I 17 (16). (1) And holy Patrick was summoned to the presence of the king outside the illumined place, and the druids said to their people: 'Let us not rise when he comes, for whosoever rises at his coming will believe afterwards and reverence him.' (2) When Patrick rose and saw the great number of their chariots and horses, he fittingly recited with his lips and his heart the verse of the Psalmist: ‘Let others (come) on chariots and on horseback, we shall go our way in the name of the Lord our God’, and went to them. (3) They did not rise at his coming; there was only one man who, with the help of the Lord, refused to obey the command of the druids, that is Ercc, son of Daig, whose relics are now worshipped in the city called Slane. He stood up, and Patrick blessed him, and he believed in the eternal God. (4) Then they began their dispute, and one of the druids named Lochru provoked the holy man and dared to revile the catholic faith with haughty words.
(5) Holy Patrick looked at him as he uttered such words and, as Peter had said concerning Simon, so with power and with a loud voice he confidently said to the Lord: ‘O Lord, who art all-powerful and in whose power is everything, who hast sent me here, may this impious man, who blasphemes thy name, now be cast out and quickly perish.’ (6) And at these