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,
