He divided it, and said to me, 'Take thou this thread, and bind it strongly on the thumb of thy right hand, and by this I will lead thee through the infernal labyrinth of punishments.' "Then going before me with velocity, but always unwinding

this luminous thread, he conducted
me into deep valleys
filled with fires, and wells inflamed, blazing with all
sorts of unctuous matter. There I observed the prelates who had served my father and my ancestors. Although
I trembled, I still,
however, inquired of them to learn the cause of their torments. They answered, 'We are the bishops of your father and your ancestors; instead of uniting them and their people in peace and concord, we sowed among them discord, and were the kindlers of evil: for this are we burning in these
Tartarean punishments; we, and other men-slayers and devourers of rapine. Here also shall come your bishops,
and that crowd of satellites who surround you, and who imitate the evil we have done.' "And while I listened to them tremblingly, I beheld

the blackest demons flying with hooks of burning iron, who would have caught the ball of thread which I held in my hand, and have drawn it towards them, but it darted such a reverberating light, that they