For those who stuck used gum under or on tables
And next I came to a region where tables and chairs and desks were scattered. People leaned under those items in awkward positions, some propped on their elbows, others craned their necks to look upward. They seemed to be working at something reluctantly, with great care.
I looked to Virgil, my guide. "What have these people done?" I asked of him.
Solemnly, he replied: "These are the people who were lazy and foul, sticking used gum under tables and chairs so that the next one to sit there would touch that garbage and become defiled and unclean. Germs and bacteria would swarm their hands until they next washed them. The sinners must eternally scrape gum out from under each table, and it will always replace those areas that have been scraped clean until the end of the world when Lucifer will punish them in another way he sees fit."
I swooned at the harshness and uncleanliness of such punishment.
Once I had recovered, I made my way through the rows of desks, following the great Poet. As I passed a non-descript sinner, something caught my eye and I recognized my childhood friend, Jacque. "Oh! You have turned your back on God, also?" I cried, hardly daring to believe my eyes.
He looked up from beneath the table, his neck contorted in such a way that it was painful to look at. "Aye. I had not thought to see you here, Dante," he replied wearily.
"I was unaware you had died," said I, mentally berating myself for being so distant from my close friend.
"I have not, or my body has not. In my carefree childhood days I ruined any chance of residing with the Father." His expression was bitter and I found I pitied him. Said Jacque: "A demon makes my body go through the motions of life, so grievous and thoughtless my sin. May you fare better than I."
He returned to his work with a heavy resignation. Long since had he given up. Hell had torn at his willpower until there was nothing left. He lived (or died) only to scrape…scrape…scrape.
The pain in his face was branded in my mind as I followed Virgil, my guide.