Imprisonment and Suicide
In the year 1249 members of the royal household attempted to poison Frederick. Frederick had Pietro imprisoned and chained like a dog in Pisa. After a year in prison he was visited by the Emperor; he was unable to communicate or defend himself as the Emperor had his eyes ripped out; the Emperor and his entourage left. Unable to bear the disgrace, della Vigna fell to his knees with his hands outstretched and begged for mercy, before smashing his head on the stone floor, until his brains rushed forth from his cracked skull. {TH}
Read more about this topic: Pietro Della Vigna
Famous quotes containing the words imprisonment and/or suicide:
“... imprisonment itself, entailing loss of liberty, loss of citizenship, separation from family and loved ones, is punishment enough for most individuals, no matter how favorable the circumstances under which the time is passed.”
—Mary B. Harris (1874–1957)
“However great a man’s fear of life, suicide remains the courageous act, the clear-headed act of a mathematician. The suicide has judged by the laws of chance—so many odds against one that to live will be more miserable than to die. His sense of mathematics is greater than his sense of survival. But think how a sense of survival must clamour to be heard at the last moment, what excuses it must present of a totally unscientific nature.”
—Graham Greene (1904–1991)