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To hell and back.

I have another dream to tell you, a sort of aftermath of those I told you last Thursday and Friday, which totally exhausted me.

Call them dreams or whatever you like.

Anyway, as you know, on the night of April 17th, a frightful toad seemed bent on devouring me. When it finally vanished, a voice said to me, Why don't you tell them?

I turned in that direction and saw a distinguished person standing by my bed.

Feeling guilty about my silence, I asked, What should I tell my boys?

What you have seen and heard in your last dreams and what you have wanted to know and shall have revealed to you tomorrow night.

He then vanished.

I spent the whole next day worrying about the miserable night in store for me. And when evening came, love to go to bed, I sat at my desk browsing through books until midnight. The mere thought of having more nightmares thoroughly scared me.

However, with great effort, I finally went to bed.

Lest I should fall asleep immediately and start dreaming, I set my pillow upright against the headboard and practically sat up. But soon, in my exhaustion, I simply fell asleep.

Immediately, the same person of the night before appeared at my bedside.

Don Bosco often called him, quote, The man with the cap, unquote.

Get up and follow me, he said. For heaven's sake, I protested. Leave me alone. I am exhausted. I have been tormented by a toothache for several days now and need rest.

Besides, nightmares have completely worn me out.

I said this because this man's apparition always means trouble, fatigue, and terror for me.

Get up, he repeated. You have no time to lose. I complied and followed him.

Where are you taking me? I asked.

Never mind. You'll see.

He led me to a vast, boundless plain, veritably a lifeless desert, with not a soul in sight or a tree or brook.

Yellowed, dried-up vegetation added to the desolation. I had no idea where I was or what I was to do.

For a moment, I even lost sight of my guide and feared that I was lost, utterly alone.

Father Rua, Father Francesa, and others were nowhere to be seen. When I finally saw my friend coming toward me, I sighed in relief. Where am I? I asked.

Come with me, and you will find out.

All right. I'll go with you.

He led the way, and I followed in silence. But after a long, dismal trudge, I began worrying whether I would ever be able to cross that vast expanse, what with my toothache and swollen legs. Suddenly, I saw a road ahead.

Where to now? I asked my guide.

This way, he replied.

We took the road.

It was beautiful, wide, and neatly paved.

Quote, The path of sinners is smooth stones that end in the depths of the netherworld. Unquote. Both sides were lined with magnificent verdant hedges dotted with gorgeous flowers.

Roses, especially, peeped everywhere through the leaves.

At first glance, the road was level and comfortable, and so I ventured upon it without the least suspicion.

But soon I noticed that it insensibly kept sloping downward. Though it did not look steep at all, I found myself moving so swiftly that I felt I was effortlessly gliding through the air.

Really, I was gliding and hardly using my feet.

Then the thought struck me that the return trip would be very long and arduous.

How shall we get back to the oratory? I asked worriedly. Do not worry, he answered. The Almighty wants you to go.

He who leads you on will also know how to lead you back.

The road kept sloping downward.

As we were continuing on our way, flanked by banks of roses and other flowers, I became aware that the oratory boys and very many others whom I did not know were following me.

Somehow, I found myself in their midst.

As I was looking at them, I noticed now one, now another fall to the ground and instantly be dragged by an unseen force toward a frightful drop, distantly visible, which sloped into a furnace. What makes these boys fall? I asked my companion.

Quote, They have spread cords for a net. By the wayside, they have laid snares for me. Unquote.

Take a closer look, he replied.

I did.

Traps were everywhere, some close to the ground, others at eye level, but all well concealed. Unaware of their danger, many boys got caught, and they tripped. They would sprawl to the ground, legs in the air.

Then, when they managed to get back on their feet, they would run headlong down the road toward the abyss.

Some got trapped by the head, others by the neck, and arms, legs, or sides, and were pulled down instantly.

The ground traps, fine as spider's webs and hardly visible, seemed very flimsy and harmless.

Yet, to my surprise, every boy they snared fell to the ground.

Noticing my astonishment, the guide remarked, Do you know what this is?

Just some filmy fiber, I answered. A mere nothing, he said, just plain human respect.

Seeing that many boys were being caught in those traps, I asked, Why do so many get caught? Who pulls them down?

Go nearer, and you will see, he told me.

I followed his advice, but saw nothing peculiar.

Look closer, he insisted.

I picked up one of the traps and tugged. I immediately felt some resistance.

I pulled harder, only to feel that, instead of drawing the thread closer, I was being pulled down myself.

I did not resist, and soon found myself at the mouth of a frightful cave.

I halted, unwilling to venture into that deep cavern, and again started pulling the thread toward me.

It gave a little, but only through great effort on my part.

I kept tugging, and after a long while, a huge, hideous monster emerged, clutching a rope to which all those traps were tied together.

He was the one who instantly dragged down anyone who got caught in them. It won't do to match my strength with his, I said to myself.

I'll certainly lose.

I'd better fight him with the sign of the cross and with short invocations.

Then I went back to my guide.

Now you know who he is, he said to me. I surely do. It is the devil himself.

Carefully examining many of the traps, I saw that each bore an inscription.

Pride, disobedience, envy, sixth commandment, theft, gluttony, sloth, anger, and so on. Stepping back a bit to see which ones trapped the greater number of boys, I discovered that the most dangerous were those of impurity, disobedience, and pride. In fact, these three were linked together.

Many other traps also did great harm, but not as much as the first two.

Still watching, I noticed many boys running faster than others.

Why such haste, I asked.

Because they are dragged by the snare of human respect.

Looking even more closely, I spotted knives among the traps.

A providential hand had put them there for cutting oneself free.

The bigger ones, symbolizing meditation, were for use against the trap of pride.

Others, not quite as big, symbolized spiritual reading well made.

There were also two swords representing devotion to the blessed sacraments, especially through frequent holy communion and to the blessed virgin.

There was also a hammer symbolizing confession and other knives signifying devotion to St. Joseph, to St. Aloysius, and to other saints.

By these means, quite a few boys were able to free themselves or evade capture. Indeed, I saw some lads walking safely through all those traps, either by good timing before the traps sprung on them or by making it slip off them if they got caught. When my guide was satisfied that I had observed everything, he made me continue along that rose-hedged road, but the farther we went, the scarcer the roses became. Long thorns began to show up and soon the roses were no more.

The hedges became sun-scorched, leafless, and thorns-studded.

Withered branches torn from the bushes lay criss-crossed along the roadbed, littering it with thorns and making it impassable.

We had come now to a gulch whose steep sides hid what lay beyond. The road, still sloping downward, was becoming ever more horrid, rutted, guttered, and bristling with rocks and boulders. I lost track of all my boys, most of whom had left this treacherous road for other paths.

I kept going, but the farther I advanced, the more arduous and steep became the descent, so that I tumbled and fell several times, lying prostrate until I could catch my breath.

Now and then, my guide supported me or helped me to rise.

At every step, my joints seemed to give way and I thought my shin bones would snap.

Panting, I said to my guide, my good fellow, my legs won't carry me another step. I just can't go any farther.

He did not answer, but continued walking.

Taking heart, I followed until, seeing me soaked in perspiration and thoroughly exhausted, he led me to a little clearing alongside the road.

I sat down, took a deep breath, and felt a little better.

From my resting place, the road I had already traveled looked very steep, jagged and strewn with loose stones, but what lay ahead seemed so much worse that I closed my eyes in horror.

Let's go back, I pleaded. If we go any farther, how shall we ever get back to the oratory?

I will never make it up this slope.

Now that we have come so far, do you want me to leave you here, my guide sternly asked.

At this threat, I wailed. How can I survive without your help? Then follow me.

We continued our descent, the road now becoming so frightfully steep that it was almost impossible to stand erect.

And then, at the bottom of this precipice, at the entrance of a dark valley, an enormous building loomed into sight, its towering portal tightly locked facing our road.

When I finally got to the bottom, I became smothered by a suffocating heat, while a greasy, green-tinted smoke lit by flashes of scarlet flames rose from behind those enormous walls which loomed higher than mountains.

Where are we? What is this? I asked my guide.

Read the inscription on that portal, and you will know.

I looked up and read these words.

Quote, the place of no reprieve. Unquote.

I realized that we were at the gates of hell.

The guide led me all around this horrible place.

At regular distances, bronze portals, like the first, overlooked precipitous descents.

On each was an inscription such as, quote, out of my sight, you condemned, into that everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Quote, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I tried to copy them into my notebook, but my guide restrained me.

There is no need. You have them all in Holy Scripture.

You even have some of them inscribed in your porticoes.

At such a sight, I wanted to turn back and return to the oratory.

As a matter of fact, I did start back, but my guide ignored my attempt.

After trudging through a steep, never-ending ravine, we again came to the foot of the precipice facing the first portal.

Suddenly, the guide turned to me.

Upset and startled, he motioned to me to step aside.

Look, he said. I looked up in terror and saw in the distance someone racing down the path at an uncontrollable speed.

I kept my eyes on him, trying to identify him, and as he got closer, I recognized him as one of my boys.

His disheveled hair was partly standing upright on his head and partly tossed back by the wind.

His arms were outstretched as though he were thrashing the water in an attempt to stay afloat.

He wanted to stop, but could not.

Tripping on the protruding stones, he kept falling even faster.

Let's help him. Let's stop him, I shouted, holding out my hands in a vain effort to restrain him.

Leave him alone, the guide replied.

Why?

Don't you know how terrible God's vengeance is? Do you think you can restrain one who is fleeing from his just wrath?

Meanwhile, the youth had turned his fiery gaze backward in an attempt to see if God's wrath were still pursuing him.

The next moment, he fell tumbling to the bottom of the ravine and crashed against the bronze portal as though he could find no better refuge in his flight.

Why was he looking backward in terror, I asked.

Because God's wrath will pierce hell's gates to reach and torment him even in the midst of fire.

As the boy crashed into the portal, it sprang open with a roar and instantly a thousand inner portals opened with a deafening clamor as if struck by a body that had been propelled by an invisible, most violent, irrestible gale.

As these bronze doors, one behind the other, though at a considerable distance from each other, remained momentarily open, I saw far into the distance something like furnace jaws sprouting fiery balls the moment the youth hurtled into it.

As swiftly as they had opened, the portals then clanged shut again. For a third time, I tried to jot down the name of that unfortunate lad, but the guide again restrained me.

Wait, he ordered. Watch.

Three other boys of ours, screaming in terror and with arms outstretched, were rolling down one behind the other like massive rocks.

I recognized them as they too crashed against the portal. In that split second, it sprang open and so did the other thousand.

The three lads were sucked into that endless corridor amid a long-drawn, fading, infernal echo, and then the portals clanged shut again.

At intervals, many other lads came tumbling down after them. I saw one unlucky boy being pushed down the slope by an evil companion.

Others fell singly or with others, arm in arm or side by side.

Each of them bore the name of his sin on his forehead.

I kept calling to them as they hurtled down, but they did not hear me.

Again, the portals would open thunderously and slam shut with a rumble.

Then, dead silence.

Bad companions, bad books, and bad habits, my guide exclaimed, are mainly responsible for so many eternally lost.

The traps I had seen earlier were indeed dragging the boys to ruin.

Seeing so many going to perdition, I cried out disconsolately, if so many of our boys end up this way, we are working in vain.

How can we prevent such tragedies?

This is their present state, my guide replied, and that is where they would go if they were to die now.

Then let me jot down their names so that I may warn them and put them back on the path to heaven.

Do you really believe that some of them would reform if you were to warn them? Then and there your warning might impress them, but soon they will forget it, saying, It was just a dream, and they will do worse than before.

Others, realizing they have been unmasked, will receive the sacraments, but this will be neither spontaneous nor meritorious.

Others will go to confession because of a momentary fear of hell, but will still be attached to sin.

Then is there no way to save these unfortunate lads?

Please, tell me what I can do for them.

They have superiors. Let them obey them.

They have rules. Let them observe them. They have the sacraments. Let them receive them.

Just then, a new group of boys came hurtling down, and the portals momentarily opened.

Let's go in, the guide said to me.

I pulled back in horror.

I could not wait to rush back to the oratory to warn the boys lest others might be lost as well.

Come, my guide insisted, you'll learn much, but first tell me, do you wish to go alone or with me?

He asked this to make me realize that I was not brave enough and therefore needed his friendly assistance.

Alone inside that horrible place, I replied, how will I ever be able to find my way out without your help?

Then a thought came to my mind and aroused my courage.

Before one is condemned to hell, I said to myself, he must be judged, and I haven't been judged yet.

Let's go, I explained resolutely. We entered that narrow horrible corridor and whizzed through it with lightning speed.

Threatening inscriptions shone eerily over all the inner gateways.

The last one opened into a vast, grim courtyard with a large, unbelievably forbidding entrance at the far end.

Above it stood this inscription, quote, those will go off to eternal punishment. the walls all about were similarly inscribed.

I asked my guide if I could read them, and he consented.

These were the inscriptions, quote, he will send fire and worms into their flesh, and they shall burn and suffer forever.

Quote, there they will be tortured day and night forever and ever.

Quote, and the smoke of their torment shall rise forever and ever.

Quote, the black disordered land where darkness is the only light.

Quote, there is no peace for the wicked.

Quote, wailing will be heard there and the grinding of teeth.

While I moved from one inscription to another, my guide, who had stood in the center of the courtyard, came up to me.

From here on, he said, no one may have a helpful companion, a comforting friend, a loving heart, a compassionate glance, or a benevolent word.

All this is gone forever.

Do you just want to see, or would you rather experience these things yourself?

I only want to see, I answered.

Then come with me, my friend added, and taking me in tow, he stepped through that gate into a corridor at whose far end stood an observation platform, closed by a huge, single crystal pane reaching from the pavement to the ceiling.

As soon as I crossed its threshold, I felt an indescribable terror and dared not take another step.

Ahead of me, I could see something like an immense cave, which gradually disappeared into recesses sunk far into the bowels of the mountains.

They were all ablaze, but theirs was not an earthly fire with leaping tongues of flames.

The entire cave, walls, ceiling, floor, iron, stones, wood, and coal, everything was a glowing white at temperatures of thousands of degrees.

Yet the fire did not incinerate, did not consume. I simply can't find words to describe the cavern's horror.

Quote, Broad and deep it is piled with dry grass and wood in abundance, and the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, will set it afire.

I was staring in bewilderment about me when a lad dashed out of a gate.

Seemingly unaware of anything else, he emitted a most shrilling scream, like one who is about to fall into a cauldron of liquid bronze, and plummeted into the center of the cave.

Instantly, he too became incandescent and perfectly motionless, while the echo of his dying wail lingered for an instant more.

Terribly frightened, I stared briefly at him for a while.

He seemed to be one of my oratory boys.

Isn't he so-and-so? I asked my guide. Yes, was the answer.

Why is he so still, so incandescent? You chose to see, he replied. Be satisfied with that. Just keep looking. Besides, quote, everyone will be salted with fire.

As I looked again, another boy came hurtling down into the cave at breakneck speed.

He too was from the oratory.

As he fell, so he remained.

He too emitted one single heart-rending shriek that blended with the last echo of the scream that came from the youth who had preceded him.

Other boys kept hurtling in the same way in increasing numbers, all screaming the same way, and then all becoming equally motionless and incandescent.

I noticed that the first seemed frozen to the spot, one hand and one foot raised into the air.

The second boy seemed bent almost double to the floor.

Others stood or hung in various other positions, balancing themselves on one foot or hand, sitting or lying on their backs or on their sides, standing or kneeling, hands clutching their hair.

Briefly, the scene resembled a large statuary group of youngsters cast into ever more painful postures.

Other lads hurtled into that same furnace.

Some I knew, others were strangers to me.

I then recalled what is written in the Bible to the effect that as one falls into hell, so he shall forever remain.

Quote, wherever it falls, there shall it lie.

More frightened than ever, I asked my guide, when these boys come dashing into this cave, don't they know where they are going?

They surely do. They have been warned a thousand times, but they still choose to rush into the fire because they do not detest sin and are loath to forsake it. furthermore, they despise and reject God's incessant merciful invitations to do penance.

Thus provoked, divine justice harries them, hounds them, and goes them on so that they cannot halt until they reach this place.

Oh, how miserable these unfortunate boys must feel in knowing they no longer have any hope, I if you really want to know their innermost frenzy and fury, go a little closer, my guide remarked.

I took a few steps forward and saw that many of those poor wretches were savagely striking at each other like mad dogs.

Others were clawing their own faces and hands, tearing their own flesh and spitefully throwing it about.

Just then, the entire ceiling of the cave became as transparent as crystal and revealed a patch of heaven and their radiant companions safe for all eternity.

The poor wretches, fuming and panting with envy, burned with rage because they had once ridiculed the just.

Quote, the wicked man shall see it and be vexed. He shall gnash his teeth and pine away.

Why do I hear no sound? I asked.

Go closer, he advised.

Pressing my ear to the crystal window, I heard screams and sobs, blasphemies and imprecations against the saints.

It was a tumult of voices and cries, shrill and confused.

When they recall the happy lot of their good companions, he replied, they are obliged to admit, quote, his life we accounted madness, and his death dishonored.

See how he is accounted among the sons of God, and how his lot is with the saints.

We then have strayed from the way of truth.

Unquote.

Quote, we had our fill of the ways of mischief and ruin. We journeyed through impassable deserts, but the way of the Lord we knew not.

What did our pride avail us? All of them passed like a shadow.

Quote, such are the mournful chants which shall echo here throughout eternity. But their shouts, their efforts, and their cries are all in vain.

Terrors shall fall upon them.

Unquote.

Here time is no more.

Here is only eternity.

While I viewed the condition of many of my boys in utter terror, a thought suddenly struck me.

How can these boys be damned? I asked. Last night they were still alive at the oratory.

The boys you see here, he answered, are all dead to God's grace.

Were they to die now or persist in their evil ways, they would be damned.

But we are wasting time. Let us go on.

He led me away and we went down through a corridor into a lower cavern at whose entrance I read, quote, their worm shall not die nor their fire be extinguished. He will send fire and worms into their flesh and they shall burn and suffer forever.

Here one could see how atrocious was the remorse of those who had been pupils in our schools.

What a torment was theirs to remember each unforgiven sin and its just punishment.

The countless even extraordinary means they had had to mend their ways, persevere in virtue and earn paradise and their lack of response to the many favors promised and bestowed by the Virgin Mary.

What a torture to think that they could have been saved so easily, yet now are irredeemably lost, and to remember the many good resolutions made and never kept.

Hell is indeed paved with good intentions. in this lower cavern I again saw those oratory boys who had fallen into the fiery furnace.

Some are listening to me right now.

Others are former pupils or even strangers to me.

I drew closer to them and noticed that they were all covered with worms and vermin which gnawed at their vitals, hearts, eyes, hands, legs, and entire bodies so ferociously as to defy description.

Helpless and motionless they were a prey to every kind of torment.

Hoping I might be able to speak with them or to hear something from them I drew even closer but no one spoke or even looked at me.

I then asked my guide why and he explained that the damned are totally deprived of freedom.

Each must fully endure his own punishment. With absolutely no reprieve whatever.

And now he added you too must enter that cavern.

Oh no I objected in terror before going to hell one has to be judged. I have not been judged yet and so I will not go to hell.

Listen he said what would you rather do visit hell and save your boys or stay outside and leave them in agony.

For a moment I was struck speechless.

Of course I love my boys and wish to save them all I replied but isn't there some other way out?

Yes there is a way he went on provided you do all you can.

I breathed more easily and instantly said to myself I don't mind slaving if I can rescue these beloved sons of mine from such torments. come inside then my friend went on and see how our good God lovingly provides a thousand means for guiding your boys to penance and saving them from everlasting death.

Taking my hand he led me into the cave.

As I stepped in I found myself suddenly transported into a magnificent hall whose curtained glass doors concealed more entrances.

Above one of them I read this inscription the sixth commandment.

Pointing to it my guide exclaimed transgressions of this commandment caused the eternal ruin of many boys.

Didn't they go to confession?

They did but they either omitted or insufficiently confessed the sins against the beautiful virtue of purity saying for instance that they had committed such sins two or three times when it was four or five.

Other boys may have fallen into that sin but once in their childhood and through shame never confessed it or did so insufficiently.

Others were not truly sorry or sincere in their resolve to avoid it in the future.

There were even some who rather than examine their conscience spent their time trying to figure out how best to deceive their confessor.

Anyone dying in this frame of Now do you want to see why our merciful God brought you here?

He lifted the curtain and I saw a group of oratory boys all known to me who were there because of this sin.

Among them were some whose conduct seems to be good.

Now you will surely let me take down their name so that I may warn them individually I exclaimed. It won't be necessary.

Then what do you suggest I tell them?

Always preach against immodesty.

A generic warning will suffice.

Bear in mind that even if you did admonish them individually they would promise but not always in earnest.

For a firm resolution one needs God's grace which will not be denied to your boys if they pray.

God manifests his power especially by being merciful and forgiving.

On your part pray and make sacrifices.

As for the boys let them listen to your admonitions and consult their conscience.

It will tell them what to do.

We spent the next half hour discussing the requisites of a good confession.

Afterward my guide several times exclaimed in a loud voice Averetere Averetere What do you mean I asked change life perplexed I bowed my head and made as if to withdraw but he held me back you haven't seen everything yet he explained he turned and lifted another curtain bearing this inscription quote those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and a trap unquote this does not apply to my boys I countered because they are as poor as I am we are not rich and do not want to be we give it no thought as the curtain was lifted however I saw a group of boys all known to me they were in pain like those I had seen before pointing to them my guide remarked as you see the inscription does apply to your boys but how I asked well he said some boys are so attached to material possessions that their love of God is lessened thus they sin against charity piety and meekness even the mere desire of riches can corrupt the heart especially if such a desire leads to injustice your boys are poor but remember that greed and idleness are bad counselors one of your boys committed substantial thefts in his native town and though he could make restitution he gives it not a thought there are others who try to break into the pantry or the prefects or economist office those who rummage in their companions trunks for food money or possessions those who steal stationery and books after naming these boys and others as well he continued some are here for having stolen clothes linen blankets and coats from the oratory wardrobe in order to send them home to their families others for willful serious damage others yet for not having given back what they had borrowed or for having kept sums of money they were supposed to hand over to the superior now that you know who these boys are he concluded admonish them tell them to curb all vain harmful desires to obey God's law and to safeguard their reputation jealously lest greed lead them to greater excesses and plunge them into sorrow death and damnation i couldn't understand why such dreadful punishments should be meted out for infractions that boys thought so little of but my guide shook me out of my thoughts by saying recall what you were told when you saw those spoiled grapes on the vine with these words he lifted another curtain which hid many of our oratory boys all of whom i recognized instantly the inscription on the curtain read the root of all evils do you know what that means he asked me immediately what sin does that refer to pride no and yet i have always heard that pride is the root of all evil it is generally speaking but specifically do you know what led adam and eve to commit the first sin for which they were driven away from their earthly paradise disobedience exactly disobedience is the root of all evil what shall i tell my boys about it listen carefully the boys you see here are those who prepare such a tragic end for themselves by being disobedient so and so and so and so who you think went to bed leave the dormitory later in the night to roam about the playground and contrary to orders they stray into dangerous areas and up scaffolds endangering even their lives others go to church but ignoring recommendations they misbehave instead of praying they daydream or cause a disturbance there are also those who make themselves comfortable so as to doze off during church services and those who only make believe they are going to church woe to those who neglect prayer he who does not pray dooms himself to perdition some are here because instead of singing hymns or saying the little office of the blessed virgin they read frivolous or worse yet forbidden books he then went on mentioning other serious breaches of discipline when he was done I was deeply moved may I mention all these things to my boys I asked looking at him straight in the eye yes you may tell them whatever you remember what advice shall I give them to safeguard them from such a tragedy keep telling them that by obeying God the church their parents and their superiors even in little things they will be saved anything else warn them against

fell into sin tell them to keep busy at all times because the devil will not then have a chance to tempt them I bowed my head and promised faint with dismay I could only mutter thanks for having been so good to me now please lead me out of here all right then come with me encouragingly he took my hand and held me up because I could hardly stand on my feet leaving that hall in no time at all we retraced our steps through that horrible courtyard and the long corridor but as soon as we stepped across the last bronze portal he turned to me and said now that you have seen what others suffer you too must experience a touch of hell no no I cried in terror he insisted but I kept refusing do not be afraid he told me just try it touch this wall I could not muster enough courage and try to get away but he held me back try it he insisted ripping my arm firmly he pulled me to the wall only one touch he commanded so that you may say you have both seen and touched the walls of eternal suffering and that you may understand what the last wall must be like if the first is so unendurable look at this wall I did intently it seemed incredibly thick there are a thousand walls between this and the real fire of hell my guide continued a thousand walls encompass it each a thousand measures thick and equally distant from the next one each measure is a thousand miles this wall therefore is millions and millions of miles from hell's real fire it is just a remote rim of hell