That is to say, when Sun and Moon (the children of Latona) are both on the horizon, but one being in Aries and the other in Libra they are opposite one another, the zenith for a moment holds them, as it were, in balance; but the next moment one will drop below the horizon while the other rises above it, thus changing from the visible to the invisible hemisphere and _vice versa_, as each frees itself (“si dilibra”) of the common horizon that girdled them. The pause of Beatrice was as brief as the time during which sun and moon would thus hang in the balance. Yet, though Dante shows that he was familiar with the movements and appearances of the moon, his allusions to her are cold and comparatively rare. Unlike modern poets, moonlight does not seem to have had any great fascination for him. In all his works there are only fifty-one references to the moon, and far the greater number of these are remarks about the measurement of time, or else her phases, her markings, her share in causing eclipses etc. In all his short poems (including those of the _Vita Nuova_ and _Convivio_) there are but two references, and those as dry as possible. “Più lune”[176] is once used, meaning several months, and in a sonnet which describes the influences of each heaven on his lady, all he can find to say of the moon’s is “E ’l primo ciel di sè già non l’è duro.”[177] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [176] “Many moons.” _Canz._ xx. 89. [177] “And the first heaven is not grudging to her.”—_Sonetto_ xxviii. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The chill of moonlight is spoken of as with a shudder on the hill of Purgatory;[178] and its usefulness is recognized rather grudgingly when Virgil remarks that yesternight the moon was full, and adds that Dante must remember it, since it did him no harm in the depths of the Forest.[179] It is true there is some beauty in the description of the aurora which preceded moonrise[180] on the first night in Purgatory, but Dante gives it an ugly name, and the waning moon when seen on the following night, four days after full, is oddly compared to a bucket in shape. Dante did not admire this gibbous form, for he instances the outline of the moon when not quite full as an ignoble curve, contrasting it with the beauty of a perfect circle.[181] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [178] _Purg._ xix. 1, 2. [179] _Inf._ xx. 127-129. [180] _Purg._ ix. 1-9. [181] _Conv._ IV. xvi. 89-93. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration: Fig. 39. Sun, moon, and zenith. To illustrate _Par._ xxix. 1-6. (_See p. 265_). In the first figure the sun and moon are balanced, as it were, being at equal distances from the zenith: in the second, a few minutes later, by the rising of the sun and the setting of the moon, the balance is disturbed, and each changes its hemisphere.]