which I descended: and when I was
down, I observed a level country set thick with shrubs, intermixed with
thorns and nettles; and on my asking, whether this was hell, I was told
it was the lower earth next above hell. I then continued my course in a
direction according to the exclamations in order; first to those who
exclaimed, "O HOW JUST!" where I saw a company consisting of such as in
the world had been judges influenced by friendship and gifts; then to
the second exclamation, "O HOW LEARNED!" where I saw a company of such
as in the world had been reasoners; and lastly to the third exclamation,
"O HOW WISE!" where I saw a company such as in the world had been
confirmators. From these I returned to the first, where there were
judges influenced by friendship and gifts, and who were proclaimed
"Just." On one side I saw as it were an amphitheatre built of brick, and
covered with black slates; and I was told that they called it a
tribunal. There were three entrances to it on the north, and three on
the west, but none on the south and east; a proof that their decisions
were not those of justice, but were arbitrary determinations. In the
middle of the amphitheatre there was a fire, into which the servants who
attended threw torches of sulphur and pitch; the light whereof, by its
vibrations on the plastered walls, presented pictured images of birds of
the evening and night; but both the fire and the vibrations of light
thence issuing, together with the forms of the images thereby produced,
were representations that in their decisions they could adorn the matter
of any debate with colored dyes, and give it a form according to their
own interest. In about half an hour I saw some old men and youths in
robes and cloaks, enter the amphitheatre, who, laying aside their caps,
took their seats at the tables, in order to sit in judgement. I heard
and perceived with what cunning and ingenuity, under the impulse of
prejudice in favor of their friends, they warped and inverted judgement
so as to give it an appearance of justice, and this to such a degree,
that they themselves saw what was unjust as just, and on the other hand
what was just as unjust. Such persuasions respecting the points to be
decided upon, appeared from their countenances, and were heard from
their manner of speaking. I then received illustration from heaven, from
which I perceived how far each point was grounded in right or not; and I
saw how industriously they concea