3682. CONCERNING THE VEIL.* David, because wicked himself and the subject of the wicked, whose wickednesses it is not necessary to recite, for he has only adulteries and cruelties in his mind, intends and without conscience contrives [evil]. That he was the subject of the deceitful above the head plainly appeared, as they began through him to plot their iniquities more openly than before, with a view to cause the guilt to redound to David; wherefore David was enveloped in the veil and let down towards a lower quarter, but by persuasions and phantasies infuted into him by the diabolical throng on high, he struggled for the space of nearly an hour, and that too with a pertinacity which can hardly be described. Phantasies were continually poured in upon him, which he received with his persuasion, and thus with the veil, with a lessening of the veil, and without the veil, he cast himself in all directions - below, now in midway, now above in front, now above the head near by, and now behind the head, which was only a phantasy with an obstinate persuasion; for such reluctations in the veil and with the veil signify such things. * The punishment of the veil is thus described: "The punishment of the veil is a very common one, and is in this manner. The offender seems to himself, in consequence of the phantasies whereby he is impressed, to be under a veil, stretched out to a great distance it is as it were a cohering cloud, which is condensed according to the culprit's phantasy under this cloud the sufferers run here and there, with a most eager desire to make their escape, and with different velocities, until they are wearied out; this generally continues for the space of an hour, more or less, and is attended with diverse degrees of torture, according to the degree of their desire to extricate themselves. The punishment of the veil is inflicted on those who, although they see the truth, yet are rendered by self-love unwilling to acknowledge it, and are angry to think that it is truth. Some spirits have such anxiety and terror under the veil, that they despair of ever being set at liberty, as I was informed by one who had been let out. There is also another kind of veil, wherein the offender is wrapped up as in a sheet, so that he seems to himself to be bound as to his hands, feet, and body, and at the same time is impressed with a strong desire to extricate himself: this he imagines may be easily effected, inasmuch as he is only wrapped up with a single fold; but when he attempts to undo it, the more he unfolds of it, the longer it grows; until he is driven at last to despair. - AC 963, 964.