" Thereupon I
look and saw that they had on their heads the horns of sheep and kine;
and those that were driving them on, cast them down beneath the feet of
blood-stained robbers. "Lie there," said one, "however much ye feared
footpads on the London road erstwhile, ye yourselves were the very worst
class of highwaymen, who made your living on the road and on robbery, yea
and by the perishing of many a poor family whom ye left in hunger, vainly
hoping for the sustenance of their possessions, while ye were in Ireland
or in the King's Bench laughing at them, or on the road with your wine
and lemans." On leaving the furnace-like cave, I caught a glimpse of a
haunt, which for loathsome, stinking abomination, went beyond anything
(with one sole exception) that I had set my eyes upon in hell,--where an
accursed herd of drunken swine lay weltering in the foulest slime.
The next den was the abode of Gluttony, where Dives and his companions,
wallowing on their bellies, devoured dirt and fire alternately, with
never a drop to drink. A little below this, was a very extensive
roasting-kitchen, where some were being roasted and boiled, others
broiling and flaming in a fiery chimney.
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