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which are accomplished in him? And how will he be silent at all, being compelled to speak? For he sees himself in Hades, I mean by the brilliance of the light; for no one of those sitting there otherwise recognizes himself before the divine light shines, (244) but they are in ignorance of the gloom and corruption and death in which they are held. Nevertheless, where it shines, that soul, I say, sees and understands that it was entirely in the most terrible darkness and in the most secure prison of deepest ignorance. Then it sees where it lies, where it is imprisoned, the place all mire, filled with unclean, venomous serpents, and itself bound and tightened with bonds on both hands and feet, and squalid and filthy, wounded also by the bites of the serpents and bearing its own flesh swollen along with a multitude of worms. Seeing these things, how will he not shudder, how will he not weep, how will he not cry out and fervently repent and ask to be delivered from the most terrible bonds? Truly, everyone who sees these things will both groan and lament and will wish to follow Christ who shone the light. (245) Therefore, doing these things, as I have said,

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ἅπερ ἐν αὐτῷ τελοῦνται; Πῶς καί σιωπήσει ὅλως βιαζόμενος τοῦ λέγειν; Βλέπει γάρ αὑτόν ἐν ᾅδη, τοῦ φωτός τῇ λάμψει λέγω˙ οὐδείς γάρ ἄλλως ἑαυτόν τῶν ἐκεῖ καθεζομένων πρό τοῦ λαμψαι φῶς τό θεῖον ἑαυτόν ἐπιγινώσκει, (244) ἀλλ᾿ εἰσίν ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ τοῦ ἐν ᾧ κρατοῦνται ζόφου καί φθορᾶς καί τοῦ θανάτου. Ὅμως βλέπει, ἔνθα λάμπει, ἡ ψυχή ἐκείνη λέγω, καί νοεῖ, ὅτι ἐν σκότει ὅλη ἦν τῷ δεινοτάτῳ καί φρουρᾷ ἀσφαλεστάτῃ βαθυτάτης ἀγνωσίας. Τότε βλέπει, ἔνθα κεῖται, ἔνθα ἔστι καθειργμένη, ὅλον βόρβορον τόν τόπον, ἀκαθάρτων ἰοβόλων ἑρπετῶν μεμεστωμένον, ἑαυτήν δέ δεδεμένην καί δεσμοῖς κατεσφιγμένην χεῖρας ἅμα τε καί πόδας καί αὐχμῶσαν καί ῥυπῶσαν, τετραυματισμένην ἅμα δήγμασι τῶν ἑρπετῶν καί τάς σάρκας οἰδαινούσας ἑαυτῆς φέρουσαν ἅμα μετά πλήθους γε σκωλήκων. Ταῦτα βλέπων πῶς οὐ φρίξει, πῶς οὐ κλαύσει, πῶς οὐ κράξει καί θερμῶς μετανοήσει καί αἰτήσεται ῥυσθῆναι τῶν δεσμῶν τῶν δεινοτάτων; Ὄντως πᾶς ὁ ταῦτα βλέπων καί στενάξει καί θρηνήσει καί συνέπεσθαι θελήσει τῷ τό φῶς ἐκλάμψαντι Χριστῷ. (245) Ταῦτα οὖν ποιῶν, ὡς εἶπον,