A passage in Canto XXI, 112-114, has been used by commentators to fix the fictional date of Canto I as the night before Good Friday, April 7, 1300. The Inferno was written during Dante's exile from Florence, whereas it purports to recount events that occurred much earlier. However, in order to fathom the sheer richness of the poem, it is necessary to have an understanding of the more widely accepted interpretations. Metaphors and symbolism are found in every line, and to give a complete description of all the interpretations that have been made would be a huge undertaking. The Inferno is an opaque poem, which lends itself particularly well to complicated interpretation, and no doubt was intended as such. Virgil would not be able to take Dante all the way to Paradise, since as a Pagan he had no right to enter there instead a more worthy soul would take him the final part of the way. In the meantime, Virgil would lead Dante to salvation, but first they must pass through Hell. Virgil informed him that the three beasts were impassible: the she-wolf would reign until the greyhound came and slew her, and restored peace to Italy. Dante was too frightened to continue, and retreated back to the forest, where fortunately he met the shade of Virgil, his literary hero. However, when he tried to climb the hill to reach the brighter regions, he found his way blocked by three savage animals: first a leopard, then a lion, then a she-wolf. Worried and frightened, he was comforted by the sight of a hill, the top of which was sunlit. Dante recounts that in the middle of his life, he found himself lost in a dark forest, having lost the right path while half asleep.
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