When Dante wishes to express the transition of his feelings from despondency to courage, at seeing the stern and troubled face of his guide melt suddenly to a smile, he compares himself to a poor shepherd who wakes early and sees the fields covered, as he thinks, with snow, but in a short time finds that it is only hoar-frost which has put on the semblance of her white sister, and seeing the face of the world changed he gladly leads out his sheep to pasture. The time at which this may happen is “Quella parte del giovinetto anno, Che il sole i crin sotto l’Aquario tempra, E già le notti al mezzodì sen vanno.”[225] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [225] “In that part of the youthful year wherein The sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers, And now the nights draw near to half the day.” _Inf._ xxiv. 1-3. (_Longfellow_). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ That part of the youthful year when the sun cools his locks beneath Aquarius is clearly the end of January or beginning of February, but the last line may bear one of two meanings. If we translate “mezzodì” as “half the day” it means that the nights are growing shorter, and very soon (in March) when the sun will have reached the equinox, they will be just twelve hours long. If we take “mezzodì” as meaning “the south,” we must interpret the passage in the light of others in the _Divine Comedy_ where Night is personified, and considered as circling in the zodiac always opposite to the sun. For instance in _Purg._ ii. 1-6 (a passage which will be more fully explained later) Night is described as circling opposite to the sun, “La notte, che opposita a lui cerchia,”[226] and as the sun at that time was in Aries, Night was in Libra, “le Bilance.” Henceforth for six months the sun will be in the northern signs, and the days longer than the nights, but as soon as Night begins to assert her supremacy, and the nights begin to be longer than the days, the sun enters Libra and then it is not visible all night. This is the meaning of ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [226] “Night that opposite to him revolves.” (_Longfellow_). “le Bilance, Che le caggion di man quando soverchia.”[227] [227] “The Scales, that from her hands are dropped When she reigns highest.” _Purg._ ii. 5, 6. (_Carey_). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When Night becomes dominant, the Scales fall from her hand, for the sun is in that sign.