Upon first glance, it may seem strange that Dante gave a pagan such a central role in his epic Christian poem. Beatrice, a more worthy soul, will take Virgil’s place. In the Divine Comedy, the great Latin poet represents the limitations of natural reason: Virgil may serve as the pilgrim’s guide through hell and purgatory, but because he possesses neither the gift of grace nor the Christian faith, he cannot accompany him through heaven. He tells the pilgrim that he has been sent by Beatrice, a lady whose “eyes shone brighter than the stars” to guide him through the eternal place where the damned “bewail their second death” and later, up the mountain where penitent souls purge themselves of vice. The figure is Virgil, the ancient Roman poet born in 70 BC, and the author of the Aeneid, the Eclogues, and the Georgics. The pilgrim turns back in despair, sees a mysterious figure heading towards him, and fearfully cries out: “Have pity on my soul”. Three ravenous beasts, the Leopard, the Lion, and the She-Wolf block him from following the virtuous path leading to the colle luminoso, a small hill bathed in sunlight. At the beginning of the Inferno, Dante, the pilgrim, finds himself lost in the Selva Oscura or the Dark Wood of sin.
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