Canto XIII

In Canto XIII, Dante and Virgil enter into the Wood of Suicides, the second round of the seventh circle focusing on violence. The violence being punished in the second round is violence against the self. They hears wails and moans but sees nothing but dense black forest and harpies – half-women, half-beast, bird-like creatures- feeding on the branches. Dante stops out of confusing and believes Virgil know that he thinks that hidden spirits among the trees are the ones making the noises. With Virgil’s instructions, Dante breaks off a branch of one of the trees, which results in the tree bleeding and asking Dante if he has no sense of pity whatsoever.

“Men were we once, now we are changed to scrub” (XIII. 37) says the tree, who in life was Pier della Vigna, chief counselor of Frederick II of Sicily. Offering to repeat his story when he returns to Earth, the spirit tells them that he was faithful and honest throughout his life but because of the sorrow that came from the envy of the court (they couldn’t bribe him) he killed himself.

The spirit further explains that the souls of those that commit suicide are torn from the body and sent to Minos, who automatically sends them to the seventh circle where they are dropped, sprout and grow. They are forever stuck with the harpies eating their leaves, causing them great pain. Additionally, when they are called to the Last Judgment, they will claim their bodies but never “wear” them since “wrong it is/ for a man to have again what he once cast off” (XIII. 104-105).

The punishment for those that commit violence against themselves is perceived to be “worse” than those that commit violence against neighbors – since they are lower down/ closer to Satan. Additional to the constant pain cause by the harpies, their punishment is the deprivation of having a mortal form since on Earth they themselves got rid of their bodies. What is also evident in the example of Pier, is that even if one is faithful and honest for all of their lives, the one moment of “weakness” that results in committing suicide forever condemns them to damnation.

Something interesting that I noticed between Canto XIII and Canto V is that from those that were punished for their lust, Dido is said to have “killed herself for love” (V. 61) yet she is not condemned in the Wood of Suicides but rather in the Second Circle. Perhaps this is because she views her “worst” sin to have been infidelity and not taking her own life.