Rising from heaven to heaven with Beatrice, Dante passes through Mercury and Venus, in the former of which are the souls of Christians who sought with over-much zeal for earthly glory, and in the latter those who were inclined too much to mere human love, and finally reaches the sun, where he sees the great doctors of theology. Here Saint Thomas Aquinas, a Dominican himself, tells in beautiful language the story of St. Francis of Assisi and the establishment of his order; while the Franciscan, St. Bonaventura, with the same exquisite courtesy, tells the story of St. Dominic. In Mars, Dante sees the souls of Christian martyrs and warriors, many of whom form themselves before the eyes of the poet into a wonderful cross of roseate light, flashing in countless splendors. Here, as we have already seen, he meets and converses with his ancestor, Cacciaguida. In Saturn the poet beholds a wonderful ladder of light, with spirits mounting and descending upon it, a ladder such as "Crowded with angels unnumbered By Jacob was seen as he slumbered Alone in the desert at night." Here Peter Damian tells of the mystery of predestination, and St. Benedict describes the founding of his order at Montecassino. In the heaven of the fixed stars Dante beholds the triumph of Christ: "Short space ensued; I was not held, I say, Long in expectance, when I saw the heaven Wax more and more resplendent; and, 'Behold,' Cried Beatrice, 'the triumphal hosts Of Christ, and all the harvest gathered in, Made ripe by these revolving spheres.' Meseemed, That, while she spake, her image all did burn; And in her eyes such fulness was of joy, As I am fain to pass unconstrued by. "As in the calm full moon, when Trivia smiles, In peerless beauty, 'mid the eternal nymphs, That paint through all its gulfs the blue profound; In bright preëminence so saw I there O'er million lamps a sun, from whom all drew Their radiance, as from ours the starry train: And, through the living light, so lustrous glowed The substance, that my ken endured it not. * * * * *