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sin, those whose words sowed the first seeds of evil thinking
and evil living in their minds, those whose immodest sug-
gestions led them on to sin, those whose eyes tempted and
allured them from the path of virtue. They turn upon those
accomplices and upbraid them and curse them. But they are
helpless and hopeless: it is too late now for repentance.
—Last of all consider the frightful torment to those
damned souls, tempters and tempted alike, of the compa-
ny of the devils. These devils will afflict the damned in two
ways, by their presence and by their reproaches. We can have
no idea of how horrible these devils are. Saint Catherine of
Siena once saw a devil and she has written that, rather than
look again for one single instant on such a frightful mon-
ster, she would prefer to walk until the end of her life along
a track of red coals. These devils, who were once beautiful
angels, have become as hideous and ugly as they once were
beautiful. They mock and jeer at the lost souls whom they
dragged down to ruin. It is they, the foul demons, who are
made in hell the voices of conscience. Why did you sin? Why
did you lend an ear to the temptings of friends? Why did
you turn aside from your pious practices and good works?
Why did you not shun the occasions of sin? Why did you
not leave that evil companion? Why did you not give up that
lewd habit, that impure habit? Why did you not listen to the
counsels of your confessor? Why did you not, even after you
had fallen the first or the second or the third or the fourth
or the hundredth time, repent of your evil ways and turn to
God who only waited for your repentance to absolve you of
your sins? Now the time for repentance has gone by. Time

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