Introduction<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a poet and student of literature, Dante Alghieri undoubtedly venerated human rationality. His <\/span>magnum opus<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>The Divine Comedy<\/span><\/i>, contains heroes whose virtues and vices demonstrate the heights and depths of human flourishing. However, despite its emphasis on the affairs of corporeal characters, <\/span>The<\/span><\/i> Divine Comedy<\/span><\/i> is as much about the divine as it is about the human. In Canto IX of <\/span>Inferno<\/span><\/i>, Dante reveals a world that exemplifies the boundaries of the human intellect and the salvific need for divine aid. Throughout the poem, Virgil is depicted as the embodiment of human wisdom; as such, his inability to break through the gates of Dis and his fear in the face of adversity represents Dante\u2019s view that humanity is unable to overcome evil alone. In this essay, \u201cHuman Wisdom\u201d will be used as a reference to Dante\u2019s anthropomorphizing of human wisdom in the character of Virgil. Dante further elucidates the dangers of relying on the human intellect by framing the Poets as under the threat of stasis, whereby they are prevented from being able to move forward and are subjected to the threat of permanent hopelessness through Medusa. Nonetheless, Dante uses Virgil\u2019s conduct and the juxtaposition between Virgil and the Heavenly Messenger in order to communicate the ability of human wisdom to avoid sin while also establishing the necessity of divine grace to defeat sin.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virgil as the embodiment of human wisdom<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By virtue of his status as a leader in Limbo, which is partially occupied by all the pagans who reached the greatest extent of human flourishing possible without God, Virgil acts as the representation of human wisdom itself. Limbo, which is where these virtuous pagans live, is explicitly associated with human wisdom: upon being initiated into the band of supreme poets, the Pilgrim exclaims that he was \u201csixth among so much wisdom.\u201d^{[1]<\/sup><\/a>Dante, Alighieri, and John Ciardi. The Divine Comedy. New York: W.W. Norton, 1970. Print, 1.4.101-102<\/span><\/span>}