And when Dante talked to the tree, there “came forth words and blood together” (XIII. The tree is “ knotted and twisted,” obviously a Hellish rendition of the crucifix, which is straight and even, in the shape of a cross (XIII. The wooden tree is symbolic of the wooden crucifix. There are other Christian images prevalent in this tree. In doing this, he betrayed the will of God along with his own name, since he was no longer “of the vine” of Christ. When he cast himself off the vine, he removed his ability to bear the fruit of God’s spirit. Furthermore, one soul they encounter has the name Piero, meaning “of the vine.” In the act of suicide, Piero cast himself off the “vine” of Christ. Without God they cannot fulfill their role, as people or as trees. These people did not abide by God thus they (literally) do not bear fruit. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In the Bible, God says “I am the vine, you are the branches. The fruit symbolizes the fruit of God’s spirit. In this forest, “no fruit was there” (XIII. The trees themselves are imbued with the spirits of those who committed suicide. He is assaulted with lances and javelins, which envelop him and transform him into his current form.Īn image reminiscent of this encounter is found in Canto 13 of Dante’s Inferno, where Virgil leads Dante through the realm of suicides and together they meet with the However, once Troy falls, the King of Thrace betrays Polydorus, steals his gold, and orders him dead. The tree told its story: when he was human, Polydorus was sent by Priam to the King of Thrace with a large supply of gold, where he was supposed to be taken care of. The tree then spoke to him and revealed that is was the spirit of Polydorus. He tore a branch from a tree, but black blood began to seep out. In the Aeneid, Aeneas stopped at Thrace, and prepared to offer sacrifices to the gods.
One pre-Christian image that Dante imbues with Christian meaning is that of Polydorus. Two such images of this investment of meaning are that of the bleeding, talking tree originally seen in the Aeneid and the transformation of serpent to man found in Metamorphoses He does this by investing pre-Christian people, events, and images taken from pre-Christian works such as Virgil’s Aeneid and Ovid’s Metamorphoses with Christian meaning.
In doing so, he must give the pre-Christian world meaning in terms of humankind’s Christian journey. And as Dante journeys through Hell, he is chronicling the journey of all humankind from the pre-Christian world to the Christian world. They are being punished for sins, or crimes committed against God, even though they lived in a pre-Christian time. Throughout Dante’s journey in Hell, he encounters many souls of people that lived before Christ.