The violent are confined to the seventh circle of Dante’s hell, which is divided among those who commit violence against neighbors, against themselves, and against God. In the second category, those who commit violence against themselves, are not only suicides, but those who have “robbed themselves of life on earth above,/ gambled their substance, melted all their wealth,/ or wept for things that should have brought them joy” (11.43-45, Anthony Esolen’s translation). Dante treats goods as inherent in the person, so that an assault on the former is an attack on the latter.
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