The Commedia begins on Maundy Thursday in the year 1300. Dante, at 35 halfway to the biblical life expectancy of 70, finds himself lost in a dark wood in front of a mountain, and assailed by a lion, a she-wolf and a leopard. Unable to find the right way, the spirit of Virgil appears, claiming to have been sent by the love of his life, Beatrice, and the two begin their descent into hell.