Publius Papinius Statius was a Roman poet of the 1st century CE. Statius is known as one of the best poets of the silver age of Latin poetry, particularly for the Thebaid. Statius appears as an important character in Dante's Divine Comedy, in which Dante meets him in purgatory at the moment he is finally purged of his sins (after more than a millennium of purgation), and accompanies him through the Garden of Eden and into Heaven. In the poem, it is revealed that Statius secretly converted to Christianity, although there is no evidence that this really happened. A poignant comparison is drawn between Statius and Virgil: Virgil is unable to enter Heaven, even though his work provided the seed for Statius' salvation.