Commentary Inf VIII 7-12

Dante's three questions are not really answered by Virgil, who does not say exactly what the twinned flame signifies, does not say at all what the second means in answer, and similarly ignores the question of agency with respect to the second flame. He does imply that Phlegyas's skiff is what the custodians of the first flame summoned. The reader's uneasy feeling that there is more going on here than Virgil realizes was perhaps first given a voice by Barolini (Baro.1984.1), p. 204. She describes this passage as 'the moment in which we begin to realize that Virgil is not infallible, nor, as he has been viewed up to now, the fount of all wisdom.'