騎士の導かれし第二の刑場の事。 Of the second place of punishment into which the knight was led.
魔物ども広間を出るや、騎士を引摺り、黒き暗き荒野を通り抜け、夏の太陽昇る場所に向かひつ。乃ち騎士に、この世の人全てが如き嘆き、聞え始む。やがて悪魔の引摺るまにまに、災ひ苦難に満てる、見果てぬ程にも遠き広き平原に至れりけり。そこに男女を問はず、汎ゆる年齢の人々、裸にて、地面に腹這ひしむるは、その身体及び手足、大地に打ち込まれし熱き鉄釘にて、恐るべく縛められし故。時に、苦しびがあまりに埃かじり、泣き叫び、嘆けるは、「お助けを、どうかお助けを！憐れみ給え、我等を憐れみ給え！」助けてくれる者も、憐れんでくれる者も居らずして。この惨めなる者たちの上に悪魔走り回り、過ぐる都度荒々しく踏みつけ、騎士に申すやう、
「汝の来れる扉まで戻さるを認めぬ限り、汝が眼前のこの責苦、汝が身にも受くべし。されど汝が望み次第、かの扉まで安らかに我等導かむ」
しかし騎士、神が最前に、如何に我が身を解き給ひしか思ひ起こせば、連中の言ひ分に耳貸さず。されば連中、地面に投げつけ、他と同様、釘付けむとす。されど騎士、イエス・キリストの御名を唱えれば、その場所に最早それ以上、騎士傷つくを得ず、別の開けし平原に引摺り行く。
The demons now left the hall, and dragged the knight after them through a wilderness black and dark, towards the place where the sun rises in summer, and he began now to hear lamentations, as if of all the people in the world. At length he was dragged by the demons into a long and wide plain, filled with woe and calamities, and so long that it was impossible to see across it. It was full of persons of both sexes and of every age, naked, and lying with their bellies to the ground, for their bodies and limbs were horribly fastened to the ground with hot nails of iron driven into the earth. Sometimes in the anguish of their sufferings they gnawed the dust, crying and lamenting, “Spare us, oh, spare us; have mercy, have mercy upon us!” though there was no one there to have mercy or to spare them. The demons coursed over these wretched beings, striking them with heavy blows, as they passed, and said to the knight, “These torments which you behold you shall also yourself suffer, unless you consent to be conducted to the door by which you entered; for, if you please, you shall be conducted thither in safety.” But the knight, calling to mind how God had released him before, turned a deaf ear to all they said. They then threw him on the ground, and tried to nail him down like the others; but, when he invoked the name of Jesus Christ, they were unable to do him further injury in that place, and dragged him away into another open plain.
こゝに騎士、最初の場所との違ひを感ず。前の場所にては、みな地面に腹這へるものを、こゝでは皆が仰向けて在り。ある者は火竜の下敷、鉄の歯牙に齧られ、言ひ知れぬ苦痛味はへり。別の者は火蛇の生贄、その蛇、首腕体幹に巻き付き、鉄の牙に心臓貫けり。巨いなる見るも厭はしき蟇蛙、ある者の胸に座り、その醜き口先に心臓抉り出さむとす。悪魔もまた、みな踏み渡り走り回り、過ぐる度に打ち据ゑ、その苦しみ片時も休ませず。悪魔共、騎士を別の懲罰為せる平原に引き摺れば、全世界の人口凌がむばかりの大群そこに在り。黄泉の火の上、ある者は頭を下に、両脚両足縛めたる鉄鎖に吊るされ、ある者は両手両腕吊るされ、またある者は頭髪吊るされ。ある者は目と鼻の穴に熱せる鉄鉤通され、またある者は耳と口を、またある者は胸と秘部を炎の上に吊るされ、そのすべてのうめきと嘆きの中、悪魔の鞭は一瞬たりとも止まずして。ここにも、他の刑場と同じく、敵は騎士を苛まむとするも、彼イエスの御名を唱へれば無事なりき。
Here he perceived this difference between them and the first, that whereas in the former place they had their bellies to the ground, all here were lying on their backs. Fiery dragons were sitting on some of them, and gnawing them with iron teeth, to their inexpressible anguish; others were the victims of fiery serpents, which, coiling round their necks, arms, and bodies, fixed iron fangs into their hearts. Toads, also, of immense size and terrific to behold, sat upon the breasts of some, and tried to tear out their hearts with their ugly beaks: demons also coursed along over them, lashing them as they passed, and never let them rest a moment from their sufferings. Thence the demons dragged the knight into another plain of punishment, where there was so large a multitude that it seemed to surpass the population of the whole world. Some were suspended over fires of brimstone by iron chains fastened to their feet and legs, with their heads downward; others hung by the hands and arms, and some by the hair of their heads. Some were hung over the flames by hot iron hooks passed through their eyes and nostrils, others by their ears and mouths, others by their breasts and secret members, and amid all their groans and lamentations the lash of the demons never for a moment ceased. Here also, as in the other place of punishment, the enemy sought to torment the knight, but he invoked the name of Jesus, and was safe.
