89. Lastly we must report what a person's state after death is like, of whatever religious persuasion he may be. People who have led a good life-namely, those who have abstained from evils because they are sins and have conducted their dealings with others uprightly and honestly-are not conveyed into the evils of their will, but are kept in a state of good by the Lord and so in a state of intelligence and wisdom. 90. In contrast, however, those who have lived evilly are conveyed into the evils of their will, and they cannot but think then in accord with that evil, appearing as though demented, more like animals than human beings. Their love of doing evil then reigns. They rush into everything into which their lust carries them. More irrational than the rest are those who have been motivated by a love of ruling for their own benefit. I have seen thousands of this character, and they appear altogether as though bereft of rationality, and yet they continue to believe they are wise, even exceptionally wise. Nevertheless they are permitted from time to time to return into their rational state, the state which they had in the world, when their cunning caused them to imagine themselves endowed with every virtue. But even then the pleasure of returning into the delight of their will draws them, so that they cannot be withheld from it except against their will. They wish to be irrational. Consequently, because that is their character, they are conveyed into hells, which they are then not permitted to leave; and they remain there under the supervision of a judge, who imposes on them tasks that they must accomplish daily. If they do not do them, they are not given any food, or clothing, or bed; and if they do evil, they are severely punished. Thus by these tasks they are withheld from the delights of their will. In such a prison are kept all-both men and women-who have lived evilly, that is, who have given rein to sins. Moreover, before they arrive there, they have taken from them everything that they previously learned from the Word and everything that they knew regarding faith, and also any cognizance of who they had been in the world-whether kings or magistrates, bishops or church elders, rich or poor, or one of the masses. Consequently they are then all alike, no one being any greater than another. A humble peasant may associate with the eminent, without either knowing which of them was in a higher position in the world; for haughtiness of the spirit is found equally in those who are of the common people as in members of the aristocracy. Surprisingly, too, they cannot leave those hells to eternity. For if by chance they as much as set foot outside, they are punished; and if they are taken out by others, they become more insane than before-as I have several times seen happen. They are like highwaymen who for fear of punishment live honorably in a house in the city, but as soon as they go out into a forest think constantly of robbing and pillaging.