VISIO QUINTA, cap. I
The Fivefold Division of the Earth
The visionary sees the earth divided into five parts—east, west, south, north, and a central square—each with distinct shapes, measures, and conditions of light, darkness, punishment, and terror.
Then I saw the roundness of the earth divided into five parts, so that one part faced east, another west, a third south, a fourth north, and the fifth was in the middle of them. And the span of the eastern part and the span of the western part were equal in measure, and each had the shape of a stretched arch. The span too of the southern part and the span of the northern part, being of one measure, were matched in length and breadth to the previous two parts, except that on their inner edges they seemed, as if cut short, narrowed because of the curved inner edges of those same two earlier parts, and they took on the shape of a stretched arch except for their own narrowed inner edges. For both of these parts, namely the southern part and the northern part, were divided into three sections, and the two middle sections of these parts were of one form and one measure. The remaining four, which ran from boundary to boundary, had another shape yet one equal to themselves and an equal division, and they were equal in length and breadth to those same two middle sections, except that on their inner edges they were narrower, while on the outer edges they appeared wider than the other two, according as the aforementioned eastern part and western part, at both their edges, as was said, curved in on themselves, granting space to these here narrower on one side and wider on the other. The fifth part of the previous parts, which was in the middle of all of them, appeared in a square shape, and in one place it was soaked with heat, in another with cold, and in yet another with a tempering of air. And the aforementioned eastern part shone with great brightness; but the western part, covered with a certain darkness, grew dark; the southern part, which was divided into three sections, had two sections that ran from boundary to boundary, full of certain punishments. The third section, which appeared in the middle, was not indeed filled with punishments, but with certain other monstrous terrors it displayed something horrifying.
The Wings, Globe, and Celestial Architecture
Above the earth's roundness appear a red globe with sapphire circle, two great wings embracing the earth, a red arch, a building ascending to the globe, a bright white star, and a platform—forming a layered heavenly structure.
And the northern part, which also had three divisions, showed itself to be horrifying in its two outer divisions, which abounded with various punishments, and in the middle division, with very many terrors or dreadful punishments. But toward the east, above the roundness of the earth I mentioned earlier, at a certain height I saw a red globe surrounded by a circle of sapphire color, and from its right and left sides two wings extended on either side. One of these, belonging to those same two parts, stretched upward from each side of that same circle, so that both, curving back at their summit, faced each other; the other wing, however, descended downward from those same sides all the way to the midpoint of the roundness of the earth I mentioned earlier, so that those same wings, embracing that middle roundness from outside the firmament, might cover it. And from that same midpoint a red circle, extending itself in the shape of an arch, encompassed the entire outer part of the west, as well as certain divisions that lay outside its roundness—namely, by twisting itself back from the boundary of the southern wing I mentioned earlier around the west, all the way to the boundary of the northern wing. Then, from the roundness itself toward the east, between the wings I mentioned earlier, something like a building appeared, ascending upward all the way to the globe I mentioned above, and from that same globe upward, a platform stretched out all the way to the midpoint of the wings I mentioned earlier, above which a bright white star seemed to shine.
The Fiery Globe, Rays, Darkness, and the Voice from Heaven
A fiery globe appears between the wing-tips with equal spacing to the earth, red globe, and bright star; stellar rays are visible on each side of the platform; stretches of darkness arch over the west, culminating in a terrifying devouring mouth of shadow; the visionary knows these darknesses without seeing them, and then hears a voice from heaven.
And then between the tips of those same wings there appeared something like a fiery globe sending out rays from itself, so that the spacing was equal from the summit of the earth's roundness to the red globe, from that globe to the bright star, and from that same star to the fiery globe above. Between the forward wings too, on each side of the platform, from the globe around the demonstrated star to the fiery globe, what looked like distinct rays of stars were visible. But toward the west, beyond the roundness of the earth, there were stretches of darkness that extended on each side of that roundness to the midpoint where the wings curved downward, shaped like an arch. In that region, between the western corner and the northern corner, there were other darker and more intense stretches of darkness that had the look of a terrifying, devouring mouth opening, with certain other extremely dense and severe shadows beyond them that clung to them like a gaping maw and its jaws. I knew these endless stretches of darkness were there, but I couldn't see them. And again I heard a voice from heaven speaking to me:
The Five Senses and the Pattern of Resurrection
The divine voice interprets the fivefold earth as a pattern for humanity's five senses in this life and the promised restoration of the whole person from the dust of the tomb.
Because the wisdom or power of God the craftsman shines forth as wonderful in this: that he has suspended the element of earth — not angular, but round, and divided into five parts, no more and no less — for a definite reason, immovably in the middle of the other three elements; and that he has endowed man, after the pattern of the earth's fivefold division, with five senses in this life, and will restore him whole in the future from the dust of the tomb.
Read the original Latin
Deinde vidi rotunditatem terrae in quinque partes distinctam, ita ut pars una ad orientem, altera ad occidentem, tertia ad austrum, quarta ad septentrionem, quinta autem in medio istarum esset. Et ambitus partis orientalis ambitusque partis occidentalis aequalis mensurae erant, formamque extenti arcus uterque habebat. Ambitus quoque partis australis ambitusque partis septentrionalis unius mensurae existentes, longitudini et latitudini priorum duarum partium adaequabantur, excepto quod in interioribus finibus suis propter arcuatos interiores fines earumdem priorum duarum partium quasi truncati videbantur, formamque extenti arcus praeter ipsos truncatos interiores fines suos imitabantur. Nam hae utraeque partes, scilicet pars australis, parsque septentrionalis in tres partes distinguebantur, quarum duae mediae ipsarum partium unius formae uniusque mensurae erant. Reliquae quatuor etiam, quae finetenus erant, aliam sed tamen parem sibimet formam, paremque distinctionem habebant, atque longitudini et latitudini earumdem duarum mediarum partium aequales existebant, excepto quod in interioribus finibus, suis constrictiores, in exterioribus vero latiores caeteris duabus videbantur, secundum quod supradicta pars orientalis parsque occidentalis in utrisque finibus suis, ut praefatum est, se incurvando, hinc constrictius, hinc largius spatium istis concedebant. Quinta autem pars priorum partium, quae in medio omnium istarum erat, in quadrata forma apparebat, atque alibi ardore, alibi frigore, alibi autem temperamento aeris perfusa erat. Et praedicta pars orientalis multa claritate lucebat; occidentalis autem quadam tenebrositate obtecta tenebrescebat; australis vero, quae tribus distinctionibus distinguebatur, duas distinctiones, quae finetenus erant, plenas quibusdam poenis habebat. Tertiam autem, quae medio videbatur, non quidem poenis, sed aliis quibusdam monstruosis terroribus horrendam demonstrabat.
Quod et septentrionalis pars, tres etiam separationes habens, in duabus extremis separationibus diversis poenis abundantibus, et in media quamplurimis horroribus sive poenis horrenda ostendebat. Sed versus orientem, supra praefatam terrae rotunditatem, in quadam altitudine videbam globum rubeum circulo sapphirini coloris circumdatum, a cujus dextra et sinistra parte utrinque duae alae procedebant, quarum altera earumdem duarum partium ab utraque parte ejusdem circuli sursum in altum se extendebat, ita ut ambae in summitate sua se recurvando ad invicem respicerent; altera vero ab eisdem partibus deorsum usque ad medietatem praedictae rotunditatis terrae descendebat, ita ut eaedem alae eamdem mediam rotunditatem extra firmamentum circumamplectendo tegerent. Et ab eadem medietate rubeus circulus in modum arcus se extendens, totam exteriorem partem occidentis, nec non et quasdam distinctiones quae extra rotunditatem illius erant, comprehendebat, scilicet a termino praefatae australis alae circa occidentem, usque ad terminum septentrionalis alae se retorquendo. Ab ipsa autem rotunditate versus orientem inter praefatas alas quasi aedificium sursum usque ad supradictum globum ascendens apparebat, et ab eodem globo sursum usque ad medietatem praedictarum alarum velut platea extendebatur, supra quam quasi stella candida radiabat.
Et deinde inter summitatem earumdem alarum velut globus igneus quosdam radios de se emittens videbatur, ita ut a summitate praedictae rotunditatis terrae usque ad praefatum globum rubeum, ut ab ipso globo usque ad praedictam stellam candidam, et ab eadem stella usque ad supradictum globum igneum, aequalia spatia essent. Inter priores quoque alas ex utraque parte praefatae plateae, a praedicto globo circa demonstratam stellam usque ad praefatum globum igneum, quasi quidam radii stellarum discreti videbantur. Sed et versus occidentem extra praedictam terrae rotunditatem tenebrae apparebant, quae ab utraque parte ejusdem rotunditatis ad medietatem ipsius quo et praefatae alae deorsum descendebant, in modum arcus se extendebant. In quibus inter angulum occidentalem et angulum septentrionalem aliae densiores et acriores tenebrae velut formam horribilis et devorantis hiatus oris habentes erant, aliis quibusdam densissimis et pessimis, infinitisque tenebris quae extra istas erant, quasi os et rictus earum essent, adhaerentes. Has autem infinitas tenebras sciebam, sed eas non videbam. Iterumque audivi vocem de coelo mihi dicentem:
Quia artificis Dei sapientia vel potentia in hoc mirabilis enitescit, quod elementum terrae non angulosum, sed rotundum, et quinque non amplius vel minus distinctum partibus certae causa rationis in medio aliorum trium elementorum immobilem suspenderit, quodque hominem instar quinariae divisionis terrae, et in hac vita quinque sensibus ditaverit, et in futura de pulvere sepulcri in integrum restituat.
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