The corroboration of our general conclusion is supplied by Patrick himself. It was inferred above from his _Confession_ that Britain was excluded; one of his Sayings, which we saw reason to believe genuine, points distinctly to Gaul (_Dicta_, i., see above, Appendix A, i. 3). It is clear that the “journey through Gaul and Italy” must have been one beset by particular dangers and hardships; and a little reflexion will show that we are justified in identifying it with the journey described in the _Confession_. It is a case where the argument from silence is valid. The motive of the _Confession_ is to set forth the crises in his life at which the writer conceived that he was conspicuously guided by Heaven. It is clear that the “journey through Gaul and Italy,” in which he used to tell his companions that he had “the fear of God as a guide,” was one of those crises which had made a deep impression upon his mind, and which we should expect to find mentioned in the _Confession_. It is therefore fair to identify it with his perilous journey in the company of the traders, especially as it is not easy to imagine that at a later period, when he was at Auxerre, a journey which he might have made through Gaul would have been so memorable or exceptional. The _Dictum_, in conjunction with the other considerations which point to Gaul, justifies the conclusion that, having travelled with the traders through Gaul into Italy, he escaped from them in Italy. The last words of the _Dictum_, “in islands in the Mediterranean,” taken in conjunction with Tírechán, 302₂₄, point to his having gone to Lérins after his escape, and a protracted stay at Lérins[395] would account for the few years which elapsed before his return to Britain. 7. _Palladius_ There were two readings in the MSS. of Muirchu as to the place of the death of Palladius: _in Britonum finibus_ and _in Pictorum finibus_. It seems probable (see my “Tradition of Muirchu’s Text,” p. 205) that the author wrote _Britonum_ (so _Lib. Arm._), but that in one copy this was corrected to _Pictorum_ from another source, presumably the same source which supplied W and _Vit. Trip._ with the details about Palladius. We may conclude, I think, that _Pictorum_ represents the genuine tradition, and that Muirchu, taking it to refer to the Picts of north Britain—as was natural—substituted _Britonum_. But it seems most extraordinary that Palladius should have sailed off to the Picts of north Britain, seeing that he was ordained bishop for Ireland. I think we should interpret the land of the Picts or Cruithne (_V. Trip._ loc. cit., _hitírib Cruithnech_) to mean Dalaradia, the land of the Picts in Ireland. As I have pointed out in cap. iv., the assumption that there were Christian communities in this part of the island makes Patrick’s work there at the beginning of his bishopric more intelligible.[396]