If he had ever seen one in reality, it would have made more impression upon him, and we should surely have found it referred to several times and vividly described. The only suggestion of a personal experience is where he temporarily loses the power of sight by gazing too fixedly upon the spirit of St. John; and he compares this to a man who looks so intently at the sun, just before an eclipse, that he becomes incapable of seeing it at the critical moment.[369] This incident may have been told him by an observer of the total eclipse of June 1239, which was visible in Italy, and seems to be the one described by Ristoro. Lastly, he mentions the discovery that the moon comes between us and the sun, which we have learned from eclipses, as an example of the proper method of reasoning: for we must first ask whether a thing is, and afterwards why it is. Thus man’s wonder leads him to knowledge.[370] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [369] _Par._ xxv. 118-121. [370] _Qu._ xx. 3-5, 26-29. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The eclipsed moon is only once mentioned, viz. in _De Mon._ III. iv. 140-142, where she is described as not wholly dark. With his usual indifference to her Dante fails to note the often extraordinary beauty of her colouring when the eclipse is total. 7. COMETS AND METEORS. The connection between these two classes of heavenly bodies seems to be real, though its exact nature is still a mystery. In old days little or no distinction was drawn between them, so that it is sometimes difficult to know whether a writer is describing a large meteor, or a comet, or a shower of falling stars. Dante only mentions comets once, very briefly, when he describes spirits in Paradise as “fiammando forte a guisa di comete.”[371] He says nothing of the magnificent comet described by Ristoro, which rose at three o’clock in the morning, huge as a mountain, and with great rays like a mane; but travelling always towards the south grew gradually fainter, and disappeared after 60 days. Yet it was seen in Tuscany shortly before Dante’s birth, and it was thought to herald the death of the Pope (Urban IV. in 1264) and the terrible war in which first Manfred and afterwards Conradin were slain. These events are familiar to every reader of the _Divine Comedy_,[372] but there is never any mention of the comet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [371] “Blazing brilliantly like comets.” _Par._ xxiv. 12. [372] _Inf._ xxviii. 16-17; _Purg._ iii. 112-132. ------------------------------------------------------------------------