“‘Here rolls the roaring, flaming tide of hell,
And thundering rocks the fiery torrent swell.’
“The punishment of hell is thus described by the same writer:
“‘Here sits in bloody robes the Fury fell,
By night and day to watch the gates of hell.
Here you begin terrific groans to hear,
And sounding lashes rise upon the ear.
On every side the damned their fetters grate,
And curse, ’mid clanking chains, their wretched fate.’
“One sinner is bound to a wheel of fire on which he must revolve eternally. Another is tortured with endless hunger and thirst; he is in a lake of pure water up to his chin, with the most delicious fruit a few inches from him, but he cannot get a drop of water nor a particle of food into his mouth. Danaus’ forty-nine daughters, for murdering their husbands, were doomed to fill a leaky tub with water, drawn from a well with a sieve. Another victim of the gods was chained to a rock, and vultures fed on his heart and entrails, which grew as fast as devoured. Virgil, also thus enlightens us concerning some of the inhabitants of hell: