Virgil is extremely important to the Inferno, both symbolically and in his own person. Explain this importance.

Virgil
is hugely important for Dante, both as a poet and as a man, for a number of reasons. As a
humanist, Dante was steeped in the newly rediscovered works of classical learning, of which the
poems of Virgil formed such a major part. In according such a prominent role to the great Roman
poet in his masterwork, Dante is paying his respects to a noble predecessor, one whose enormous
and enduring impact on the world of polite letters he wishes to emulate and ultimately
surpass.

Virgil was honored and venerated throughout Western Christendom, not
just on account of his achievements as a poet, but also due to his status as a virtuous pagan.
This assessment was largely based on Virgil's Fourth Eclogue, which,
according to a widely held interpretation, prefigured the birth of Christ. A virtuous pagan he
may have been, but Virgil was still a pagan all the same, not a Christian. So it's significant
that, in , Virgil leads Dante up to the gates of Heaven, but no further.
The...