Commentary Purg XXV 28-30

It is as though Virgil himself understands that his explanations, relying on physical laws, do not explain the deeper principles involved in the fact that these souls respond with physical symptoms to a moral sensation.  Dealing with this passage, Pietro di Dante (DDP Pietro1.Purg.XXV.28-30) allegorizes Virgil as 'rational philosophy' and Statius, 'a Christian poet,' as 'moral philosophy.'  It might seem more to the point to realize that Statius, as a saved Christian, simply knows by revelation some mysterious things that are not known by others, e.g., all ordinary mortals and all souls who are not saved.