After this Patrick goes through a number of experiences before he comes to sit at the feet of Germanus; or, in other words, Probus, before he resumes the narrative of Muirchu, interjects material derived from other sources. Patrick goes (1) to St. Martin of Tours, who tonsures him; (2) to the _plebs Dei_, who are barefooted hermits; (3) to an “island between mountains and sea” where a great beast infested a fountain; (4) to St. Senior, bishop, _in monte Hermon in dextro latere maris Oceani et vallata est civitas eius septem muris_; this bishop ordained Patrick _in sacerdotem_, and he read with him for a long time; here Patrick heard in a vision the voice of children summoning him to Ireland; then he went with nine men, and held converse with the Lord, who made him three promises; (5) to Ireland, where he is unsuccessful; (6) to Rome; whence having received the apostolic blessing _reversus est itinere quo venerat illuc_ (c. 20). At this point the narrative of Muirchu is resumed most awkwardly. The author might have made Patrick visit Germanus on his way back through Gaul, but, instead, he proceeds: _transnavigato vero mari Britannico_, following Muirchu literally, without any attempt to make the extraneous matter fit in speciously to Muirchu’s story. Some of these incidents are also found in the _Vita Tertia_, namely, the visit to Martin, the visit to Rome, and the visit to _Mons Arnon_; besides which the visit to a hermit who gives Patrick the staff of Jesus is recorded. Now the author of the _Vita Tertia_ and Probus undertook the same problem of working these incidents into the main thread of the Muirchu story, and they solved it in different ways. Probus solved it by a single interpolation, grouping all the new matter together and finding a place for it before the sojourn with Germanus. In the _Vita Tertia_ there are three distinct interpolations arranged as follows:— (Muirchu) Reads with Germanus. (Interp.) Sojourns with Martin. (Muirchu) Germanus sends Segitius with him to Rome. (Interp.) Visits a hermit in _quodam loco_ and receives staff of Jesus. (Muirchu) Is ordained bishop by Amator. (Interp.) Visits Rome, and goes thence _ad montem Arnon_ when he salutes the Lord. It is difficult to say which of the arrangements is the more unskilful. The same matter is found in a more expanded and “advanced” form in the _Tripartite Life_, where the arrangement is as follows (Rolls ed. p. 25 _sqq._):—