Question Twelve
Concerning the kinds of punishments that exist in hell
It is asked how many kinds of punishments are found in hell.
To this it is answered that among others there are eight punishments in hell: inextinguishable fire, the immortal worm, sorrowful weeping palpable darkness, intolerable stench, inestimable gnashing, the horrible sight of demons, and the scourging of the body.
The first punishment is inextinguishable fire. For among the elements fire is especially active, according to Book IV of the Metaphysics. Hence it cannot be altered from its proper and natural quality so as to become cold, as water can become hot. Therefore fire is especially posited as the punishment of Gehenna, and it is inextinguishable because, just as fault in hell can never be expiated or remitted, so too the punishment of soul and body on the part of the fire can never be ended.
The second is the immortal worm, concerning which Isaiah 66 says: “Their worm will not die.” This worm is not understood corporeally, because after the day of judgment, when the world has been renewed, no mixed body or animal will remain except only the human body. Rather, it is understood of the spiritual worm, that is, remorse of conscience. This remorse of conscience arises from the putrefaction of sin and afflicts the soul by punishing it, just as a corporeal worm arises from the putrefaction of wood and afflicts the body by punishing it. Thomas in Book IV, distinction 50.
The third punishment is sorrowful weeping. Matthew 22: “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Here it must be noted that in corporeal weeping there are two things. The first is the discharge of tears, and this will not exist after the day of judgment, because then, when the motion of the heaven has ceased, there will be no generation or alteration.
The second thing in corporeal weeping is disturbance of the head and eyes, and this will exist on the day of judgment, both in the soul and in the body. For the soul will be exceedingly afflicted, and the body will be altered by the soul’s passion toward good, as in the blessed, or toward evil, as in the damned. Thomas in the place cited above.
The fourth punishment is palpable darkness. Matthew 22: “Bind his hands and feet and cast him into the darkness,” and so forth.
For although hell, so far as it is in itself, is a dark place because it is situated in the middle of the earth, where there can be nothing except turbid and, as it were, smoky fire, nevertheless by divine dispensation there is some light there beneath a certain shadowiness. This suffices for seeing those things that can torment the soul and body. Hence hell is called “the land of misery and darkness” in Job 10. Thomas in the place cited above.
The fifth punishment there is inestimable gnashing. Matthew 22: “The gnashing of teeth,” which will be corporeal there. For gnashing does not imply any discharge, as does the outpouring of tears. Peter of Tarentaise says this in Book IV, distinction 50.
Hence Gregory says: “They will be cast into the exterior darkness, so that there the teeth of those who here rejoiced in voracity may gnash.”
The sixth is intolerable stench. Joel 2: “Its stench will ascend, and its putrefaction will ascend, because it acted proudly.”
Here, however, stench is designated by the name of sulphur. Hence the Psalm says: “He will rain upon sinners snares, fire and sulphur, and the spirit of storms.” For fire corresponds to the concupiscence and burning heat of sin; sulphur corresponds to the stench of pleasure; and the spirit of storms corresponds to the noise of the perpetration of sin.
The seventh is the horrible sight of demons. Here it must be noted that demons cannot appear to the damned in hell or Purgatory in their own nature and beauty. Rather, they appear in assumed bodies in some union, as it pleases God, with such and so great a deformity that those who see them in such an appearance are exceedingly terrified and saddened.
Hence there is so great a horror in their appearance that no one in this life, however holy, can see and tolerate it without the assistance of God, as is evident concerning the Blessed Virgin and will be said below in the final part of the Third Decade.
The eighth punishment is scourging. Proverbs 19: “Hammers striking the bodies of fools.”
Here it must be noted that, since demons are incorporeal, they do not operate immediately upon a body distant from themselves through the motion of touch, but by using certain bodies. Hence, just as angels use for certain corporeal effects certain seeds in which there are certain natural powers, from which some effects are swiftly produced, as Augustine says in Book III of The City of God, so demons also act when they operate something through the motion of touch.
These things are from Thomas, question 16 On Spiritual Creatures.
Concerning these eight kinds of punishments there are the following verses:
Worms and darkness, scourge, cold and fire, the demon’s sight, the confusion of crimes grief.
To these punishments, blessed Augustine says in Book XXI of The City of God, chapter 11, there correspond eight kinds of penalties which Cicero sets down in On the Laws, by which evildoers are punished in the world: loss, bonds, slavery, blows, retaliation, disgrace, exile, and death.
Through loss in the world riches are taken away. Through bonds and slavery liberty is taken away. Through blows the soundness of the body is taken away. Retaliation is that through which anyone suffers what he did to another. Disgrace is that through which reputation is taken away. Exile is that through which one’s homeland is taken away. Death is that through which life is taken away.
In hell, however, the punishment of loss corresponds to loss, that is, the privation of the divine vision, together with the privation of God’s grace, glory, and mercy, not only in reality but also in hope.
Hence Isaiah 30 says: “There will not remain among its fragments a potsherd with which a little water may be drawn from the pit” - that is, from divine mercy - “or with which a little fire may be carried from the conflagration” - namely, from charity.
To the punishment of bonds corresponds the binding of the hands and feet: that is, because the hands cannot act well, nor can the feet and affections will well, as Gregory says.
To the punishment of blows correspond in hell the hammers of demons materially, as we have said, or spiritually, that is, through the word of Christ saying, “Go, accursed ones, into eternal fire.”
To the punishment of retaliation corresponds the equality of punishments. Revelation 18: “As much as she glorified herself in delights, so much give her torment and grief.” Blessed Thomas explains that the words “as much” and “so much” do not signify equality of quantity but of proportion.
To the punishment of disgrace corresponds in hell confusion before all the elect. Isaiah 13: “Faces burned,” namely by the confusion of their countenance.
To the punishment of exile correspond blindness of heart and the death of damnation. Hence Gregory says: “By interior darkness we mean blindness of heart, but by exterior darkness the eternal death of damnation.”
To the punishment of slavery corresponds the tribute of punishments. Lamentations 1: “The princess of the provinces has been made subject to tribute.” For the damned are under the tribute of punishments. They always groan, yet never discharge it.
To the punishment of death corresponds the second death, that is, damnation without death: namely, the damnation of soul and body, perpetually and wherever they may be, without end.
There are also other punishments in hell, namely the passage from waters to fire. Job 24 says: “They will pass from the waters of snow to excessive heat.”
This passage does not signify an alternation between the punishment of fire and the punishment of water, such that they sometimes suffer the punishment of water and sometimes suffer the punishment of fire, as occurs in this world. Rather, both punishments will be continuous, because their fault is perpetual there.
Hence Gregory says on this in the Moralia that the punishment of water is owed on account of fear that humbles wickedly, and the punishment of fire on account of love that inflames wickedly. Hence that passage does not signify order or alternation, but continuity and variety of punishments, on account of the variety and continuity of faults.
There also exists there a tenth punishment, namely death without death. Hence it is said in Revelation 9: “They will call upon death, and death will flee from them.” This death will consist in the perpetual separation of the wicked from God and in their perpetual punishments of Gehenna and of the other penalties.
Hence Gregory says: “For the wretched there will be death without death, an end without end, a failing without failure. For death there always lives, the end always begins, and failure does not know how to fail.”
These things are from Augustine in Books XI and XXI of The City of God, Gregory in Book IX of the Moralia, and Thomas on Job 10, “Dismiss me, therefore,” and so forth.