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(27) ⌈⌈Then Uriel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered and said: 'This⌉⌉ accursed valley is for those who are accursed for ever: Here shall all ⌈the accursed⌉ be gathered together who utter with their lips against the Lord unseemly words and of His glory speak hard things. Here shall they be gathered together, and here shall be their place of judgement.

(6) Upon this side he fell down out of heaven; And all the land, that whilom here emerged, For fear of him made of the sea a veil, And came to our hemisphere; and peradventure To flee from him, what on this side appears Left the place vacant here, and back recoiled." A place there is below, from Beelzebub As far receding as the tomb extends, Which not by sight is known, but by the sound Of a small rivulet, that there descendeth Through chasm within the stone, which it has gnawed With course that winds about and slightly falls. The Guide and I into that hidden road Now entered, to return to the bright world; And without care of having any rest We mounted up, he first and I the second, Till I beheld through a round aperture Some of the beauteous things that Heaven doth bear; Thence we came forth to rebehold the stars.

(9) The fourth domain. O this great and lofty mountain of the Netherworld, on the highest point of which ends the sky. It is three hundred measures in length, and ten in width. There is a snake on it, he with sharp knives is his name, he is seventy cubits in his windings, he lives by slaughtering the glorious ones and the damned in the Netherworld

(64) Yes indeed he flies up above the Thrones, but he cannot fly into the Thrones; he flies up in the first eternal Source of Fire, which is stern, sour, dark, hard, cold, rough, and burning, but he cannot get through the open Gate of the Deep, into the Light of God, but he flies up aloft in his Abyss, in the Eternity, in the wrathful Source [or Quality] of Hell, and reaches nothing else. And therefore he is a Prince, though in the Abyss of Hell, which was well enough known to Man after his miserable Fall.

(146) Stoop not down, for a precipice lieth beneath the Earth, reached by a descending Ladder which hath Seven Steps, and therein is established the Throne of an evil and fatal force.

(23) For he must climb through a horrible Deep, a Giddiness will frequently come into his Head; and besides he must climb through the Midst or Center of the Kingdom of Hell, and there he will feel by Experience what a Deal of Scoffings and Upbraidings he must endure.

(96) Then the Devil mocked the Image, and Hell opened its The Soul. Jaws wide, and had the Bridle in their Essences, and continually drew them therewith towards the hellish Fire of the fierce Wrath; and then there was Trembling and Horror in the Mind, and they could not reach the Love of God. Heaven was their Enemy, no Angel came near them, but the horrible Devils, they showed themselves, and hopped, crying, Ho, ho! we have gotten the Game, we are Princes over Men, we will torment them soundly, because they would have possessed our Throne; we should have been their Footstool, and now we are their Judges; what Care we for God, he dwells not in our Kingdom; why has he thrust us out? we will be sure to wreak our Spleen upon his Image. The most pleasant, and most lovely Gate [or Explanation] of the Promise of the Treader upon the Serpent, highly to be considered.

(23) But the Dwelling of the Devils is now from the Moon to the Earth, and in the deep Caves and Holes thereof; especially in Wildernesses and desert Places, and where the Earth is full of Stones and Bitterness.

(28) Truly it is a narrow and strait Passage, or Entrance, through the Gates of Hell, for them that will press in to God; they must endure many Pangs, Crushings and Squeezings from the Devil.

(67) And through its valleys proceed streams of fire, where these angels are punished who had led astray those who dwell upon the earth.

(53) And then when the poor Soul shall travel [Home,] there are great Mountains in its Way; and then thy fair Tincture will appear before the [holy] Element like a defiled Cloth; and there stands the Devil and reads the Law to you about it; and then the poor Soul quakes, and begins to doubt; and when it is to break through the bitter Gate [of the Cherubim,] then it continually fears that the fierce Anger of God shall seize upon it, [as upon hellish Brimstone,] and kindle it; as it comes to pass for certain, if it be not born anew in Christ, through earnest Repentance.

(13) And the Grehma will seek for these things by means of his (evil) kingdom in the abode of (Hell which is ) the Worst Mind (who both are together) the destroyers of life, and who, O Mazda! will bewail with glad but (envious) wish the message of Thy prophet. (But he will not abate with his vengeance), he will hold them afar from the sight of the truth!

(2) Naked of me short while the flesh had been, Before within that wall she made me enter, To bring a spirit from the circle of Judas; That is the lowest region and the darkest, And farthest from the heaven which circles all. Well know I the way; therefore be reassured. This fen, which a prodigious stench exhales, Encompasses about the city dolent, Where now we cannot enter without anger." And more he said, but not in mind I have it; Because mine eye had altogether drawn me Tow'rds the high tower with the red-flaming summit, Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen The three infernal Furies stained with blood, Who had the limbs of women and their mien, And with the greenest hydras were begirt; Small serpents and cerastes were their tresses, Wherewith their horrid temples were entwined. And he who well the handmaids of the Queen Of everlasting lamentation knew, Said unto me: "Behold the fierce Erinnys. This is Megaera, on the left-hand side; She who is weeping on the right, Alecto; Tisiphone is between;" and then was silent.