict they waged the day
before, they saw Patrick, who arrived in the middle of Tara, januis
clausis ut Christus in cennaculum; because Patrick meditated: "I will
go," said he, "so that my readiness may be manifested before the men of
Erinn. I shall not make a candle under a bushel of myself. I will
see," said he, "who will believe me, and who will not believe me." No
one rose up before him inside but _Dubhtach_ Mac Ua Lugair alone, the
king's royal poet, and a tender youth of his people (viz., his name was
Fiacc; it is he who is [commemorated] in Slebhte to-day). This
Dubhtach, truly, was the first man who believed that day in Tara.
Patrick blessed him and his seed. Patrick was then called to the
king's bed, that he might eat food, and to prove him in prophecy
(_i.e._, in Venturis rebus). Patrick did not refuse this, because he
knew what would come of it. The druid Luchat Mael went to drink with