CHAPTER  VI.                               67

Tartarus. And this, their punishment, goes on until
their antagonists agree to their demands for being re¬
lieved. Those whose mode of life was virtuous are
liberated from these places on this earth. They feel as
though released from prison, and they will inhabit the
pure earth."

Tartarus is a huge deep ravine or gap into which the
rivers flow. All people understand by the punishment
of hell the most dreadful things which are known to
them, and the Western countries, like Greece, have
sometimes to suffer deluges and floods. But the de¬
scription of Plato indicates a place where there are
glaring flames, and it seems that he means the sea or
some part of the ocean, in which there is a whirlpool
(durdur, a pun upon Tartarus). No doubt these de¬
scriptions represent the belief of the men of those
ages.