Right there, on that brilliant green surface, The great spirits were clearly in view, So that I still glory in having seen them face to face. Caesar were ones I knew. 124 I saw Camilla's and Penthesilea's Shades, across from those of two kin, King Latinus' and his daughter Lavinia's. The poet finds himself transported across Acheron. Virgil feels pity for the souls in Limbo, where he himself dwells, but not for those in Hell, where pity would be inappropriate.
Christian doctrine denies salvation to the unbaptized.
Virgil died in 19 B.C. and Christ descended into Limbo in 33 A.D., so that Virgil had been there for fifty years. This journey, during which Christ removed the Old Testament figures and brought them to Heaven, is called the Harrowing of Hell, and originates in the Gospel of Nicodemus in the Apocrypha . This was later incorpoarated into Christian dogma. Virgil, without the comprehension of a Christian, honors Christ in pagan terms. Greek literature was known to Dante either in Latin translation or by indirect reference.