The Well Of Death

Tu vero, Deus, deduces eos in puteum interitus... Quia dixit de justis, nunc dicit de impiis, qui in gehennae profunditatem mergendi sunt. Puteus quidem dicitur hiatus patens, in terrae sinibus excavaus, aquas continens humanis usibus attributas. Sed ne hunc puteum vitalem intelligere potuisses, addidit, interitus: de quo alio in loco legitur: Neque aperiat super me puteus os suum. Fovea mortalis, mersura terribilis, ubi nec spatium ullum conceditur, nec ipsa miseris respiramenta praestantar; sed obscuritas tenebrosa circumdans, amoeni luminis tollit aspectum. Ex putei siquidem similitudine, gehennae tormenta nos admonet formidare. O pietas inaudita judicantis! totum hominibus praedicitur, ut culpa plectibilis evitetur. Cassiodorus, Expositio In Psalterium, Psalmus LIV Source: Migne PL 70.392c

But you, God, shall lead them into the well of death... 1 Because he has spoken of the righteous, he now speaks of the impious, they who have been sunk into the depths of hell. Certainly a well is spoken of as open hole dug into the lower places of the earth, which contains water for human use. But lest this well be understood to be one which gives life, he adds, 'of death.' Concerning which in another place it reads: 'Let him not open over me the well of his mouth.' 2 It is a fatal pit, a terrible drowning, where there is no relief given to anyone, nor are the wretched allowed a breath, but thick darkness surrounds, the sight of pleasant light having been stripped away. By this likeness of a well he warns us to fear the torments of hell. O unheard piety of the judge, preached to all men, that blows for wickedness might be avoided. Cassiodorus, Commentary On The Psalms, Psalm 54 1 Ps 54.24 2 Ps 68.16