on the right side of the composition is patinier's vision of hell, drawing largely on boschian influences. he adapts a description of hades, in which, according to the greek writer pausanias, one of the gates was located at the southern end of the peloponnesus, in an inlet still visible on the cape matapan. in front of the gates is cerberus, a three-headed dog, who guards the entrance of the gate and frightens all the potential souls who enter into hades. the soul in the boat ultimately chooses his destiny by looking toward hell and ignoring the angel on the river-bank in paradise that beckons him to the more difficult path to heaven.