On my eyes being opened I saw a dark forest and a crowd of satyrs in it. They had hairy chests, and some had feet like calves', some like panthers' and some like wolves', with the claws of wild animals taking the place of toes on the foot. They were running to and fro like wild animals shouting 'Where are the women?' Then there were seen the whores who were waiting for them; they too had monstrous forms of various types. The satyrs ran up and took hold of them, pulling them down into a cave deep underground in the middle of the forest. Above ground around the cave lay coiled a great snake, breathing poison into the cave. On the branches of the trees above the snake ill-omened night birds croaked and hooted. However, the satyrs and the whores did not see these sights, since they were correspondences of their own wantonness, and thus the appearances which are usual when viewed from a distance.

[2] Afterwards they left the cave and went into a low hut, which was a brothel. Then when they were apart from the whores, they started talking, and I listened. For speech in the spiritual world can be heard at a distance, just as if one were present, since the extension of space is there only an appearance. They were talking about marriage, nature and religion.

Those whose feet looked like those of calves talked about marriage. 'What is marriage,' they said, 'but permitted adultery? Is there anything sweeter than promiscuity concealed by hypocrisy and cheating on husbands?' The rest of them roared with laughter at this and applauded by clapping.

The satyrs whose feet looked like those of panthers talked about nature. 'What else is there,' they said, 'but nature? Is there any difference between a human being and an animal, except that a human being has articulate speech and an animal only makes noises? Is it not a fact that both have life as a result of heat and understanding as a result of light through the workings of nature?' This was received by the rest with a shout of 'Judiciously put!'

Those whose feet looked like those of wolves talked about religion. 'What is God or the Divine,' they said, 'but the working of the inmost level of nature? What is religion but a fiction designed to ensnare the common people and hold them tightly?' To this there were cries from the rest of 'Hear, hear!'

[3] A few moments later they burst out, and as they rushed forth they saw me a long way off watching them intently. This made them angry and they ran out of the forest and hurried up to me with threatening looks. 'What are you doing,' they said, 'standing here and listening to what we are whispering?' 'Why shouldn't I?' I answered. 'Is there anything to stop me hearing what you said?' Then I repeated what I had heard them say. This calmed their minds, since they were anxious that these things should not be made public. Then they began to speak moderately and to act decently; I knew from this that they were not from the common people but the upper classes. Then I told them that I had seen them in the forest looking like satyrs, twenty of them as calf-satyrs, six as panther-satyrs, and four as wolf-satyrs. There were thirty of them in all.

[4] This surprised them, because when there they saw themselves only as human beings, just as they saw themselves then in my presence. I informed them that these appearances at a distance were due to promiscuous lust, and this satyr-like form was a representation not of a person, but of dissolute adultery. I gave as a reason the fact that each evil desire presents its likeness in some shape or other, which they could not see themselves, but which could be seen by those standing at a distance. 'To make you believe this,' I said, 'send some of your number out into the forest, while you stay here and watch.' They did so, and sent two of them; and when they were near the brothel hut they saw that they looked exactly like satyrs. When they came back, they greeted them as satyrs, and said 'What a joke!'

While they were laughing I made various jokes with them, telling them I had also seen some adulterers as pigs. Then I recalled the story of Ulysses and Circe*, how she sprinkled noxious drugs on Ulysses' companions and servants, touched them with a magic wand and turned them into pigs. Perhaps this means into adulterers, because she could not by any means turn anyone into a pig. When they roared with laughter at this and similar tales, I asked whether they knew from which kingdoms in the world they had come. They gave various answers, naming Italy, Poland, Germany, Britain and Sweden. I asked if they had seen anyone among them from Holland. They said no to this.

[5] Then I switched our talk to serious subjects and asked whether they had ever reflected that adultery was a sin. 'What is a sin?' they replied. 'We don't know what it means.' I asked whether they ever remembered that adultery is against the sixth** of the Ten Commandments. 'What are the Ten Commandments?' they replied. 'Isn't this in the Catechism? What have grown men like us to do with that childish little book?' I asked if they had ever any thoughts about hell. 'Has anyone,' they replied, 'come up from there to tell us?' I asked whether while they were in the world they had ever thought about life after death. 'Much the same,' they said, 'as in the case of animals; or sometimes like ghosts, which, if such emanations from corpses exist, fade away.' I went on to ask whether they had not heard something on both these subjects from priests. They replied that they had only listened to the sound of their voices and not to what they were saying; 'and what,' they said, 'is that?'

[6] I was astonished at these replies, and said to them, 'Turn your faces and gaze towards the middle of the forest, where the cave is in which you were.' They did so, and saw the great snake coiled around it, breathing poison into it, and the ill-omened birds in the branches overhead. 'What do you see?' I asked. But they were too frightened to answer. 'You saw that horrible sight, didn't you?' I said. 'You should know that this is a representation of adultery engaged in its lustful crime.'

Suddenly an angel stood by us. He was a priest, and he opened up the hell in the western quarter, where such people are finally assembled. 'Look there,' he said, and they saw a lake as if of fire. They recognised there some of their friends in the world, who were inviting them to join them. When they had heard and seen these things, they turned away and hurried from my sight, leaving the forest behind. But I was able to observe their course, and they only pretended to go away, but crept back through by-ways into the forest. * The original has 'Medea', obviously a slip. The reference is to the tenth book of Homer's Odyssey. ** This is the numbering in some catechisms of the prohibition of adultery.