De prima pena homicidarum
Into the Valley of Shadows
The soul and the angel journey together into a dark, death-shrouded valley lit only by the angel's radiance.
And after they had gone some distance together, and no light remained except the radiance of the angel, at last they came to a very terrible valley, dark and covered with the gloom of death.
The Iron Plate of Fire
A deep valley of burning coals sealed beneath a thick iron plate is revealed, where a wretched multitude of souls descends and is burned.
It was very deep, and full of burning coals. It had an iron cover, which seemed to be six cubits thick. The coals blazed with an intense brightness, and their stench surpassed every hardship that soul had suffered up to that point. it surpassed tribulations. For a wretched multitude of souls was descending onto that plate, and there they were burned.
Burned, Melted, Restored
The souls are burned to nothing like cinders, collapse through the iron plate like wax through cloth, and are restored again to the coals for renewed torment.
until, like a cinder burned up in a frying pan, they melted away completely. And what's worse, they collapsed through that same plate the way wax is usually strained through a cloth, and then they were restored again on the burning coals of fire for further torment.
The Soul Asks, the Angel Answers
Terrified, the soul asks the angel who these sufferers are and why they endure such punishment; the angel identifies them as murderers and killers of kin, calling this only the first of greater punishments to come.
At the sight of these things, that soul, thoroughly terrified, said to the angel: 'Alas, my lord, I ask, if it please you, that you tell me what wrong these people ever did, that they should be judged worthy of such torments?' To whom the angel: 'These are,' he said, 'murderers, killers of fathers, killers of brothers. This is,' he said, 'the first punishment of those who commit such acts, and of those who consent to them; and after this they are led on to greater punishments, which you will see.'
A Personal Warning
The soul fears she herself deserves this fate, but the angel tells her she is indeed a murderer, though it will not be held against her now, and warns her to live carefully upon returning to her body.
'And I,' she said, 'surely I'm not suffering this?' And the angel said to her: 'You do deserve it; but you won't suffer it. For although you're not a parricide, or a matricide, or a fratricide, you are a murderer; but it won't be held against you now. From now on, be careful that when you return to your body you don't deserve these things again — or worse.'
Onward Still
The angel urges the soul to move on, reminding her that a long road still lies ahead.
And she added. "Let's move on; we still have a long road ahead of us."
Read the original Latin
Cumque longius simul pergerent. et nullum preter splendorem angeli lumen haberet; tandem venerunt ad vallem valde terribilem. ac tenebrosam. et mortis caligine coopertam.
Erat enim valde profunda. et carbonibus ardentibus plena. cooperculum habens ferreum. quod spissitudinem habere videbatur sex cubitorum. quod nimio ardentes superabat candore carbones; cuius fetor omnes quas huc usque illa passa est anima. superabat tribulationes. Descendebat enim super illam laminam miserrimarum multitudo animarum. et illic cremabantur.
donec ad modum cremii in sartagine concremati omnino liquescerent. et quod est gravius ita colabantur per predictam laminam sicut colari cera solet per pannum; et iterum in carbonibus ignis ardentibus renovabantur ad tormentum.
His visis anima illa multum perterrita dixit ad angelum. 'Heu domine mi. rogo si placet ut dicas mihi quid umquam mali iste egerunt anime. ut talibus tormentis iudicarentur digne?' Ad quam angelus. 'isti sunt' ait 'homicide parricide fratricide. Ista est' inquit 'prima talium pena perpetrantium. et perpetrantibus consentientium; et post istam ad maiores quas videbis ducuntur penas.'
'Et ego quidem' inquit 'numquit patior istam?' Et angelus ad eam. 'Mereris quidem; sed non patieris. Licet enim non sis parricida. aut matricida. aut fratricida. es tamen homicida; sed nunc tibi non reddetur. De cetero autem caveto ne cum ad corpus revertaris amplius ista aut maiora merearis.'
Et adiunxit. 'Proficiscamur; grandis enim nobis restat via.'
Visions of Tondal (Les Visions du chevalier Tondal) companion
Tondal came back and changed how he lived daily. That's the whole point.
Chosen Portion builds the daily practice Tondal's vision demanded: a morning reading that keeps eternity in view.
The Visio was written 'for the edification of many' as a spur to daily amendment of life, and Chosen Portion supplies that daily spur with a morning reading and evening examen.
- A daily portion from historic texts on living well and dying well
- The complete 27-chapter Visions of Tondal in modern readable English
- A built-in daily examen prompt — 2 minutes at day's end