(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?"

(95) Woe to those who build their houses with sin; For from all their foundations shall they be overthrown, And by the sword shall they fall. [And those who acquire gold and silver in judgement suddenly shall perish.]

(42) Noah replied, "Make not light of it, for 'tis the flood of destruction, The wind of wrath and the storm blow out torches; Except the torch of God, all are extinguished." He answered "Nay! I am going to that high mountain, For that will save me from all harm." Noah cried, "Beware, do not so, mountains are now as grass; Except the Friend none can save thee." He answered, "Why should I listen to thy advice? Thy speech is by no means pleasing to me, I am free from thee in this world and the next."

(90) And I saw at that time how a like abyss was opened in the midst of the earth, full of fire, and they brought those blinded sheep, and they were all judged and found guilty and cast into this fiery abyss, and they burned; now this abyss was to the right of that house.

(65) And I said unto him: 'Tell me what it is that is falling out on the earth that the earth is in such evil plight and shaken, lest perchance I shall perish with it?'

(6) And the Lord smelt the goodly savour,* and He made a covenant with him that there should not "be any more a flood to destroy the earth ; * that all the days of the earth seed-time and harvest should never cease ; cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night should not change their order, nor cease for ever.

(36) And from thence I went to the south to the ends of the earth, and saw there three open portals of the heaven: and thence there come dew, rain, †and wind†.

(7) For there are some even of the hearers of the word who are like the fishes of the sea, which, reared from their birth in brine, yet need salt to dress them for food. Accordingly I wholly approve of the tragedy, when it says: "O son, false words can be well spoken, And truth may be vanquished by beauty of words.

(65) And in those days Noah saw the earth that it had sunk down and its destruction was nigh.

(5) Every single drop of that rain became as big as a bowl, and the water stood the height of a man over the whole of this earth; and the noxious creatures on the earth being all killed by the rain, went into the holes of the earth.

(83) And when it fell to the earth I saw how the earth was swallowed up in a great abyss, and mountains were suspended on mountains, and hills sank down on hills, and high trees were rent from their stems, and hurled down and sunk in the abyss.

(4) Now follow me, and mind thou do not place As yet thy feet upon the burning sand, But always keep them close unto the wood." Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes Forth from the wood a little rivulet, Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, The sinful women later share among them, So downward through the sand it went its way. The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; Whence I perceived that there the passage was. "In all the rest which I have shown to thee Since we have entered in within the gate Whose threshold unto no one is denied, Nothing has been discovered by thine eyes So notable as is the present river, Which all the little flames above it quenches." These words were of my Leader; whence I prayed him That he would give me largess of the food, For which he had given me largess of desire. "In the mid-sea there sits a wasted land," Said he thereafterward, "whose name is Crete, Under whose king the world of old was chaste.

(54) Therefore, O Man, consider what thou sowest here, that thou shalt reap; take an Example in Cain. Or dost thou suppose, that it is an invented Fable, [which I here write?] Do but ask thy own Mind, that will convince thee, except thou art too much captivated by the Devil. Behold the horrible Punishments from the Anger of God, since the Beginning of the World; the Flood [or Deluge] was a Punishment for the Unchastity, [or Uncleanness,] whereby God would drown the Matrix of the burning Lust of Lechery; and therefore he punished the World with Water; for the Water is the Matrix of all Things.

(287) Death comes and carries off that man, praised for his children and flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

(87) And one said unto me: 'Remain here till thou seest everything that befalls those elephants, camels, and asses, and the stars and the oxen, and all of them.'

(76) Through four of these come winds of blessing and prosperity, and from those eight come hurtful winds: when they are sent, they bring destruction on all the earth and on the water upon it, and on all who dwell thereon, and on everything which is in the water and on the land.

(81) As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not amidst blame and praise.

(4) And on account of it (God) brought the waters of the flood8 upon all the land of Eden ; for there he was set as a sign aiRpTlial lie strontdtestify . against all the children of men, thathe should recount all the deeds of the generations until the day of con- demnation.

(100) Woe to you who build your houses through the grievous toil of others, And all their building materials are the bricks and stones of sin; I tell you ye shall have no peace.

(196) If thou often invokest thou shalt see all things growing dark; and then when no longer is visible unto thee the High-arched Vault of Heaven, when the Stars have lost their Light and the Lamp of the Moon is veiled, the Earth abideth not, and around thee darts the Lightning Flame and all things appear amid thunders.