3929. A certain spirit, after punishment, came to me, to whom it was given to speak at length [and to say], that such malignities and deceits are thus punished, and that they think themselves the Holy Spirit, and princes and popes; and that their being such, whether the one or the other, made the matter so much the worse. It was also given to speak in derogation of their dignity, the angels above the head [meantime] moderating the speech, which as it was in opposition to dignity, and they spoke grossly at the left ear, as their ideas were gross, and then not subtle, occasioned them chastisement and thence dissuasion from persisting in such things, thus with a view to [their] amendment; for I did not perceive with myself a disposition to punish or chastise, but to speak with them; yet I had, as it were, an external perception* that even this was grievous to them. * The original phrase here is "extra me percepi," but the Editor intimates in a note that the manuscript leaves it doubtful whether the author wrote "extra" or "intra." I have on the whole concluded to abide by the reading of the text. -Tr.