By Dante Alighieri.

Written in the early 14th century, The Divine Comedy, in three books, Hell, Purgatory and Paradise are among the greatest creative writings of the world. Dante was the first, and possibly the only scholar to develop a systematic theory of punishment, based, of course (yes, of course) on the Christian religion, particularly that of Roman Catholicism. It is no accident that the first book is that of Hell, followed by Purgatory, and finally (and anticlimactic) Paradise. Of course, the poetry is divine. Trans. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

NY. Harrow and Heston Classic Reprint. 1321. 419p.