Who were Dante's sodomites, however? They evidently did not include great pagan scientists, philosophers, and statesmen, among whom were known proponents of male-male love, such as Plato and Socrates, who are only in Limbo, the first circle of hell. Perhaps Dante was better at historicizing than some lost souls here.
<http://www.bartleby.com/20/104.html> Electra there I saw accompanied By many, among whom Hector I knew, Anchises' pious son, and with hawk's eye Cæsar all arm'd, and by Camilla there Penthesilea. On the other side, Old King Latinus seated by his child Lavinia, and that Brutus I beheld Who Tarquin chased, Lucretia, Cato's wife Marcia, with Julia and Cornelia there; And sole apart retired, the Soldan fierce.
Then when a little more I raised my brow, I spied the master of the sapient throng, Seated amid the philosophic train. Him all admire, all pay him reverence due. There Socrates and Plato both I mark'd Nearest to him in rank, Democritus, Who sets the world at chance, Diogenes, With Heraclitus, and Empedocles, And Anaxagoras, and Thales sage, Zeno, and Dioscorides well read In nature's secret lore. Orpheus I mark'd And Linus, Tully and moral Seneca, Euclid and Ptolemy, Hippocrates, Galenus, Avicen, and him who made That commentary vast, Averroes. -- Yoshie