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CHAPTER V

THE PILGRIM VIEWS THE WORLD FROM ON HIGH

(There is Nothing beyond the World.)

While I am thus reflecting, behold, we find ourselves (I know not how) on a very high tower, and it seemed to me that I was immediately under the clouds. Gazing down from here, I see on the earth a town seemingly fine and beautiful, and very broad, but I could in every direction perceive its boundaries and limits. And it was built in the shape of a circle, and provided with walls and ramparts; and instead of a ditch there was a dark, deep valley, which, as it seemed to me, had neither banks nor bottom. For only above the city was there light; everywhere around it there was sheer darkness.

(The Situation of the World.)

2. Now I saw that the city itself was divided into countless streets, squares, houses, bigger and smaller buildings; and it was crowded with people as if with insects. To the east I saw a kind of gateway, from which a narrow street led to another gate that looked westward. From

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