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Section 110

"Well then, my comrade, it is said first of all that this true earth, if viewed from above, looks like one of those twelve-piece leather balls, variegated, distinguished by colors. The colors used by our painters here are like faint samples of them. There, the entire earth is made of such colors, but much brighter and purer than ours. Part of it is purple of wondrous beauty, part golden, and part entirely white—whiter than chalk or snow. And it is composed of all the other colors as well, more numerous and beautiful than any we have ever seen. Even the hollows of the earth, filled with water and air, present a certain color that gleams amid the variety of the other colors, so that the whole appears as one continuous, multicolored vision. Growing on this earth are trees, flowers, and fruits in proportion to its beauty. The mountains and stones are smoother, more transparent, and of more beautiful colors. Our precious stones here—sardian, jasper, emeralds, and all such—are merely fragments of those stones. There, every single stone is like that, and even more beautiful. The reason is that those stones are pure; they are not eaten away or corrupted, as ours are, by the rot and brine of the sediment gathered here, which brings ugliness and disease to stones, earth, animals, and plants. The true earth is adorned with all these stones, as well as with gold, silver, and other such things. They are exposed on the surface, numerous, massive, and scattered everywhere, so that seeing the earth is a sight for blessed spectators. There are many living creatures on it, including human beings. Some dwell inland, some dwell along the shores of the air—just as we live by the sea—and some live on islands surrounded by air, situated near the mainland. In a word, what water and sea are for our needs, air is for them; and what air is to us, aether is to them. Their seasons are so well-tempered that they are free from disease and live much longer than we do. In sight, hearing, intelligence, and all such faculties, they surpass us by the same margin that air is purer than water, and aether purer than air. They have sacred groves and temples of the gods, in which the gods truly dwell. They hear the voices and prophecies of the gods, and have direct contact and communion with them. They see the sun, moon, and stars exactly as they are, and their happiness in all other respects follows this."