THE KING'S MIRROR 



have heard that in Sicily there is an immense fire of un- 

 usual power which consumes both earth and wood. I 

 have also heard that Saint Gregory has stated in his 

 Dialogues * that there are places of torment f in the 

 fires of Sicily. But men are much more inclined to be- 

 lieve that there must be such places of torment in those 

 fires in Iceland. For the fires in Sicily feed on living 

 things, as they consume both earth and wood. Trees x 

 live; they grow and put forth green leaves; but they 

 dry up and wither when they begin to die; therefore, 

 since they die when they wither, they must be called ; , *, 

 living while they are green. The earth, too, must be / ! 

 called living, inasmuch as it sometimes yields much / 

 fruitage; and as soon as one crop is fallen into decay, / 

 it gives new growth. All living creatures, too, are formea 

 of earth, and therefore it surely must be called living. 

 Both these things, earth and wood, the fires of Sicily 

 can burn and consume as nourishment. The fire of Ice- 

 land, however, will burn neither earth nor wood, though 

 these be cast upon it; but it feeds upon stone and hard 

 rock and draws vigor from these as other fires do from 

 dry wood. And never is rock or stone so hard but that 

 this fire will melt it like wax and then burn it like fat 

 oil. But when a tree is cast upon the fire, it will not burn 

 but be scorched only. Now since this fire feeds on dead 

 things only and rejects everything that other fires de- 

 vour, it must surely be said that it is a dead fire; and it 



* Dialogorum Libri IV. Pope Gregory died in 604. The Icelandic version of 

 Gregory's Dialogues is published in Heilagra Manna Sogur, I. 

 t It is difficult to determine whether the author uses " places of torment " as 

 a term for hell or for purgatory; it seems probable, however, that in this case 

 hell is meant. 



