Canto 12-20

To fail him, he stopped and hunched against a bush
As if to make himself and its branches one.

Behind them, eager as greyhounds off the leash,
Black bitches filled the woods, avid and quick.
They set their teeth on the one who stopped to crouch,

And tore his limbs apart; and then they took
The wretched members away. then my escort
Led me by one hand to the bush – which spoke,

Grieving in vain through places where it was hurt
And bled: "Jacopo da Santo Andrea," it cried,
"What did you gain by shielding me? What part

Had I in your sinful life?" [Canto XIII]

This passage is fascinating because we see, in the pits of hell the very human characteristics of compassion, empathy and self-sacrifice. One would think that these virtues would be all but extinct in hell, but apparently not. This passage reflects the greater notion that the beings in hell, whether they be bush, tree shade, or just plain homo sapien, were all once humans, and their human minds are still intact. So, for all intents and purposes, they are still human inside. For one, their memories stay intact. Several of the beings Dante encounter ask him to comfort their memories in the human world, to speak positively of them and tell the people that they have since repented for their wrongs. Again, I believe that, for the most part, these humans don't deserve the punishment being bestowed upon them – even the most sinful of them. In the above-quoted passage, we see humans banding together and showing compassion in the face of unspeakable catastrophe. Is this not indicative of a basic good in man?

The passage also raises the logistical question of what exactly happens to Jacopo Da Santo Andrea when his limbs are torn off and dragged into different corners of the woods. I mean, you're in hell, where else can you go when you die again? For all intents and purposes, the inhabitants in hell are immortal; they can still feel physical pain, but their existence can never be threatened, as they are already dead. In such an existence, does physical pain not eventually lose all meaning? When eventually you realize you'll never die no matter how much pain you're in, wouldn't you eventually be able to slough off the pain, drawing on mental reserves and the knowledge that the pain cannot kill you? It seems to me that Dante's conception of hell was not fully thought through, given the logical fallacies inherent in his creation.