Canto III
Arriving at the gate of Hell, the poets read the inscription upon its lintel. They enter and find themselves in the Vestibule of Hell, where the Futile run perpetually after a moving standard. Passing quickly on the reach the river Acheron. Here the souls of all the damned come at death to be ferried across by Charon, who refuses to take the living body of Dante till Virgil silences him with a word of power. While they are watching the departure of a boatload of souls the river banks are shaken by an earthquake so violent that Dante swoons away.
Canto IV
Recovering from his swoon, Dante finds himself across Acheron and on the edge of the actual pit of Hell. He follows Virgil into the First Circle—the Limbo where the Unbaptized and the Virtuous Pagans dwell "suspended", knowing no torment saving exclusion from the positive bliss of God's presence. Virgil tells him of Christ's Harrowing of Hell, then shows him the habitation of the great men of antiquity—poets, heroes, and philosophers.
Stay safe out there, friends.
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