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let my enemies not mock me, I who hold to your right hand; but stand by me in this hour, and according to your will direct my paths, so that your glorious and terrible name may be glorified in me, your servant, for you are blessed unto the ages. Amen. And having prayed for several hours with tears and having knelt many times, he cast himself upon the ground. And having slept a little, he sees himself seized by certain fearsome beings, and passing through places he had never seen, and coming to be in a certain very great plain abounding with beautiful and very fragrant flowers, where he saw all sorts of various plants, laden with certain strange and marvelous fruits, most pleasant to see and desirable to touch. And the leaves of the trees sounded a clear note in a most gentle breeze, and as they moved, they sent forth an insatiable and most pleasing fragrance, and thrones were set up, fashioned from the purest gold and precious stones, emitting a kind of brilliant splendor, and couches in certain magnificent coverings and adorned with a beauty that surpasses description. And waters flowed by, exceedingly clear and delighting the very sight. And having led him across this marvelous and great plain, those fearsome ones brought him into a city 470 gleaming with a certain ineffable brightness, its walls of transparent gold, and having its battlements erected from stones which no one has ever seen. O who could tell the beauty of that city and its splendor? A light from above, flashing with dense rays, filled all of its squares; and certain winged hosts, each one being light itself, dwelt there, singing a melody never heard by mortal ear. And he heard a voice saying: This is the repose of the just; this is the gladness of those who have pleased the Lord. Then those most dreadful men, leading him out from there, said to lead him back. But he, being wholly possessed of that delight and joy, "Do not deprive me," he said, "do not deprive me, I beseech you, of this ineffable joy; but grant me also to dwell in one corner of this great city." But they said, "It is impossible for you to be here now. But with much toil and sweat you shall come here, if you compel yourself." They said these things; and, having again crossed the great plain, they brought him to places dark and filled with all unpleasantness, possessing a grief that counterbalanced the splendor he had seen. For there was a lightless and utterly gloomy darkness; and the whole was filled with affliction and turmoil. There a furnace of fire was kindled, blazing; and a kind of punishing worms was creeping there. And punishing powers were standing over the furnace, and some were being pitiably burned by the fire. And a voice was heard, saying: "This is the place of sinners; this is the punishment 472 of those who have defiled themselves with shameful deeds." After these things, those who had brought him in also led him out from there. And straightway coming to himself, he was all trembling; and tears streamed from his eyes like a river. And all the beauty of that licentious maiden and of the others was reckoned by him more foul-smelling than mire and decay. And turning over in his soul the memory of what he had seen, with desire for the good things and fear of those grievous things, he lay upon his bed, quite unable to rise. And the son's illness was announced to the king. And he, having come, asked what had happened. And he related what he had seen, and says: "Why did you prepare a snare for my feet, and bow down my soul? For if the Lord had not helped me, my soul would have almost dwelt in Hades. But truly God is good to Israel, to those who are upright in heart. He who also rescued my lowliness from the midst of lion cubs. For I fell asleep troubled. But my God and my Savior visited me from on high, and showed me what good things those who provoke him have deprived themselves of, and of what

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μηδὲ καταγελασάτωσάν με οἱ ἐχθροί μου, τὸν τῆς σῆς ἐχόμενον δεξιᾶς· ἀλλὰ παράστηθί μοι ἐν τῇ ὥρᾳ ταύτῃ, καὶ κατὰ τὸ σὸν θέλημα εὔθυνον τὰς ὁδούς μου, ἵνα δοξασθῇ τὸ ὄνομά σου τὸ ἔνδοξον καὶ φοβερὸν ἐπ' ἐμοὶ τῷ οἰκέτῃ σου, ὅτι εὐλογητὸς εἶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν. Ἐφ' ἱκανὰς δὲ ὥρας μετὰ δακρύων εὐξάμενος καὶ πολλὰ γονυκλιτήσας, καθῆκεν ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐδάφους. καὶ ὑπνώσας μικρόν, ὁρᾷ ἑαυτὸν ὑπό τινων φοβερῶν ἁρπαγέντα, καὶ τόπους οὓς οὐδέποτε ἑωράκει διελθόντα, καὶ ἔν τινι γενόμενον μεγίστῃ πεδιάδι ὡραίοις ἄνθεσι καὶ λίαν εὐώδεσι κομώσῃ, ἔνθα φυτὰ μὲν ἑώρα παντοδαπὰ καὶ ποικίλα, καρποῖς ξένοις τισὶ καὶ θαυμασίοις βρίθοντα, ἰδεῖν τε ἡδίστοις καὶ ἅψασθαι ποθεινοῖς. τά τε φύλλα τῶν δένδρων λιγυρὸν ὑπήχει αὔρᾳ τινὶ λεπτοτάτῃ, καὶ ἀκόρεστον καὶ χαριεστάτην ἐκπέμποντα εὐωδίαν κινούμενα, θρόνοι τε ἀνέκειντο ἐκ καθαρωτάτου χρυσίου καὶ λίθων τιμίων κατεσκευασμένοι, λαμπρὰν οἵαν αἴγλην ἀφιέντες, καὶ κλῖναι ἐν ἐξάλλοις τισὶ στρωμναῖς καὶ τῷ κάλλει τὴν διήγησιν νικώσαις κατηγλαϊσμέναι. ὕδατά τε παρέρρει διαυγῆ λίαν καὶ αὐτὰς εὐφραίνοντα τὰς ὁράσεις. τὴν δὲ θαυμαστὴν ταύτην καὶ μεγάλην πεδιάδα οἱ φοβεροὶ ἐκεῖνοι διαγαγόντες αὐτὸν εἰς πόλιν εἰσήγαγον 470 ἀρρήτῳ τινὶ λαμπρότητι ἀποστίλβουσαν, ἐκ χρυσίου μὲν διαυγοῦς τὰ τείχη, λίθων δὲ ὧν οὐδεὶς πώποτε ἑώρακε τὰς ἐπάλξεις ἔχουσαν ἀνεγηγερμένας. ὦ τίς ἂν ἐκείνης εἴποι τὸ κάλλος τῆς πόλεως καὶ τὴν φαιδρότητα; φῶς ἄνωθεν πυκνὰ ταῖς ἀκτῖσι διᾷττον πάσας αὐτῆς τὰς πλατείας ἐπλήρου· καὶ ὑπόπτεροί τινες στρατιαί, αὐτὴ ἑκάστη φῶς οὖσαι, ταύτῃ ἐπεδήμουν, μέλος ᾄδουσαι ἀκοῇ βροτείᾳ μηδέποτε ἀκουσθέν. καὶ φωνῆς ἤκουσε λεγούσης· Αὕτη ἡ ἀνάπαυσις τῶν δικαίων· αὕτη ἡ εὐφροσύνη τῶν εὐαρεστησάντων τῷ Κυρίῳ. ἐκεῖθεν οὖν ἐξαγαγόντες οἱ φρικωδέστατοι ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι, εἰς τοὐπίσω ἄγειν ἔλεγον. ὁ δέ, τῆς τερπνότητος ἐκείνης καὶ θυμηδίας ὅλος γενόμενος, Μὴ στερήσητέ με, ἔλεγε, μὴ στερήσητε, δυσωπῶ, τῆς ἀρρήτου χαρᾶς ταύτης· ἀλλὰ δότε κἀμοὶ ἐν μιᾷ τῆς μεγίστης ταύτης πόλεως γωνίᾳ διαιτᾶσθαι. οἱ δέ, Ἀδύνατόν ἐστι νῦν, ἔλεγον, εἶναί σε ἐνταῦθα. ἀλλὰ κόπῳ πολλῷ καὶ ἱδρῶτι ἐλεύσῃ ὧδε, εἴπερ ἑαυτὸν βιάσῃ. Ταῦτα εἶπον· καί, τὴν μεγίστην αὖθις πεδιάδα διελθόντες, εἰς τόπους ἀπήνεγκαν σκοτεινοὺς καὶ πάσης ἀηδίας πεπληρωμένους, ἰσόρροπον τῆς ὁραθείσης φαιδρότητος τὸ λυπηρὸν κεκτημένους. σκότος γὰρ ἦν ἀφεγγὲς καὶ ζοφερὸν παντελῶς· θλίψεως δὲ καὶ ταραχῆς τὸ πᾶν ἐπεπλήρωτο. ἔνθα κάμινος ἐξῆπτε πυρὸς ἀναφλεγομένη· καὶ σκωλήκων γένος ἦν κολαστικῶν ἕρπον ἐκεῖσε. δυνάμεις δὲ τιμωρητικαὶ ἐφεστῶσαι τῇ καμίνῳ, καί τινες ἐλεεινῶς τῷ πυρὶ κατακαιόμενοι. καὶ φωνὴ ἠκούετο λέγουσα· Οὗτος ὁ τόπος τῶν ἁμαρτωλῶν· αὕτη ἡ κόλασις 472 τῶν πράξεσιν αἰσχραῖς ἑαυτοὺς μολυνάντων· ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐξήγαγον αὐτὸν ἐκεῖθεν οἱ καὶ εἰσαγαγόντες. καὶ εἰς ἑαυτὸν εὐθὺς ἐλθὼν ἔντρομος ἦν ὅλος· δάκρυα δὲ ποταμηδὸν κατέδυον οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ. πᾶσα δὲ ἡ ὡραιότης τῆς ἀκολάστου κόρης ἐκείνης καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν δυσωδεστέρα βορβόρου καὶ σαπρίας αὐτῷ λελόγιστο. στρέφων δὲ ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ τῶν ὁραθέντων τὴν μνήμην, τῷ πόθῳ τῶν ἀγαθῶν καὶ τῷ φόβῳ τῶν ἀνιαρῶν ἐκείνων ἐπὶ τῆς κλίνης κατέκειτο ἥκιστα ἐγερθῆναι δυνάμενος. Ἀνηγγέλθη δὲ τῷ βασιλεῖ ἡ τοῦ υἱοῦ ἀρρωστία. καὶ ὃς ἐλθὼν ἐπηρώτα τί τὸ συμβάν. ὁ δὲ τὰ ὁραθέντα αὐτῷ διηγεῖται, καί φησιν· Ἱνατί παγίδα ἡτοίμασας τοῖς ποσί μου, καὶ κατέκαμψας τὴν ψυχήν μου; εἰ μὴ γὰρ Κύριος ἐβοήθησέ μοι, παραβραχὺ παρῴκησεν ἂν τῷ ᾅδῃ ἡ ψυχή μου. ἀλλ' ὡς ἀγαθὸς ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἰσραήλ, τοῖς εὐθέσι τῇ καρδίᾳ· ὃς καὶ τὴν ἐμὴν ἐρρύσατο ταπείνωσιν ἐκ μέσου σκύμνων. ἐκοιμήθην γὰρ τεταραγμένος. ἀλλ' ἐπεσκέψατό με ἐξ ὕψους ὁ Θεός μου καὶ Σωτήρ μου, καὶ ἔδειξέ μοι οἵων ἀγαθῶν ἀπεστέρησαν ἑαυτοὺς οἱ παροργίζοντες αὐτόν, οἵων δὲ