Minos

They leave limbo and enter the Second Circle. Here sits Minos, the dread and semi-bestial Judge of the Damned. He wrings his hands in ferocious pleasure as he contemplates the horror each sinner will endure.

He defines with the number of coils of his tail, one coil for each circle, the circle to which the sinner will descend.

Each soul waits its turn, confesses, hears its doom and falls through space.

As Dante's strength returns, they begin the first circle. He signs a great dome of light. Here on this pinnacle above and apart are the Virtuous pagans: Homer, Horace, Lucan and Ovid, the greatest poets of all time.

These are ornaments of wisdom and art. They will never know the Joy of Heaven nor the horrors of Hell.