Beatrice descends into hell to commission Virgil to rescue Dante. Saint Lucia (a symbol of light) brings the news after the Virgin Mary herself makes the danger known to Lucia. This was because, Virgil, having died before Christ was born, was a pagan and thus never baptised.īeatrice, Dante’s beloved, who is in heaven, comes to know Dante is in need of help. In accordance with the orthodoxy of Dante’s time and place, Virgil was forever consigned to hell. The ghost of Virgil, a long dead Roman poet, has shown up just in time to take on the job as Dante’s guide. But before Dante gets there he has more adventures. Far from suffering the tortures of hell, although they can never leave, they are surrounded by meadows and hang out in erudite splendour. As Dante’s allegory of the journey of the soul continues, it will take him to a beautiful castle inhabited by the good and the great.
Limbo, it turns out, isn’t so bad, even if is found in the first level of Dante Alighieri’s hell.
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