might repudiate what they called "the luxurious eloquence of Virgil", but they could not deny the power of his appeal. Dante's Divine Comedy Dante presents Virgil as his guide through Hell and the greater part of Purgatory in the Divine Comedy. Dante also mentions Virgil in De vulgari eloquentia, as one of the four regulati poetae along with Ovid, Lucan and Statius (ii, vi, 7). Purgatorio In Purgatorio 21, the pilgrim and Virgil encounter the shade of Statius, the author of the Thebaid. Statius claims that Virgil was his "mama ... and nurse in writing poetry", as well as wishing that he could have "lived back there while Virgil was alive". Virgil does not wish for Statius to know his true identity, and he turns to Dante with "a look that silently said: 'Be Silent". However, Dante smiles "like one who gives a hint", at the irony of the situation. Statius misinterprets Dante's laughter for disdain, and Virgil comes forth to reveal himself. Upon learning his identity, Statius moves to embrace Virgil as a fellow poet; but Virgil says, "Brother, do not, for you are a shade, and a shade is what you see", since Statius is a Christian who "exceeds him in the order of grace". In Purgatorio 22, Statius claims that not only was Virgil his poetic inspiration but also that "through you [I became] a Christian", Statius having read Virgil's words in Eclogue 4 as a prophecy of Christ: "The age begins anew; justice / returns and the first human time, and a new / offspring comes down from Heaven." Renaissance and early modernity The Renaissance saw a number of authors inspired to write epic in Virgil's wake: Edmund Spenser called himself the English Virgil; Paradise Lost was influenced by the example of the Aeneid; and later artists influenced by Virgil include Berlioz and Hermann Broch. Legends The legend of "Virgil in his basket" arose in the Middle Ages, and is often seen in art and mentioned in literature as part of the Power of Women literary topos, demonstrating the disruptive force of female attractiveness on men. In this story Virgil became enamored of a beautiful woman, sometimes described as the emperor's daughter or mistress and called Lucretia. She played him along and agreed to an assignation at her house, which he was to sneak into at night by climbing into a large basket let down from