Agnus dei, agnus dei, agnus dei, agnus dei
Agnus dei, agnus dei, agnus dei, agnus dei

Because of his avarice, and his betrayal
Of the emperor's trust, Pier della Vigna was disgraced
Blinded, and imprisoned, dante's pilgrim finds
Pier della Vigna on the seventh level of the Inferno

Like Judas Iscariot, he died by hanging
But Judas and Pier della Vigna are linked in Dante
By the avarice he saw in them, in fact
Avarice and hanging are linked in the medieval mind

Now this is the earliest known depiction of the Crucifixion
Carved on an ivory box in Gaul, about A-D 400
It includes the death by hanging of Judas
His face upturned to the branch that suspends him

Here he is again on the doors of the Benevento cathedral
Hanging, this time with his bowels falling out
Now on this plate from the fifteenth-century edition of the Inferno
Pier della Vigna's body hangs from a bleeding tree

I will not belabour the obvious parallel with Judas Iscariot
But Dante Alighieri needed no drawn illustration
It is his genius to make Pier della Vigna, now in Hell
Speak in strained hisses and coughing sibilants as though he is hanging still

Come l'altre verrem per nostre spoglie
Ma non però ch'alcuna sen rivesta
Ché non è giusto aver ciò ch'om si toglie

Qui le trascineremo, e per la mesta
Selva saranno i nostri corpi appesi
Ciascuno al prun de l'ombra sua molesta

Avarice, hanging, self destruction
Io fei gibbetto a me le mie case
Make my own home be my gallows