------------------------------------------------------------------------ [257] “The shining star.” _Par._ xxiii. 92. “O trina Luce, che in unica stella Scintillando a lor vista sì gli appaga, Guarda quaggiù alla nostra procella.”[258] [258] “O Trinal Light, that in a single star Sparkling upon their sight so satisfies them, Look down upon our tempest here below!” _Par._ xxxi. 28-30. (_Longfellow_). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The diurnal motion of the stars is referred to many times. As Dante watched the mystical procession in the Earthly Paradise, and saw one group follow in the footsteps of another across the flowers and the grass, he thought of the stately procession of stars which we see here by night, star following star across the sky.[259] Their movement marks for him the passage of time, as we see in the first sonnet of the _Vita Nuova_:— ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [259] _Purg._ xxix. 91. “Già eran quasi ch’ atterzate l’ ore Del tempo che ogni stella è piu lucente.”[260] [260] “Of those long hours wherein the stars above Wake and keep watch, the third was almost nought.” _V. N._ iii. 81, 82. (_Rossetti_). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ and in the _Inferno_, where Virgil hastens Dante, saying that all the stars are sinking which were rising when he started on his long journey.[261] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [261] _Inf._ vii. 98, 99. ------------------------------------------------------------------------