Commentary Inf XXXI 125-132

Virgil's captatio benevolentiae has not been successful. Antaeus still needs persuading. Dante, Virgil tells him, can do what he didn't do: make Antaeus famous. Perhaps Antaeus was a better reader of classical texts than some imagine; his lip was still curled with disdain after Virgil's praise had ended. Fame is the spur; Antaeus bends and grasps Virgil, in a benevolent replay of his own death scene, when Hercules held him in his hands.