The Wood of the Suicides and Pier della Vigna

Dante and Virgil enter the Wood of Thorns, where the souls of the suicides are transformed into gnarled, poisonous trees. The Harpies nest in the branches, feeding on the leaves and causing pain. Virgil tells Dante to break a twig from a great thorn; when he does, the trunk cries out in pain and bleeds. The spirit within reveals himself as Pier della Vigna, the faithful chancellor of Frederick II, who was unjustly accused and committed suicide. He explains that envy at court inflamed the emperor against him, and he killed himself to escape disgrace. He describes how the souls of suicides are cast into the forest at random, where they sprout like seeds, and at the Last Judgment they will not reclaim their bodies but will hang from the trees. Two naked, scratched souls flee through the forest, pursued by black female mastiffs. One is Lano, the other Jacopo da Sant'Andrea; the dogs tear Jacopo apart. This episode powerfully dramatizes the sin of self-violence and the loss of the body.