This characteristic passage is interesting for several reasons. It illustrates the mediæval fondness for allegory, the reluctance to believe that Aristotle could ever be wrong, and the interest in ancient Greek speculations, in all of which Dante expresses the feelings of his age: and it brings vividly before us the methods and the difficulties of mediæval authors. For Dante is repeating from Albertus Magnus all these ancient speculations: the officious copyist who altered Aristotle’s words, the fact that Aristotle could only be read in Latin, and the variety of translations, were all everyday obstacles to study; and Dante’s own book has suffered from one of them in this very passage. The words placed between brackets are evidently an interpolation (as Mr. Wicksteed observes in the “Temple” _Convivio_): without them the passage goes on smoothly and logically to its end. On the assumption that the Galaxy is composed of a multitude of small stars, but not that the sky is denser in that part, the parallel with Metaphysics holds good. Dante therefore held the true opinion about the Milky Way, but he was mistaken in thinking that he had the support of Aristotle. It was the “New Translation” (made by Aquinas from the Greek) which gave his opinion correctly; in the “Old” (made by Michael Scot from the Arabic) his statement had been apparently changed without comment into one which seems to Dante—and also to us—to represent the truth about the Galaxy. 5. THE PLANETS. All the planets which were known before the days of the telescope are mentioned by Dante several times. Each has its peculiar beauty, but “la lucentissima stella di Venere”[323] is brighter and more beautiful than any other. He speaks of “la chiarezza del suo aspetto, ch ’è soavissima a vedere più che altra stella.”[324] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [323] “That most brilliant star, Venus.” _Conv._ II. iv. 88. [324] “The brightness of her appearance, which is more lovely to behold than that of any other star.” _Conv._ II. xiv. 112, 113. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ No reader of the _Purgatorio_ can ever forget that matchless morning on which Dante, escaping at last from the murky gloom of the _Inferno_, sees the sky once more, pure blue even to its furthest limits, and the planet of love shining in the east. “Dolce color d’oriental zaffiro, Che s’accoglieva nel sereno aspetto Dell’ aer, puro infino al primo giro, Agli occhi miei ricominciò diletto, Tosto ch’ i’ uscii fuor dell’ aura morta, Che m’avea contristati gli occhi e il petto, Lo bel pianeta che ad amar conforta Faceva rider tutto l’oriente, Velando i Pesci ch’erano in sua scorta.”[325]