An Irish precursor of Dante : $b a study on the Vision of Heaven and Hell ascribed to the eighth-century Irish saint Adamnán, with translation of the Irish text — Dante Alighieri — John Shaqi
An Irish precursor of Dante : $b a study on the Vision of Heaven and Hell ascribed to the eighth-century Irish saint Adamnán, with translation of the Irish text
Dante Alighieri · en
30. At that time, woe unto him that shall dwell amid those pains, in
company with the Devil’s own tribe! Woe unto him that is not ware of
that tribe! Woe unto him over whom a vile and savage demon is set in
dominion! Woe unto him that shall be hearkening unto the spirits,
making moan and complaining unto the Lord, for the speedy coming of
the Day of Judgment, that they may know whether they shall find any
remission of their doom; for they get no respite ever, save only for
three hours on every Sunday. Woe unto him unto whom that land shall
be for a lasting inheritance, even for ever and ever! For this is the
nature of it: Mountains, caverns, and thorny brakes; plains, bare and
parched, with stagnant, serpent-haunted lochs. The soil is rough and
sandy, very rugged, icebound. Broad fiery flagstones bestrew the plain.
Great seas are there, with horrible abysses, wherein is the Devil’s
constant habitation and abiding-place. Four mighty rivers cross the
middle of it: a river of fire, a river of snow, a river of poison, a
river of black, murky water. In these wallow eager hosts of demons,
after making their holiday and their delight in tormenting the souls.
31. What time the holy companies of the Heavenly Host are singing the
eight hours with harmonious melody, praising the Lord with cheerfulness
and great gladness, then do the souls of the wicked utter piteous and
weary wailings, as they are buffeted unceasingly by the demon hordes.
Such then are the pains and torments which his guardian angel revealed
to the spirit of Adamnán, after his journey towards the Heavenly
Kingdom. After which he was borne in the twinkling of an eye through
the golden forecourt,[30] and through the crystal veil, to the Land of
Saints, whereunto he had been brought at first, after his departure
from the body. But when he bethought him to rest and tarry in that
land, he heard, through the veil, the angel’s voice enjoining him to
return again into that body whence he had departed, and to rehearse in
courts and assemblies, and in the great congregations of laymen and
of clerics, the rewards of Heaven and the pains of Hell, even as his
guardian angel had revealed them unto him.