De avaris et pena eorum
Approaching the Beast
Guided by the angel, the soul travels a dark and difficult road until they encounter a monstrous, mountain-sized beast with a gaping, fiery mouth.
With the angel going ahead, they set out along a long, winding, and very difficult road. And when they had labored hard, and were traveling a dark road, not far from them he saw a beast of incredible size. and intolerable in its horror. The beast was enormous beyond all reckoning. It towered over every mountain he had ever seen. Its eyes blazed like fiery hills; and its mouth was gaping wide open. And the opening, as it appeared to him, was so vast that it could swallow nine thousand armed men.
The Mouth of Acheron
Two disfigured parasites hold open the beast's mouth like columns, dividing it into three gates from which flames, stench, and the wailing of tormented souls erupt.
Now it had two parasites in its mouth, their heads turned around and completely disfigured. For one of them had his head upward toward the upper teeth of the beast mentioned before. Its feet pointed downward toward the lower teeth; but the other, by contrast, had its head downward and its feet toward the upper teeth above. They stood there like columns in its mouth. That same mouth they divided into the likeness of three gates, and an inextinguishable flame belched forth from its mouth. The flame, which was accustomed to be divided into three parts through those three gates, and against it condemned souls were forced to enter. An incomparable stench also went out from its mouth. But the wailing and howling of the multitude in its belly could be heard through that same mouth. And no wonder, since inside were many thousands of men and women suffering dreadful torments, paying the penalty.
The Demons' Prey
A multitude of unclean spirits stands before the mouth, violently forcing condemned souls into the beast while tormenting them with blows.
Before its mouth there was also a crowd of unclean spirits. They forced souls to enter, but before they got in, they tormented them with many different blows and wounds.
The Necessity of the Vision
Terrified by the sight, the soul questions the angel, who insists they must pass near this torment, explaining that the beast is Acheron, the devourer of the greedy, as foretold in Scripture.
After the soul had stared for a long time at so horrible and fearsome a sight, it collapsed, undone by overwhelming terror.1 At the same time, with fear and a trembling spirit, it said in a mournful voice to the angel: Alas, alas, my lord, are these things I see hidden from you, and why do you draw near to them? The angel, answering, replied: We cannot complete our journey unless we stand nearer to this torment. For only the chosen will be able to avoid this torment. This beast is called Acheron. It devours all the greedy. Scripture speaks about this beast. It will swallow up a river and not be amazed, and it is so confident that the Jordan itself flows into its mouth.✦
Abandoned to the Torment
The angel leads the reluctant soul to the beast and vanishes, leaving her to be dragged inside by demons, where she suffers unspeakable agonies visibly etched upon her return.
And when he had said this, he came closer, went on ahead of her, and stopped. before the beast. The soul, however, followed him, though unwilling. And when they had stood together before the beast, the angel vanished, and the wretched woman was left alone. But when the demons saw that she was abandoned and alone, they swarmed around the wretched woman like swift dogs and dragged her—scourged—into the belly of the beast. What kind of torments she suffered there, or how great they were, even if she herself remained silent, the color of her face would make known — and by the change in her bearing, it could most easily be recognized. and by the change in her bearing, it could most easily be recognized. any wise person who has been able to take note of it,
The Pains of Avarice
The narrator briefly catalogs the savage animalistic attacks, demonic blows, and elemental extremes the soul endured, which drove her to self-accusation and despair.
And because we ought to aim for brevity, we can't write down everything we've heard. And yet, so we don't seem to neglect the subject itself, we want to recount a few things from among many for the building up of those who read. For she suffered there the savagery of dogs, of bears, of lions, of serpents, or the ferocity of countless other unknown, monstrous creatures — the blows of demons, the burning of fire, the harshness of cold. The stench of sulfur. A darkness of the eyes, a stream of burning tears. An abundance of torments. And the grinding of teeth. When these and similar things had been witnessed there, what else could the wretched woman do but accuse herself for her past deeds? And she tore at her own cheeks out of overwhelming grief and despair.
Restored by Mercy
Emerging from the beast, the soul finds the angel again and praises God's undeserved mercy, to which the angel replies that divine mercy surpasses sin, warning her to guard herself in the future.
And when the wretched woman recognized her own guilt, and was terrified that she would face eternal punishment on account of her own deserts, not knowing by what order she had gone forth.2 she sensed that she was outside the beast. And look — as she lay weak and far off, she opened her eyes and saw, close beside her, the spirit of light who had been going ahead of her. Then she rejoiced, though she was deeply afflicted. She said to the angel, 'O my only hope, comfort granted to me by the Lord, beyond anything I deserved. O light of my eyes, and staff of my misery, and of my distress—why did you want to abandon me in my wretchedness?' But what can I, in my wretchedness, give back to the Lord for all the things he has given back to me? Who, if he had never done anything good for me— except that he sent you to meet me—thanks I could never repay him worthily?' The angel answered him. As you said at the beginning, so you should know this to be true: divine mercy is greater than your sin. He himself will repay each one according to his work and his merit; nevertheless, he will judge each person by how his life ended. Therefore, as I said before— you need to guard yourself.
Moving Forward
The angel urges the soul not to return to her former ways and announces that they must now proceed to the next set of punishments.
Once you've regained control of yourself, don't let these things happen to you again. And with that, he added: 'Let us move on to the punishments that lie ahead of us.'
Read the original Latin
Precedente autem angelo profecti sunt per longam ac tortuosam et valde difficilem viam. Cumque multum laborarent. et tenebrosum iter agerent; non longe ab eis vidit bestiam magnitudine incredibilem. et horrore intolerabilem.
Que bestia pre sue enormitate magnitudinis. precellebat omnes quos unquam viderat ipse montes. Oculi vero eius ignitis assimilabantur collibus; os vero eius valde patens erat. et apertum; quod ut sibi videbatur. capere poterat novem milia hominum armatorum.
Habebat autem duos in ore suo parasitos; et versis capitibus valde incompositos. Unus enim illorum habebat caput sursum ad dentes superiores prefate bestie. et pedes deorsum ad inferiores; alius vero versa vice caput deorsum et pedes ad dentes superiores habebat sursum. Erant sic quasi columne in ore eius. qui idem os in similitudinem trium portarum dividebant; flamma etiam inextinguibilis ex ore eius eructuabat. que in tres partes per illas tres portas dividi solebat; et contra ipsam flammam anime cogebantur intrare damnande. fetor quoque incomparabilis ex ore eius exiebat. Sed et planctus et ululatus multitudinis de ventere eius per idem os audiebatur.
Nec mirum cum intus essent multa milia virorum ac mulierum dira tormenta luentium.
Ante cuius os erat etiam inmundorum spirituum multitudo. qui animas intrare cogebant; sed antequam intrarent multis et diversis eas verberibus et plagis affligebant.
Cumque diu vidisset anima tam horribile et metuendum spectaculum. deficiens pre nimio terrore. simul et timore spiritus; flebili voce dixit ad angelum. 'Heu heu domine mi. num te latent ista que video; et quare eis appropinquas?' Angelus autem respondens dixit. 'Iter nostrum explere non possumus nisi huic tormento propius assistamus. Non enim hoc tormentum nisi electi devitare valebunt.
Ista enim bestia vocatur Acherons. que devorat omnes avaros. De hac bestia scriptura loquitur. Absorbebit fluvium et non mirabitur; et habet fiduciam quod influat Iordanis in os eius.'
Et cum hec dixisset accedens propius antecedebat eam; et stetit. ante bestiam. Anima vero licet nolens sequebatur eum.
Cumque simul starent ante bestiam angelus disparuit; et misera sola permansit. Demones autem cum eam cernerent desolatam. conveniunt miseram ut canes rapidi; secumque pertrahunt in ventrem bestie flagellatam. Qualia autem vel quanta ibi tormenta passa fuerit. etiam si ipsa taceret in colore vultus. et conversione morum facillime cognoscere poterit. quisquis sapiens notare potuerit.
Et quia brevitati studere debemus non cuncta que audivimus scribere valemus. Et tamen ne ipsam materiam videamur negligere; pauca de multis ad edificationem legentium volumus recitare. Passa est enim ibidem canum. ursorum. leonum. serpentium. seu innumerabilium aliorum incognitorum monstruosorum animalium ferocitatem; demonum ictus. ardorem ignis asperitatem frigoris.
fetorem sulphuris. caliginem oculorum fluxus lacrimarum ardentium. copiam tribulationum. et stridorem dentium. His et similibus ibi compertis. quid aliud misera nisi semet ipsam de preteritis accusare. et proprias genas pre nimia tristicia et desperatione potuit lacerare?
Cumque misera reatum suum cognosceret. et eternurm pro suis meritis se pati supplicium pertimesceret; nescia quo ordine exierat. se extra bestiam esse sentiebat.
Et ecce cum longius iaceret debilis; aperiens oculos prope se vidit illum qui eam ante precedebat spiritum lucis. Tunc illa gaudens licet afflicta multum. dixit ad angelum. 'O mea spes unica. o solatium mihi indebitum a domino concessum. o lumen oculorum meorum. et baculus mee miserie. et calamitatis; ut quid me miseram deserere voluisti?
Quid autem ego misera retribuam domino pro omnibus que retribuit mihi? Qui si numquam fecisset aliquid mihi boni. nisi quod te misit in occursum mihi; quas ei digne retribuerem gratias?' Respondit ei angelus. 'Sicut tu in primis dixeras sic esse scias; maior est divina misericordia quam iniquitas tua. Ipse quidem reddet unicuique secundum opus suum et meritum; sed tamen unumquemque de suo fine iudicabit. Quapropter ut ante dixi. oportet te precavere.
ne cum fueris tue potestatis; iterum ista merearis.'
Et hoc dicto subiunxit. 'Transeamus ad ea que ante nos sunt supplicia.'
Scripture echoes
- ↩Job.40.23 — Surely it seizes the river and is not alarmed; it is confident even when the Jordan rushes into its mouth.
Notes
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