ABSTRACT
I. The first of the nether regions visited by Dante is that set apart for such souls as have done neither good nor evil, To this place Dante gives the name of " limbo."3
The Latin noun" limbus," the origin of which is obscure. is used by classical writers, SUCll as Virgil, Ovid, and Statius, with the meaning of II fringe or border adorning the lower part of a garment." In the sixth century it is used with the meaning of "coast." In the Bible and ecclesiastical writings the abode of indifferent souls is named the It Bosom of Abraham," but never the H limbo"; and it is not known who introduced the term into Christian literature. It appears suddenly in the works of the commentators of Peter the Lombard, contemporaries of Dante, who designate by it both the abode of unbaptised children (limbuspuerorum) and the dwelling of the patriarchs of the Old Testament (limbus patrum).4
