24. (16). In the thirty-eighth year of his age,[429] the usurper having been driven out, the poor man, Malachy, entered Armagh, pontiff and metropolitan of all Ireland. But when the king and the others who had brought him in returned home,[430] he remained _in the hand of God_;[431] and there remained for him _without fightings, within fears_.[432] For, lo, the viperous brood, raging and crying out that it was disinherited, aroused itself in full strength, within and without, _against the Lord and against His Anointed_.[433] Moreover, Niall, seeing that flight was inevitable,[434] took with him certain insignia of that see, to wit, the copy of the Gospels, which had belonged to blessed Patrick,[435] and the staff covered with gold and adorned with most costly gems, which they call "the staff of Jesus," because the Lord himself (as report affirms) held it in His hands and fashioned it;[436] which are deemed of the highest honour and sanctity in that nation. They are, in fact, very well known and celebrated among the tribes, and so revered by all, that he who is once seen to have them is held by the _foolish and unwise people_[437] to be their bishop. That man--a vagabond[438] and another _Satan_--_went to and fro in the land and walked up and down in it_,[439] bearing round the holy insignia; and, displaying them everywhere, he was for their sake everywhere received, by them winning the minds of all to himself, and withdrawing as many as he could from Malachy. These things did he.