Toynbee "Giàcomo da Santo Andrea"
gentleman of Padua, placed by D., among those who have squandered their substance, in Round 2 of Circle VII of Hell, [Inf. xiii. 133], (he and Lano of Siena) due [peccatori], [Inf. xiii. 115]; l'altro, [Inf. xiii. 119]; quel, [Inf. xiii. 127, 128] [Scialacquatori]. As D. and Virgil are conversing with Pier della Vigna in the wood of the Suicides, they hear a tremendous crash, and see two spirits (those of Lano and Giacomo), naked and bleeding, come flying through the bushes, pursued by black hounds ([Inf. xiii. 109-126]); one of them (Giacomo), exhausted from want of breath, sinks down behind a bush, and is there torn to pieces by the hounds ([Inf. xiii. 122-123], [Inf. xiii. 127-129]); the bush, which conceals a suicide (said to be Lotto degli Agli of Florence), and which had been rent by the hounds in their attack upon Giacomo, utters a complaint against the latter for having made a screen of it ([Inf. xiii. 130-135]); D. and V., having approached, hear from the suicide the history of his past life ([Inf. xiii. 136-151]) [Agli, Lotto degli].

Giacomo della Cappella di Sant'Andrea of Padua was the son of Odorico da Monselice and Speronella Delesmanini, a very wealthy lady, who is said to have had six husbands. Giacomo appears to have inherited a great property, which he squandered in the most senseless acts of prodigality. He is supposed to have been put to death by order of Ezzelino da Romano in 1239. [See E. Salvagnini, 'Jacopo da Sant'Andrea e i feudatarii del padovano', in Dante e Padova (Padova, 1865), pp. 30-74 and R. Cessi, Bull. Museo civico di Padova, xi (1908), 49 ff.]

His chief peculiarity seems to have been a mania for setting fire to his own and other people's houses. On one occasion, when on his way from Padua to Venice, he is said to have used a large number of gold coins in making 'ducks and drakes' in the Brenta. On another, being sleepless, he ordered his attendants to tear up in his chambers a quantity of stiff silken stuffs in order that the sound of the tearing might make him drowsy. Benvenuto gives the following account of him, which he says came to him from a trustworthy source:

. . . debes scire quod iste Jacobus fuit de potenti civitate Paduae, vir nobilis de capella sancti Andreae, a qua denominationem sumpsit; homo quidem ditissimus omnium privatorum suae patriae in campis, villis, pecuniis, animalibus; qui inaestimabilem opulentiam divitiarum prodigaliter, immo proterve et insane perdidit et consumpsit. Nam, ut audivi a fide dignis de terra sua, fecit multas ridendas vanitates. Semel cum non posset dormire, mandavit, ut portarentur plures petiae pignolati cipriani facti cum colla, et lacerarentur a familiaribus in camera, ut ad illum stridulum sonum provocaretur sibi somnus; ideo digne autor facit ipsum a canibus lacerari, non ad solatium, sed ad supplicium. Alia vice cum iret de Padua Venetias per flumen Brentae in navi cum aliis juvenibus sociis, quorum aliqui pulsabant, aliqui cantabant, iste fatuus, ne solus videretur inutilis et otiosus, coepit accipere pecuniam, et denarios singulatim deiicere in aquam cum magno risu omnium. Sed ne discurrendo per ista, videar tibi magis prodigus verborum quam ipse nummorum, venio breviter ad magnam violentiam, quam insane fecit in bona sua. Cum enim semel esset in rure suo, audivit, quemdam magnatem cum comitiva magna nobilium iree ad prandium secum; et qma non erat provisus, nec poterat in brevissimo temporis spatio providere, secundum quod suae prodigalitati videbatur convenire subito egregia cautela usus est; nam fecit statim mitti ignem in omnia tuguria villae suae satis apta incendio, quia ex paleis, stipulis et canulis, qualia sunt communiter domicilia rusticorum in territorio paduanorum; et veniens obviam istis, dixit, quod fecerat hoc ad festum et gaudium propter eorum adventum, ut ipsos magnificentius honoraret. In hoc certe violentior et vanior fuit Nerone, quia Nero fecit incendi domos urbis, iste vero proprias. . . . Ideo bene autor induxit canes ad faciendam venationem de eo, qui sibi et alteri violentiam miserabilem intulerat.

©Oxford University Press 1968. From A Dictionary of Proper Names and Notable Matters in the Works of Dante by Paget Toynbee (1968) by permission of Oxford University Press