84 CHRONICLES OF CORNISH SAINTS. III.— S. CONSTANTINE, 



And left himself richt destitute in wo. 



Syne qnhen he knew the cans quhy and quhairfoir, 



Quhat wes the cans he puneist him so soir, 



Eicht quyetlie on to Ybernia, 



Into ane bark he passit on ane da ; 



Kinrik and Croun and all the world forsuik, 



And syne on him religious habit tuke." 



So completely did he sever himself from the world, that he was 

 supposed by some to have been killed in battle ; whilst others 

 affirm that he was murdered by Gonan, his successor.* But some 

 say, writes Florilegus, that he became a monk, and died only in a 

 religious sense {et sancte demum morkmm).\ This latter hypothesis 

 is no doubt the correct one, and it receives confirmation from the 

 following passage in a Life of St. David, written in the 12th or 

 13th century: "When the fame of David's holiness was spread 

 " abroad, kings, princes, and men of the world left their posts and 

 " sought his monastery. Hence it came to pass that Constantine, 

 " King of the Cornishmen, forsook his kingdom, and submitted 

 " his stubborn neck, which had never before been bridled, to the 

 " yoke of humility in the cell of this father, and there he remained 

 " a long time performing faithful services." :|: 



From Wales he removed to Ireland, no doubt for the sake of 

 greater seclusion than he could find in the community at Menevia, 

 "and there for the love of Christ," relates Hector Boethius, || "he 

 " laboured for some time in the service of a miller, disguised as a 

 " poor man, till at length he was induced by a monk, to whom he 

 " had made himself known, to shave his head and devote himself 



* " Nee cum pace fuit, quoniam cognatus in ilium 

 " Pra3lia dira movens violayit cuncta Conanus ; 

 " Proripuitque sibi regiones, rege perempto, 

 " Quas nunc debiliter nee cum ratione gubernat." 



Life of Merlin, L. 1132—1136. 

 See also Geoffrey of Monmouth, Book xi, Chap. xv. 



+ Alford. Annales Ecclesice, A.D. 545. Tom. II. 



+ " Audita itaque boni odoris fama David agii, reges, principes, seculares 

 deseruut sua regna, ejusque monasterium petunt ; hinc contigit ut Constan- 

 tinus, Cornubiensium rex, suum desereret regnum, ac iudomita ante su£e 

 elevationis coUa humilitatis obedientiffi in hujus patris cella subjugaret. 

 Ibique diu fideli conversatus servitio." 



11 Historioe Scotorum, 1. 9. 



