60. One of the nobles hostile to the king[747] was reconciled by means of Malachy. For he did not trust the king sufficiently to make peace with him except by the mediation of Malachy, or of one for whom the king had equal reverence. His distrust was not unfounded, as afterwards appeared. For when he had become careless, and was no longer taking precautions, the king captured him and put him in bonds, more truly himself captured by ancient hate. His own friends demanded him by _the hand of the mediator_;[748] for neither did they expect anything but his death. What should Malachy do? There was nothing to be done except to recur to that one accustomed refuge of his. Gathering an exceeding mighty army, a great crowd of his own disciples, he went to the king, and demanded him who was bound; he was refused. But Malachy said, "You act unrighteously against the Lord, and against me, and against yourself, _transgressing the covenant_;[749] if you disregard it, yet shall not I. A man has entrusted himself to my guarantee; if he should die, I have betrayed him. I am guilty of his blood. Why has it seemed good to you to make me a traitor, yourself a transgressor? Know that _I will eat nothing until_[750] he is liberated; no, nor these either."[751] Having said this he entered the church. He called upon Almighty God with anxious groanings, his own and those of his disciples, that He would deign to _deliver out of the hand of the transgressor and cruel man_[752] him who was unjustly sentenced. And that day and the following night they persisted in fasting and prayer. Word was brought to the king of that which was being done; and his _heart was_ the more _hardened_[753] by that by which it ought to have been softened. The carnal man took to flight, fearing lest if he remained near at hand he might not be able to withstand the power of prayer; as though, forsooth, if he was hidden it could not find him, nor would penetrate to a remote place. Do you put bounds, wretched man, to _the prayers of saints_?[754] Is prayer an arrow that has been shot, that you may _flee from the face of the bow_?[755] _Whither wilt thou go from the Spirit of God_, who carries it, _or whither wilt thou flee from His presence_?[756] At last Malachy pursues the fugitive, he finds him who lies hidden. "_You shall be blind and not seeing_,[757] that you may see better, and may understand that _it is hard for you to kick against the pricks._[758] Nay, perceive even now that _sharp arrows of the mighty_[759] have come to you, which, although they have rebounded from your heart, because it is of stone, have not rebounded from your eyes. Would that even through the windows of the eyes they might reach to the heart, and _trouble give understanding_[760] to blindness." It could be seen that _Saul_ again was _led by the hand_[761] and brought to Ananias, a wolf to a sheep, that he might disgorge his prey. He disgorged it and _received