in the streets that he was the man who deserved the empire. When, then, Vortigern perceived that he had acquired the good-will of all classes, he one day invited all these men to a feast, saying with tears that he was going to leave Britain, because he had not revenue enough of his own to provide pay for fifty soldiers. Then departing, as if out of spirits, to his own house, he left them drinking in the hall. But the Picts, having • heard his address to them, murmured among one another, saying, " Why should we not kill that monk, so that Vortigern may become master of the kingdom ?" Therefore they all, being drunk, rose up, and attacked the king. And when they had slain him, they brought the head of the monarch to Vortigern. But when Vortigern saw it, he burst into tears, as if grieved at the sight, in order to disguise his treachery imder the veil of tears. Then, as soon as these things had taken place, he convoked the citizens of London, and ordered these Picts to be put to death, that is, to be decapitated, in order to excuse himself from having had any share in this wickedness. At length, when he saw that he had no rival to dread, he placed on his own head the crown of Britain, and became the superior of all the princes of the land. Now, when he was thus raised to the throne, the moral pestilence of all kinds of wickedness began to increase ; shameful wickedness stalked abroad, and hatred of truth, and contempt of God, and litigiousness, and rivalry in luxury and crime, so that Vortigern himself appeared to be a vessel containing all kinds of wickedness, and (what is above all things contrary to the honour of a king) he depressed the nobles, and promoted those who were base both in manners and extraction, and so became odious both to God and men. A.D. 446. The Pelagian heresy, which had been introduced by Agricola, a disciple of Pelagius, polluted the faith of the Britons, with its foul pestilence. But the Britons, as they were neither willing in any degree to receive a perverse doctrine, blaspheming the grace of Christ ; and on the other hand were not able by reasoning to refute the crafty wickedness of argument, adopted a salutary counsel, of seeking aid in their spiritual warfare from the Galician bishops. Wherefore, a numerous council was collected in that country, and a man was sought for who might be sent to Britain to succour the ! faith* At last, by the judgment of the whole synod, some