After a time, the group salutes Dante, saying they regard him as one of their number. Virgil tells Dante their names and then turns away to talk with them. He asks Virgil why these souls are honored by separation from the other spirits, and Virgil replies that their fame on Earth gained them this place.Ī voice hails Virgil's return, and the shades of Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan approach the two poets. Dante sees a fire ahead and realizes that figures of honor rest near it.

The two poets have been walking during this conversation, and they pass by the wood of Limbo. Dante asks if any soul was ever redeemed from Limbo, and Virgil tells him that the 'Mighty One' came once and took a number of souls to Heaven. Virgil explains that these shades (souls) are only here because they were born without the benefit of Christianity, either due to being born before Christ, or because the soul was an unbaptized child. The poets enter the first circle of Hell - Limbo - the place where virtuous pagans reside. Virgil explains that his pallor is due to pity, not fear. He finds himself across the Acheron and on the brink of a deep abyss from which he hears the 'thunder of Hell's eternal cry.' Virgil asks Dante to follow him, but Dante is wary because Virgil is deathly pale. He has been in a deep sleep for some time, so his eyes are rested.

Limbo hell