265. After this, a hell was opened where I saw two men, one sitting on a bench holding his feet in a basket full of serpents which were seen to be creeping up over his breast to his neck, and the other sitting on a fiery ass at whose sides, accompanying the rider, were crawling red serpents with uplifted necks and heads. I was told that these were popes who had deprived emperors of their dominion, and at Rome had dealt wickedly in word and deed with emperors who had gone thither to make supplication and to adore them; also that the basket wherein were seen serpents, and the fiery ass with serpents at its sides, were representations of their love of ruling from the love of self; but that such representations are seen only by those who look thither from a distance. Some canons were present, and I asked them whether these were the same popes. They said that they recognized them and knew them to be the same.
