Commentary Inf IV 55-61

Virgil's list of the patriarchs and matriarchs, beginning with 'our first parent,' Adam (Eve, similarly harrowed, will only be seen in the Empyrean [[Par XXXII 5]]), Abel, Noah, Moses, Abraham, David, Jacob, Isaac, the (twelve) sons of Jacob (and his daughter, Dinah? [but it seems unlikely that Dante was considering her]), and Rachel. The twenty-one (or twenty-two -- if Dante counted Jacob's progeny as we do) Hebrew elders will be added to in Par. XXXII ([Par XXXII 4-12]): Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Judith, and Ruth, thus accounting for some of the 'many others' whom Virgil does not name here, twenty-five men and seven women in all, when we include the others added along the way: Samuel ([Par IV 29]), Rahab ([Par IX 116]), Solomon ([Par X 109]), Joshua ([Par XVIII 38]), Judas Maccabeus ([Par XVIII 49]), and Ezechiel ([Par XX 49]).