Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/329

 After this  the  blinded  Datian  commanded

to adorn  his  dead  gods  magnificently,

and the  devil's  temple  with  precious  silver;

and bade  bring  thither  the  faithful  martyr,

weening that  he  would  worship  his  gods,

and offer  his  sacrifice  to  the  lifeless  gods.

Then George  bowed  down  to  the  earth,

thus praying  his  Lord  with  bended  knees,

'Hear now,  God  Almighty,  thy  servant's  prayer,

and utterly  destroy  these  miserable  images,

even as  wax  melteth  at  a  hot  fire,

that men  may  know  Thee,  and  believe  in  Thee,

that Thou  only  art  God,  Almighty  Creator.'

After this  prayer,  a  very  sudden  fire  burst  out

from Heaven,  and  burned  up  the  temple,

and all  the  gods  sunk  utterly

into the  earth,  and  never  appeared  afterward.

Likewise, the  priests  sunk  down  with  them,

and some  of  the  heathen  who  stood  there  at  hand;

and George  asked  the  wicked  emperor,

'On what  sort  of  gods  persuadest  thou  us  to  believe'?

How can  they  deliver  thee  from  perils,

when they  cannot  deliver  themselves?'

Thereupon, Datian  endited  this  decree,

and bade  thus  to  kill  the  champion  of  God;

'Take this  guilty  one,  who,  by  magic,

hath turned  our  venerable  gods  altogether  to  dust,

and drag  him  prone  with  his  face  to  the  earth

through all  the  streets  and  stony  ways,

and slay  him  afterward  with  the  edge  of  the  sword.'

Then the  heathen  dragged  the  holy  man,

as Datian  had  directed  them,