Consulting first, removed with timely care

The relics and the written works of Saints,

Toledo’s choicest treasure, prized beyond

All wealth, their living and their dead remains;

These to the mountain fastnesses he bore

Of unsubdued Cantabria, there deposed,

One day to be the boast of yet unbuilt

Oviedo, and the dear idolatry

Of multitudes unborn. To things of state

Then giving thought mature, he held advice