(615) who had been great criminals: they were just, as they fancied, about to return into the upper world, but the mouth, instead of admitting them, gave a roar, whenever any of these incurable sinners or some one who had not been sufficiently punished tried to ascend; and then wild men of fiery aspect, who were standing by and heard the sound, seized and carried them off; and Ardiaeus and others they bound head and foot and hand, and threw them down and flayed them with scourges, and dragged them along the road at the side, carding them on thorns like wool, and declaring to the passers-by what were their crimes, and that 8 they were being taken away to be cast into hell.’ And of all the many terrors which they had endured, he said that there was none like the terror which each of them felt at that moment, lest they should hear the voice; and when there was silence, one by one they ascended with exceeding joy. These, said Er, were the penalties and retributions, and there were blessings as great. Now when the spirits which were in the meadow had tarried seven days, on the eighth they were obliged to proceed on their journey, and, on the fourth day after, he said that they came to a place where they could see from above a line of light, straight as a column, extending right through the whole heaven and through the earth, in colour resembling the rainbow, only brighter and purer; another day’s journey brought them to the place, and there, in the

(5) And their fathers were witnesses (of their destruc- tion), and after this they were bound in the depths of the earth for ever, until the day of the great con- demnation, when judgment is executed on all those who have corrupted their ways and their works before the Lord. n. And He | destroyed! all from their places, and there jwasf not left one of them whom He judged not according to all their wickedness.

(12) And they arose in the night and sought to save their gods from the midst of the fire.

(1) The savior answered and said, "Truly I tell you that he who will listen to [your] word and turn away his face or sneer at it or smirk at these things, truly I tell you that he will be handed over to the ruler above who rules over all the powers as their king, and he will turn that one around and cast him from heaven down to the abyss, and he will be imprisoned in a narrow dark place. Moreover, he can neither turn nor move on account of the great depth of Tartaros and the [heavy bitterness] of Hades that is steadfast. [And] they [are drawn] into it [so that they will not] [escape]. They will not put away [their madness. And] [the people that will] persecute you will be handed over [to the] angel Tartarouchos [who bears whips of] fire, pursuing them [as] fiery scourges cast a shower of sparks into the face of the one who is pursued. If he flees westward, he finds the fire. If he turns southward, he finds it there as well. If he turns northward, the threat of seething fire meets him again. Nor does he find the way to the east so as to flee there and be saved, for he did not find it in the day he was in the body, so that he might find it in the day of judgment."

(114) And then there riseth up the striving or fighting fire in man, just as it rose up in heaven with Michael and Lucifer, and so the poor soul comes to be miserably crushed, stretched, tormented and put upon the rack.

(12) As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

In a vision an apostolic person saw people who were locked up in a house of fire, bound with [chains] of fire, and thrown [into]…fire [on account of…false] faith. It was said, “[They might have] saved [their souls], but they did not want to, so they got [this place of ] punishment called the [outer] darkness….”

(2) Then fire and sulfur and asphalt are cast upon those people, and fire and blinding mist come over those realms, and the eyes of the powers of the luminaries are darkened, and the inhabitants of the realms cannot see in those days.

(68) But when, in these two days, the creation of heaven and of earth was completed, and the heaven was made in the heart of the water, for a difference or distinction between the light of God and the wrath of God, then, on the third day, through the terror or crack of the fire-flash, which rose up in the heart of the water, and presseth through death, incomprehensibly as to death, there sprang up all manner of ideas, forms and figures, as was done before the time of the kindled wrath.

(2) As many as the hind (who on the hill Rests at the time when he who lights the world His countenance keeps least concealed from us, While as the fly gives place unto the gnat) Seeth the glow-worms down along the valley, Perchance there where he ploughs and makes his vintage; With flames as manifold resplendent all Was the eighth Bolgia, as I grew aware As soon as I was where the depth appeared. And such as he who with the bears avenged him Beheld Elijah's chariot at departing, What time the steeds to heaven erect uprose, For with his eye he could not follow it So as to see aught else than flame alone, Even as a little cloud ascending upward, Thus each along the gorge of the intrenchment Was moving; for not one reveals the theft, And every flame a sinner steals away. I stood upon the bridge uprisen to see, So that, if I had seized not on a rock, Down had I fallen without being pushed. And the Leader, who beheld me so attent, Exclaimed: "Within the fires the spirits are; Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns."

(20) And he told them of the judgment of the giants, and the judgment of the Sodomites, how they had been judged on account of their wickedness, and had died on account of their fornication, and uncleanness, and mutual corruption through fornication.*

(25) And by this now, in the creation of this world, the stars and the elements, as also the creatures, tremble and burn; out of it existeth also the house of death and of hell, also an eternal, base, loathsome habitation for the kingdom of Lucifer, and for all Godless men.

(28) Then God (out of the Fierceness of the first Principle) burnt Sodom and Gomorrah, those five Kingdoms, with Fire, for then God promised the chosen Generation, that if they would walk before him, he would bless them as the Stars of Heaven, and make them so great [that they should not be numbered,] and yet there were still among them evil Birds hatched. And then God brought them into a strange Land, and prospered them, to try whether they would acknowledge his Goodness, and depend on him, but they were yet worse.

(25) The planets, with many demons, dashed against the celestial sphere, and they mixed the constellations; and the whole creation was as disfigured as though fire disfigured every place and smoke arose over it.

(24) And, afterwards, he (the evil spirit) came to fire, and he mingled smoke and darkness with it.

(4) They were." And he to me: "The fire eternal That kindles them within makes them look red, As thou beholdest in this nether Hell." Then we arrived within the moats profound, That circumvallate that disconsolate city; The walls appeared to me to be of iron. Not without making first a circuit wide, We came unto a place where loud the pilot Cried out to us, "Debark, here is the entrance." More than a thousand at the gates I saw Out of the Heavens rained down, who angrily Were saying, "Who is this that without death Goes through the kingdom of the people dead?" And my sagacious Master made a sign Of wishing secretly to speak with them. A little then they quelled their great disdain, And said: "Come thou alone, and he begone Who has so boldly entered these dominions. Let him return alone by his mad road; Try, if he can; for thou shalt here remain, Who hast escorted him through such dark regions." Think, Reader, if I was discomforted At utterance of the accursed words; For never to return here I believed.

(2) Those who were going round were far the more, And those were less who lay down to their torment, But had their tongues more loosed to lamentation. O'er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind. As Alexander, in those torrid parts Of India, beheld upon his host Flames fall unbroken till they reached the ground. Whence he provided with his phalanxes To trample down the soil, because the vapour Better extinguished was while it was single; Thus was descending the eternal heat, Whereby the sand was set on fire, like tinder Beneath the steel, for doubling of the dole. Without repose forever was the dance Of miserable hands, now there, now here, Shaking away from off them the fresh gleeds. "Master," began I, "thou who overcomest All things except the demons dire, that issued Against us at the entrance of the gate, Who is that mighty one who seems to heed not The fire, and lieth lowering and disdainful, So that the rain seems not to ripen him?"

(2) Down at the bottom were the sinners naked; This side the middle came they facing us, Beyond it, with us, but with greater steps; Even as the Romans, for the mighty host, The year of Jubilee, upon the bridge, Have chosen a mode to pass the people over; For all upon one side towards the Castle Their faces have, and go unto St. Peter's; On the other side they go towards the Mountain. This side and that, along the livid stone Beheld I horned demons with great scourges, Who cruelly were beating them behind. Ah me! how they did make them lift their legs At the first blows! and sooth not any one The second waited for, nor for the third. While I was going on, mine eyes by one Encountered were; and straight I said: "Already With sight of this one I am not unfed." Therefore I stayed my feet to make him out, And with me the sweet Guide came to a stand, And to my going somewhat back assented; And he, the scourged one, thought to hide himself, Lowering his face, but little it availed him; For said I: "Thou that castest down thine eyes,

(2) Thus one of them addressed me, and I straight Should have revealed myself, were I not bent On other novelty that then appeared. For through the middle of the burning road There came a people face to face with these, Which held me in suspense with gazing at them. There see I hastening upon either side Each of the shades, and kissing one another Without a pause, content with brief salute. Thus in the middle of their brown battalions Muzzle to muzzle one ant meets another Perchance to spy their journey or their fortune. No sooner is the friendly greeting ended, Or ever the first footstep passes onward, Each one endeavours to outcry the other; The new-come people: "Sodom and Gomorrah!" The rest: "Into the cow Pasiphae enters, So that the bull unto her lust may run!" Then as the cranes, that to Riphaean mountains Might fly in part, and part towards the sands, These of the frost, those of the sun avoidant, One folk is going, and the other coming, And weeping they return to their first songs, And to the cry that most befitteth them;

(22) And we find greater Mysteries yet in Evidence of the horrible Fall; for after that the four Elements had thus set themselves every one in a several Region, then they made themselves Lords over the Spirit of the Soul, which was generated out of the Essences, and they have taken it into their Power, and qualify with it. The Fire, viz. the mightiest of them, has taken it into its Region [or Jurisdiction] in the Heart; and there it must mkeep, and the Blossom and Light thereof goes out of the Heart, and moves upon the Heart, as the kindled Light of a Candle, where the Candle resembles the fleshly Heart, with the Essences out of which the Light shines. And the Fire has set itself over the Essences, and continually reaches after the Light, and it supposes that it has the Virgin, viz. the divine Virtue [or Power.]