ths beneath and
explore their character, notwithstanding the coverings. In this way I
have been permitted to look into them. Some of the hells appeared to
the view like caverns and dens in rocks extending inward and then
downward into an abyss, either obliquely or vertically. Some of the
hells appeared to the view like the dens and caves of wild beasts in
forests; some like the hollow caverns and passages that are seen in
mines, with caverns extending towards the lower regions. Most of the
hells are threefold, the upper one appearing within to be in dense
darkness, because inhabited by those who are in the falsities of
evil; while the lower ones appear fiery, because inhabited by those
who are in evils themselves, dense darkness corresponding to the
falsities of evil, and fire to evils themselves. Those that have
acted interiorly from evil are in the deeper hells, and those that
have acted exteriorly from evil, that is, from the falsities of evil,
are in the hells that are less deep. Some hells present an appearance
like the ruins of houses and cities after conflagrations, in which
infernal spirits dwell and hide themselves. In the milder hells there
is an appearance of rude huts, in some cases contiguous in the form
of a city with lanes and streets, and within the houses are infernal
spirits engaged in unceasing quarrels, enmities, fightings, and
brutalities; while in the streets and lanes robberies and
depredations are committed. In some of the hells there are nothing
but brothels, disgusting to the sight and filled with every kind of
filth and excrement. Again, there are dark forests, in which infernal
spirits roam like wild beasts and where, too, there are underground
dens into which those flee who are pursued by others. There are also
deserts, where all is barren and sandy, and where in some places
there are ragged rocks in which there are caverns, and in some places
huts. Into these desert places those are cast out from the hells who
have suffered every extremity of punishment, especially those who in
the world have been more cunning than others in undertaking and
contriving intrigues and deceits. Such a life is their final lot.

587. As to the positions of the hells in detail, it is something
wholly unknown even to the angels in heaven; it is known to the Lord
alone. But their position in general is known from the quarters in
which they are. For the hells, like the heavens, are distinguished by
their quarters;