CHAPTER 54

1. And I saw the darkest hell, which is pernicious, dreadful, terrible, very painful, mischievous and foul-smelling. 2. And after further observation, it appeared to me (3) as a pit, to the bottom of which, a thousand cubits would not reach; (4) and though all the wood which is in the world, were all put on to the fire in the most stinking and gloomy hell, it would never emit a smell; (5) and again also, as close as the ear to the eye, and as many as the hairs on the mane of a horse, (6) so close and many in number, the souls of the wicked stand, (7) but they see not and hear no sound, one from the other; (8) everyone thinks thus: 'I am alone'.

9. And for them are the gloom of darkness, and the stench and fearfulness of the torment and punishment of hell, of various kinds; (10) so that whoever is only a day in hell, cries out (11) thus: 'Are not those nine thousand years yet completed, when they should release us from this hell?'