[390] _But come, etc._: They have been all this time resting behind the lid of the tomb. [391] _The Fishes, etc._: The sun being now in Aries the stars of Pisces begin to rise about a couple of hours before sunrise. The Great Bear lies above Caurus, the quarter of the N.N.W. wind. It seems impossible to harmonise the astronomical indications scattered throughout the _Comedy_, there being traces of Dante's having sometimes used details belonging rather to the day on which Good Friday fell in 1300, the 8th of April, than to the (supposed) true anniversary of the crucifixion. That this, the 25th of March, is the day he intended to conform to appears from _Inf._ xxi. 112.--The time is now near dawn on the Saturday morning. It is almost needless to say that Virgil speaks of the stars as he knows they are placed, but without seeing them. By what light they see in Inferno is nowhere explained. We have been told that it was dark as night (_Inf._ iv. 10, v. 28). CANTO XII. The place of our descent[392] before us lay Precipitous, and there was something more From sight of which all eyes had turned away. As at the ruin which upon the shore Of Adige[393] fell upon this side of Trent-- Through earthquake or by slip of what before Upheld it--from the summit whence it went Far as the plain, the shattered rocks supply Some sort of foothold to who makes descent; Such was the passage down the precipice high. 10 And on the riven gully's very brow Lay spread at large the Cretan Infamy[394] Which was conceived in the pretended cow. Us when he saw, he bit himself for rage Like one whose anger gnaws him through and through. 'Perhaps thou deemest,' called to him the Sage, 'This is the Duke of Athens[395] drawing nigh, Who war to the death with thee on earth did wage. Begone, thou brute, for this one passing by Untutored by thy sister has thee found, 20 And only comes thy sufferings to spy,' And as the bull which snaps what held it bound On being smitten by the fatal blow, Halts in its course, and reels upon the ground, The Minotaur I saw reel to and fro; And he, the alert, cried: 'To the passage haste; While yet he chafes 'twere well thou down shouldst go.' So we descended by the slippery waste[396] Of shivered stones which many a time gave way 'Neath the new weight[397] my feet upon them placed. 30 I musing went; and he began to say: 'Perchance this ruined slope thou thinkest on, Watched by the brute rage I did now allay. But I would have thee know, when I came down The former time[398] into this lower Hell, The cliff had not this ruin undergone. It was not long, if I distinguish well, Ere He appeared who wrenched great prey from Dis[399] From out the upmost circle. Trembling fell Through all its parts the nauseous abyss 40