Annotation XCIII, Whether hell is only the conscience of sinners, as Philo held (Genesis 16:2)

Annotatio XCIII

”Go in to my handmaid, that perhaps I may have children by her.” — Genesis 16:2

Philo the Jew, in the book On the Meeting for the Sake of Seeking Erudition [De congressu quaerendae eruditionis gratia], expounding this passage, seems to insinuate that the place and punishment of hell is nothing else than the conscience of a wicked man,¹ saying thus: “God scatters the unjust and impious soul, put to flight from himself, most far off into the place of lusts and of crimes — which place is more aptly called the [place] of the impious than that fabled one among the infernal regions. For in truth hell is nothing else than the life of a wretched, wicked, and execrable man.” This same error is attributed to Origen, as you will be able to see below, Annotation 229 of this book.