The most interesting aspect of the Inferno to me is the condemnation to hell of Virgil and other great poets. Virgil stays with Dante throughout the poem and guides him. Virgil protects Dante and Dante is very trusting and admiring of Virgil. However, while Dante eventually makes his way through Hell and ends up in Paradise Virgil is doomed to Hell for eternity. This does not seem very fair to me. Virgil and many of the other great classical poets are in Hell because they were not redeemed by Jesus Christ. The reason they were not redeemed was not because of committing some heinous sin and refusing to repent, but because Jesus Christ had not even appeared on Earth yet. Christianity was not a religion at the time Virgil was alive so to send him to hell for not being Christian just seems illogical. Homer, Horace, Ovid and Lucan are also condemned to Hell for the same reason as Virgil. Virgil says to Dante before they encounter these four intellectuals, “I’d have you know, before you go ahead, they did not sin; and yet, though they have merits, that’s not enough, because they lacked baptism, the portal of the faith that you embrace” (Canto IV 32-35). After hearing this Dante feels pity for the four men and is understandably upset. These men are greatly admired for the things they have done for society. Dante has always respected and looked up to them, so upon seeing them in hell he is doubtful and confused. Virgil reassures him by saying, “He carried off the shade of our first father, of his son Abel, and the shade of Noah, of Moses…and others – and he made them blessed. Before them there were no human souls that had been saved” (Canto IV 55-63). According to Virgil some humans that were born before Christianity were brought to Paradise. This sets Dante’s mind at ease, however, I still disagree with who ends up in limbo. Without the structure of Christianity it would be hard for people to know everything that was considered a sin and what morals to follow. People like Virgil may have committed sins that might have been common or accepted in that time, but are condemned in Dante’s age. I do not think the people who lived before Christianity should be judged in the same way as those who lived after its creation.