1377. CONCERNING THE SAME SPIRIT WHO SAYS THAT HE WANTS TO DESIST, BUT THAT NEVERTHELESS HE CANNOT The same spirit who suffered that punishment [n. 1373], sometimes said that he wanted to desist, and it was indeed perceived that he did want to when in a state of fear, but he could not because [the evil] adheres to him. Therefore, since he could understand that such a state of elation is most wicked, he was being compelled by means of punishments in order to enable him to desist. These and similar punishments were said already to have been inflicted upon him ten times. I have seen the same spirit under the veil before, but he still carries on; it is now for seventeen centuries that he has been like this. He is among those in the plane of the left eye towards the front who hate interior and more interior verities, but in his case there is this difference, that because he has an elated mind and supposes that he excels by his great powers, he would acknowledge those verities if he could think that they proceeded from himself. 1748, Mar. 15.