Like the seven stars, also, the heavenly Septentrion is said figuratively to know neither setting nor rising, but unlike them it knows no cloud except of sin.[301] Because it is spoken of as guiding mariners, some commentators have taken the above to refer rather to Septentrio Minor (Ursa Minor), which also has seven chief stars, and is a better guide because nearer the Pole, as Thales taught; but the comparatively faint stars of the Little Bear would not be so apt a comparison with the celestial lights. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [301] _Purg._ xxx. 1-3. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By the name of the Bears, both Ursa Major and Minor are referred to as guides at sea in _Par._ ii. 9. In the strange new seas on which Dante warns his readers he is about to enter, Minerva will blow a favouring wind, Apollo will steer the barque, and the nine Muses will guide his course by the Bears. They are also spoken of together in _Purg._ iv. 65, to indicate the northern part of the sky. A fifth name for Ursa Major is derived from the fable (known to Dante probably from Ovid’s _Metamorphoses_) of the nymph Helice, who was turned into a she-bear by Juno, and was hunted by her own son, Orcas. Jupiter transformed them into Ursa Major and Boötes. “Se i barbari, venendo di tal plaga Che ciascun giorno d’Elice si copra, Rotante col suo figlio ond’ ell’ è vaga, Vedendo Rome e l’ ardua sua opra, Stupefaciensi....”[302] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [302] “If the barbarians coming from some region That every day by Helice is covered, Revolving with her son whom she delights in, Beholding Rome and all her noble works Were wonder-struck....” _Par._ xxxi. 31-35. (_Longfellow_). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here we have the same idea as of the Wain wheeling round but never setting, with the addition of a neighbouring constellation describing a circle in the same time. The Barbarians who lived in a region always dominated by Ursa Major, and came to marvel at the mighty buildings of ancient Rome, are probably the races of northern Europe in general; and this reminds us again of the lines of Boëthius quoted above, for it is among the peoples ruled by Rome that he mentions “quos premunt septem gelidi triones.”[303] If, however, Dante meant a country where the seven stars pass exactly overhead, the barbarians must have inhabited Scotland, or southern Scandinavia, or central Russia. If he means that Boötes also remained always above the horizon, they must have come from within the Arctic Circle, but this is not likely. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [303] “Those under the sway of the seven cold oxen.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------