Commentary Inf IV 46-51

Dante's question has caused discomfort. Why should he seek confirmation of Christ's ascent to heaven from a pagan? Why should he need to confirm his Christian faith on this indisputable point of credence, without which there is no Christian faith? Neither Dante's question nor Virgil's answer concerns itself primarily with Christ's descent to Limbo and ascent to heaven, but rather with the more nebulous facts regarding those who went up with Him after the harrowing of hell. See, for example, Jacopo Alighieri (DDP Jacopo.Inf.IV.48) or Guiniforto delli Bargigi (DDP Guiniforto.Inf.IV.48) for similar views. And see, for a modern recovery of the importance of the harrowing as a concern in Limbo, the work of Iannucci (Iann.1979.2; Iann.1992.1). 'Did ever anyone, either by his own or by another's merit, go forth from here and rise to blessedness?' Dante's question cannot possibly refer to Christ. But it does refer, first, to the Hebrew patriarchs and matriarchs, second, to unbaptized infants and at least possibly to such as Trajan (allowed to escape Limbo by Pope Gregory's 'merit' and prayer to God on Trajan's behalf) as well as to all those who were later taken up from Limbo and whose ascent Virgil might have witnessed. (Siro A. Chimenz thinks that Dante's second formulation refers to stories of 'salvation by intervention,' including that of Trajan -- DDP Chimenz.Inf.IV.49.) Indeed, Virgil's answer will identify more than twenty of those harrowed by Christ; thus we know how he understood Dante's first concern. (Dante's question begins with the verb and enclitic uscicci [go forth from here]; Virgil's answer begins with the verb and enclitic trasseci [drew forth from here]; this parallel construction nails home the subject: those first sent to Limbo and then harrowed.) Dante was interested in learning, or in confirming what he had heard, about the harrowing. But his question does have a second point. Virgil has himself been elevated from hell, if but for a moment. Dante's question alludes, tacitly, to him as well: 'Are you one of the saved?' Dante's 'covert speech,' as the phrase intimates, is focused on the salvation of pagans. Boccaccio suggests (DDP Boccaccio.Inf.IV.46) that Dante is offering to help Virgil escape from Limbo, if this is possible. While the reading seems forced, it does have the merit of centering attention on the interplay between Dante and Virgil involving the question of the salvation of pagans.