HERESY
"the soul shares the body’s mortal doom"
At this point, we are greeted by "more than a thousand [angels]...who furiously demanded" why me, a mortal "passes through the region of the dead his way?" I saw
- three hellish furies, all with blood defaced, and woman-like in members and in [appearance]. Hydras of brilliant green encircled their waist; Snakes for their tresses grew.
- They screamed in tone so fierce, "Medusa, come, that we may make him stone!"‘Keep thine eyes closed and turn to them thy back," said my Master, "For if [one of the three furies] chance to be displayed and thou shouldst look, [you will not return to the upper-world].
As we passed through the Wall of Dis (lower Hell), I saw the tombs of the Heretics. Of those of Epicurus (those who seek only pleasure), they "...are held that the soul shares the body’s mortal doom." For seeking pleasure in life, they created their own tomb in the afterlife.