Franciscus Ribera, in cap. 14 Apocalyps., will have hell a material and local fire in the centre of the earth, 200 Italian miles* in diameter, as he defines it out of those words, Exivit sanguis de terra . . . per stadia mille sexcenta [blood came out of the earth for 1,600 furlongs**], etc. But Lessius, lib. 13 de moribus divinis, cap. 24, will have this local hell far less, one Dutch mile*** in diameter, all filled with fire and brimstone; because, as he there demonstrates, that space, cubically multiplied, will make a sphere able to hold 800,000 millions of damned bodies (allowing each body six foot square****), which will abundantly suffice; cum certum sit, inquit, facta subductione, non futuros centies mille milliones damnandorum [since it is beyond question that, after proper substraction is made, there will not be 100,000 millions damned].

Robert Burton: The Anatomy of Melancholy, Second Partition (The Cure of Melancholy) - Air rectified. With a digression of the Air



Sternchen von mir eingefügt. Damit man sich das mal vorstellt:

* italienische Meile: ca. 1,85 km (x 200: Höllendurchmesser 370 km)
**furlong: "Furchenlänge", 201,17 m (x 1'600: fast 322 km lange blutende Erdwunde)
*** holländische Meile: ca. 5,84 km (knapp 6x mein Schulweg als Höllendurchmesser)
**** Quadratfuss: ca. 0,09 qm (6 Quadratfuss: etwas mehr als ein halber Quadratmeter für jeden verdammten Körper)

claustrophobia!!!