Virgil's (Mis)Understanding Of The Harrowing Of Hell: INFERNO, Canto IV, Lines 46 - 84
Our pilgrim and Virgil begin to walk across Limbo, surely the largest surface in hell since its the uppermost ring. In fact, it's at first like a plain or maybe a large campo in a medieval Italian town.Dante has got questions. And Virgil has got answers. Sometimes, the two match. And sometimes, one of Virgil's answers raises more questions than it solves. Mostly because Virgil has no clue about Christian theology. He is the strangest guide in this most Christian of poems.Maybe we can hear a bit of elegy in Virgil's voice in Limbo. Is he "just" the allegory of reason? Maybe he's truly human…
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