He next ascends to the Primum Mobile, though he cannot tell us to which part of it Beatrice chose to lead him, since it is perfectly uniform throughout. Beatrice explains that this most swift and living sphere, although it contains no star by which its motion is made visible, causes the (diurnal) motion of all the lower spheres; and thus it is like a flower-pot in which are hidden the roots of Time, while in the others we see the leaves. Here he sees the nine hierarchies of angels who direct the nine moving spheres; and finally he soars to the Empyrean, where Beatrice returns to her seat among the blessed spirits who form the Celestial Rose, and St. Bernard encourages him to lift his eyes to “L’Amor che move il sole e l’ altre stelle.”[511] This is the end and consummation of the Vision. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [511] “Love which moves the sun and the other stars.” _Par._ last line. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The reader will have observed that although there are several indications of direction in Dante’s journey through Paradise, all referring to the heavenly bodies, there are no time references after he has left Earth and entered the regions of eternity, except the passage discussed above, which indicates a period of six hours spent in the eighth heaven, since 90° of the diurnal revolution correspond with six hours of time. But it tells us also that at the close of this period the sun was setting over Jerusalem: consequently another morning was dawning in Purgatory. Eighteen hours have passed, therefore, since Dante left the Earthly Paradise at noon; and he rises to the Primum Mobile and thence to the Empyrean on the eighth day of his Vision. The whole Vision, therefore, occupied an octave, or eight days. 5. POSITIONS OF SUN, MOON, AND PLANETS AMONG THE STARS DURING DANTE’S VISION. The allusions to sun, moon, and stars in the _Divine Comedy_, when thus brought together, are seen to follow one another according to a regular scheme, and they form a very good guide by which to time Dante on his journey. There is a little inaccuracy in one passage about the stars, and the moon is ambiguous once, but quite explicable. Taking the allusions in a simple popular sense, as he seems to intend us to do, assuming that the signs and the constellations of the zodiac are identical, and that the moon, which at first is opposite the sun, traverses about 13° in the zodiac daily, and loses about an hour of time more or less, there is very little difficulty in following him. It is quite enough to know that the sun is somewhere in Aries throughout, and that the moon is therefore in Libra at the beginning. [Illustration: Fig. 51. The rising sun at the Spring Equinox.]