[658] Conv. II. vii. 104-108.

[659] “This small star.” Par. vi. 112.

[660] Conv. II. xiv. 92-98.

[661] The Frankfort printed edition and some Latin MSS of Alfraganus agree with this: the edition of Golius gives ¹/₁₈.

[662] Almagest, Bk. IX.

[663]
“This heaven, where ends the shadowy cone Cast by your world.” Par. ix. 118, 119. (Longfellow).

[664] Rabbi Abraham ben Chija, in his Sphæra Mundi, written about 1100 a.d., says that Earth’s shadow extends as far as the distance of Mercury, not of Venus (Delambre, Histoire de l’astronomie ancienne, and Dreyer, Planetary Systems); but this does not agree with the figures given by Alfraganus.

[665] Her diameter would look no larger than the diameter of Saturn, as we see it when nearest to him; but like Saturn she would be visible as a bright point, because shining by reflected sunlight. Ancient and mediæval astronomers never realized this, however, but thought of Earth as a dark body, receiving light but giving none.

[666] Conv. II. xiv. 126, 127; Par. x. 40-42, 48.

[667] Par. xxii. 67; xxxi. 19-24; xxx. 118-123.

[668] Par. ii. 25-45.

[669] “The first star.”

[670] “The shadow which is in her is nothing but rare parts of her substance, which cannot stop the rays of the sun and reflect them back like the other parts.” Conv. II. xiv. 72-76.

[671] Plutarch, On the Face in the Moon, translation by Prickard.

[672] See Paget Toynbee, Le Teorie Dantesche sulle Macchie della Luna, in Giornale Storico della Letteratura Italiana, vol. xxvi. pp. 156-161.

[673] Albert of Saxony notes this objection, but says the rarity is not sufficiently great to make these parts transparent.

[674] This is in agreement with modern belief. Some parts of the moon’s surface reflect sunlight less well than others, and therefore look dark, just as a peaty soil looks darker than limestone.

[675] Conv. II. iv. 94-96.

[676] “That which was within the sun [sc. the spirits].” Par. x. 41.

[677] “In the depths of Mars.” Par. xiv. 100, 101.

[678] “The temperate sixth star, which within itself had received me.” Par. xviii. 68, 69.

[679] “The present pearl.” Par. vi. 127.

[680] “This fire.” Par. xvi. 38.

[681]
“Well was I ’ware that I was more uplifted By the enkindled smiling of the star That seemed to me more ruddy than its wont.” Par. xiv. 85-87. (Longfellow).
[682]
“And such as is the change, in little lapse Of time, in a pale woman, when her face Is from the load of bashfulness unladen, Such was it in mine eyes, when I had turned, Caused by the whiteness of the temperate star, The sixth, which to itself had gathered me.” Par. xviii. 64-69. (Longfellow).
[683]
“He in semblance such became As Jove might be, if he and Mars were birds, And interchanged their plumes.” Par. xxvii. 13-15. (Carey).

[684] “The temperate light of Jove, between his father and his son.” Par. xxii. 145-146.

[685] Conv. II. xiv. 196-198.

[686] Cf. Ristoro, Comp. del Mondo, III. iii.

[687] Conv. II. xiv. 161-165.

[688] “The planet that strengthens the cold.” Canz. xv. 7.

[689] Purg. xix. 1-3.

[690] Conv. II. xiv. 78, 79.

[691] De Mon. III. iv. 140-142.

[692] See quotations from Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon in Moore’s Studies, iii. p. 45, note.

[693] “Bestow light on the stars.” Canz. xix. 117.

[694] “The sun illumines first himself and then all celestial and elemental bodies with visible light.” Conv. III. xii. 54-56.

[695] Par. xxxii. 107, 108.

[696] Par. xx. 1-6; compare xxiii. 28-30.

[697] Moore, Dante and his early Biographers, p. 95.

[698] Inf. xx. 38.

[699] Inf. xx. 115-118, 46-51.

[700] “The star of love.” Canz. xv. 4.

[701] “The fair planet which incites to love.” Purg. i. 19.

[702] Par. ix. 94-96.

[703] Par. ix. 32, 33.

[704] Conv. II. Canz. 1-6.

[705] Conv. II. vii. 88-100.

[706] De Mon. III. iv. 139, 140.

[707] Par. xvii. 76-78.

[708] Par. xviii. 115-117.

[709] Par. xxi. 13-15.

[710] Par. i. 40-42; Canz. xv. 41.

[711] Par. xxii. 112-117. The Ottimo, commenting this passage, says that Gemini “is the house of Mercury, who signifies, according to the astrologers, literature, science, and learning. And in this direction it disposes those who are born when it is in the ascendant, and more powerfully if the sun is in it.”

[712] Inf. xv. 55.

[713] Conv. II. xiv. 170-180.

[714] Inf. xxiv. 145-150.

[715] V. N. xxx. 22-24.

[716] Ball. vi. 11, 12.

[717]
“From that bright star which moveth on its way For ever at the Empyrean’s will, And between Mars and Saturn ruleth still, E’en as the expert astrologer doth say, She who inspires me with her beauty’s ray Doth subtle art of sovereignty distil; And he whose glory doth the fourth heaven fill Gives her the power my longing soul to sway. And that fair planet known as Mercury Colours her speech with all its virtue rare, And the first heaven its boon does not deny. She who the third heaven ruleth as her share Makes her heart full of utterance pure and free; So all the seven to perfect her agree.” Sonnet xxviii. (Plumptre).

[718] Par. ii. 64-72, 130 to end.

[719] “It should be borne in mind that although the starry heaven has unity in substance it nevertheless has multiplicity in virtue.” Qu. xxi. 12-14.

[720]
“ ... E’en so The intellectual efficacy unfolds Its goodness multiplied throughout the stars, On its own unity revolving still.” Par. ii. 136-138. (Carey).

[721] “So many are the stars which spread themselves over her sky, that surely we cannot wonder if they make many and diverse fruits grow on human nobility, so many are their natures and potencies, concentrated and united in one simple substance; and on them as on diverse branches she bears fruit in diverse ways.”
Conv. IV. xix. 45-52. (Jackson).
See also Conv. IV. xxi. 62-66.

[722] Qu. xxi. 17-19.

[723] Conv. II. iv. 75-77.

[724] But see Tozer’s English Commentary on Dante’s Divina Commedia, note on Par. xvi. 37. “In mediæval astrology Mars was one of the Lords of the Lion.”

[725] Par. iii. 55-57.

[726] See p. 202.

[727] De Mon. II. ii. 15-18, 25, 26, 36-38; III. ii. 30-32; xvi. 91-101;
Ep. v. 133-135; Par. ii. 121, viii. 97-99.

[728] Ep. v. 124, 125.

[729] Par. ii. 127, 128.

[730] Par. ii. 130-132; xiii. 73-75; viii. 127, 128; i. 41, 42. Ristoro of Arezzo uses the same expression, Comp. del Mondo, Bk. VII. part I. chapter 2.

[731] Purg. vi. 100; xx. 13, 14; xxxiii. 40-45.

[732] Par. vii. 133-141; xiii. 65, 66;
Conv. III. xv. 159-161; II. xv. 152-154; IV. xxiii. 50-52.

[733] Conv. II. xiv. 28-30; IV. ii. 58-61; Par. xxvi. 128, 129.

[734] Par. viii. 127-135.

[735] Par. iv. 49-60.
See also Ecl. ii. 16, 17; and
Conv. IV. xxi. 17-19, 25-27.

[736] De Mon. II. ii. 21-23; Cf. Par. xiii. 64-78.

[737] “This carries fire towards the moon, this compresses and binds Earth together.” Par. i. 115, 117. See also De Mon. III. vii. 30, 31, and I. xv. 38-41; Conv. III. iii. 10-13; Qu. xviii. 11, 12, and many others.

[738]
“The fire doth upward move By its own form, which to ascend is born, Where longest in its matter it endures.” Purg. xviii. 28-30. (Longfellow).

[739] Inf. xxxii. 8, and 74; xxxiv. 110, 111. See also Par. xxxiii. 22, 23; Inf. ix. 28, 29; Qu. iii. 6-9, etc.

[740] De Mon. I. xv. 46-48; Qu. xii. 39-42.

[741] “The point towards which weights are drawn from every direction.” Inf. xxxiv. 110-111.

[742] “Laboriously and painfully.” Inf. xxxiv. 78.

[743] “Panting like a tired man.” Inf. xxxiv. 83.

[744] Qu. xvi. 54, 55.

[745] This is nowhere stated, but everywhere taken for granted, and in Conv. II. xiv. 211 the circle is said to be the most perfect of figures.

[746] “Oh ye whose intellectual ministry moves the third heaven.” Conv. II. canzone; and Par. viii. 37.

[747] Conv. II. v. 119-126.

[748] “Although they did not think of them as philosophically asPlato.” Conv. II. v. 5-37, 94, 95; vi. 154-159.

[749] Par. ii. 127-129, 142-144.

[750] Conv. II. v. and vi.

[751] Par. viii. 34-37.

[752] Cf. Par. xxviii. 98 to end, with
Conv. II. vi. 43-55, 106-109.

[753] Par. xxviii. 34-39, 64-75.

[754]
”In one God I believe, Sole and eterne, who moveth all the heavens, With love and with desire, Himself unmoved.” Par. xxiv. 130-132. (Longfellow).

[755] Conv. II. iv. 13-30;
Ep. x. 442-452, and 472-488;
Par. i. 121-123.

[756] Probably equal to 26,500 English statute miles.

[757] 300 English statute miles.

[758] Conv. IV. ix. 23-25.

[759] Compare with Dante’s accurate descriptions a poem by Kipling in “A School History of England”:—

“South and far south below the line Our Admiral leads us on. Above, undreamed-of planets shine.” (!)