Avarice

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
And like Judas Iscariot
He died by hanging
So 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
This was 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
In this plate from the 15th Century edition of the Inferno
Pier Della Vigna's body hangs from a bleeding tree
I will not belabor the obvious parallel
With Judas Iscariot
But Dante Alighieri needed no drawn illustration
It was his genius to make Pier Della Vigna
Now in Hell
Speak in strained hisses and coughing sibilants
As though he is hanging still
Avarice, hanging, self-destruction
"Make my own home...
Be my gallows."