“Sciendum itaque sapientes inivisse mensuram stellarum fixarum omnium, quoad instrumentis observari eæ potuerunt, extremam usque meridiei partem, in tertio climate ipsis conspicuam.... Stellæ universae quarum agi mensura potuit sunt mille viginti duæ.”[272] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [272] “You are to know that the Sages measured the places of all the fixed stars as accurately as possible with their instruments, as far south as they could see in the third climate.... The number of all the stars which he was able to measure is one thousand and twenty-two.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Both in the _Quæstio_ and the _Paradiso_ Dante notes how stars differ, not only in their brightness or “magnitude,” but also in the quality of their light, by which he probably means their colour:— “Videmus in eo [_sc._ cœlum stellatum] differentiam in magnitudine stellarum et in luce.”[273] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [273] “We see in it (the starry heaven) a difference in the magnitude of the stars and in their light.” _Qu._ xxi. 19-21. “Lumi, li quali nel quale e nel quanto Notar si posson di diversi volti.”[274] [274] “Lights many the eighth sphere displays to you Which in their quality and quantity May noted be of aspects different.” _Par._ ii. 65-66. (_Longfellow_). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ It seems as if it were the beauty and the movement of the starry sky as a whole which appealed to Dante, rather than the distinguishing of special stars and constellations. Those which he mentions are almost all either in the zodiac, and used to denote the hour, the season, or the position of one of the seven planets; or else they are near one of the poles and illustrate the circumpolar motion. All the zodiacal constellations are mentioned except Virgo and Sagittarius. Besides the ordinary names of “Ariete,” “Libra,” etc., Aries is called “il Montone;”[275] Gemini “il segno che segue il Tauro,” “gli eterni Gemelli,” and “il bel nido di Leda,”[276] in reference to the mother of Castor and Pollux, its two brightest stars; Libra is “le Bilance”;[277] Scorpio “il freddo animale”;[278] Capricornus is “il Capra del ciel”;[279] and Pisces “la celeste Lasca.”[280] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [275] “The Ram.” _Purg._ viii. 134; _Par._ xxix. 2. [276] “The sign which follows Taurus,” _Par._ xxii. 110, 111; “The eternal Twins,” xxii. 152; “The fair nest of Leda,” xxvii. 98. [277] “The Balance.” _Purg._ ii. 5. [278] “The cold creature.” _Purg._ ix. 5. [279] “The Goat of the sky.” _Par._ xxvii. 69. [280] “The celestial Carp.” _Purg._ xxxii. 54. ------------------------------------------------------------------------