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 Image Recognition
and Classification
Algorithms, Systems, and Applications

edited by
Bahram Javidi
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut

Marcel Dekker, Inc. New York • Basel

TM

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Copyright © 2001 by Marcel Dekker, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 ISBN: 0-8247-0783-4

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Neither this book nor any part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
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Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 For my Aunt Matin

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Preface

Image recognition and classification is one of the most actively pursued

areas in the broad field of imaging sciences and engineering. The reason is
evident: the ability to replace human visual capabilities with a machine is
very important and there are diverse applications. The main idea is to
inspect an image scene by processing data obtained from sensors. Such
machines can substantially reduce the workload and improve accuracy of
making decisions by human operators in diverse fields including the military
and defense, biomedical engineering systems, health monitoring, surgery,
intelligent transportation systems, manufacturing, robotics, entertainment,
and security systems.
Image recognition and classification is a multidisciplinary field. It
requires contributions from diverse technologies and expertise in sensors,
imaging systems, signal/image processing algorithms, VLSI, hardware and
software, and packaging/integration systems.
In the military, substantial efforts and resources have been placed in this
area. The main applications are in autonomous or aided target detection
and recognition, also known as automatic target recognition (ATR). In
addition, a variety of sensors have been developed, including high-speed
video, low-light-level TV, forward-looking infrared (FLIR), synthetic aper-
ture radar (SAR), inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR), laser radar
(LADAR), multispectral and hyperspectral sensors, and three-dimensional
sensors. Image recognition and classification is considered an extremely
useful and important resource available to military personnel and opera-
tions in the areas of surveillance and targeting.
In the past, most image recognition and classification applications have
been for military hardware because of high cost and performance demands.
With recent advances in optoelectronic devices, sensors, electronic hard-
ware, computers, and software, image recognition and classification systems
have become available with many commercial applications.
Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,
Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
v
 vi Preface

While there have been significant advances in image recognition and

classification technologies, major technical problems and challenges face
this field. These include large variations in the inspected object signature
due to environmental conditions, geometric variations, aging, and target/
sensor behavior (e.g., IR thermal signature fluctuations, reflection angles,
etc.). In addition, in many applications the target or object of interest is a
small part of a very complex scene under inspection; that is, the distorted
target signature is embedded in background noise such as clutter, sensor
noise, environmental degradations, occlusion, foliage masking, and camou-
flage. Sometimes the algorithms are developed with a limited available train-
ing data set, which may not accurately represent the actual fluctuations of
the objects or the actual scene representation, and other distortions are
encountered in realistic applications. Under these adverse conditions, a reli-
able system must perform recognition and classification in real time and
with high detection probability and low false alarm rates. Therefore, pro-
gress is needed in the advancement of sensors and algorithms and compact
systems that integrate sensors, hardware, and software algorithms to pro-
vide new and improved capabilities for high-speed accurate image recogni-
tion and classification.
This book presents important recent advances in sensors, image proces-
sing algorithms, and systems for image recognition and classification with
diverse applications in military, aerospace, security, image tracking, radar,
biomedical, and intelligent transportation. The book includes contributions
by some of the leading researchers in the field to present an overview of
advances in image recognition and classification over the past decade. It
provides both theoretical and practical information on advances in the field.
The book illustrates some of the state-of-the-art approaches to the field of
image recognition using image processing, nonlinear image filtering, statis-
tical theory, Bayesian detection theory, neural networks, and 3D imaging.
Currently, there is no single winning technique that can solve all classes of
recognition and classification problems. In most cases, the solutions appear
to be application-dependent and may combine a number of these
approaches to acquire the desired results.
Image Recognition and Classification provides examples, tests, and experi-
ments on real world applications to clarify theoretical concepts. A bibliog-
raphy for each topic is also included to aid the reader. It is a practical
book, in which the systems and algorithms have commercial applications
and can be implemented with commercially available computers, sensors,
and processors. The book assumes some elementary background in signal/
image processing. It is intended for electrical or computer engineers with
interests in signal/image processing, optical engineers, computer scientists,
imaging scientists, biomedical engineers, applied physicists, applied mathe-
Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,
Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Preface vii

maticians, defense technologists, and graduate students and researchers in

these disciplines.
I would like to thank the contributors, most of whom I have known for
many years and are my friends, for their fine contributions and hard work. I
also thank Russell Dekker for his encouragement and support, and Eric
Stannard for his assistance. I hope that this book will be a useful tool to
increase appreciation and understanding of a very important field.

Bahram Javidi

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Contents

Prefac
Contributors

Part I: Aided Target Recognition

1. Neural-Based Target Detectors for Multiband Infrared

Imagery
Lipchen Alex Chan, Sandor Z. Der, and Nasser M. Nasrabadi

2. Passive Infrared Automatic Target Discrimination

Firooz Sadjadi

3. Recognizing Objects in SAR Images

Bir Bhanu and Grinnell Jones III

4. Edge Detection and Location in SAR Images: Contribution

of Statistical Deformable Models
Olivier Germain and Philippe Re´fre´gier

5. View-Based Recognition of Military Vehicles in Ladar

Imagery Using CAD Model Matching
Sandor Z. Der, Qinfen Zheng, Brian Redman,
Rama Chellappa, and Hesham Mahmoud

6. Distortion-Invariant Minimum Mean Squared Error

Filtering Algorithm for Pattern Recognition
Francis Chan and Bahram Javidi
Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,
Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
ix
 x Contents

Part II: Three-Dimensional Image Recognition

7. Electro-Optical Correlators for Three-Dimensional Pattern

Recognition
Joseph Rosen

8. Three-Dimensional Object Recognition by Means of Digital

Holography
Enrique Tajahuerce, Osamu Matoba, and Bahram Javidi

Part III: Nonlinear Distortion-Tolerant Image Recognition Systems

9. A Distortion-Tolerant Image Recognition Receiver Using a

Multihypothesis Method
Sherif Kishk and Bahram Javidi

10. Correlation Pattern Recognition: An Optimum Approach

Abhijit Mahalanobis

11. Optimum Nonlinear Filter for Detecting Noisy Distorted

Targets
Seung Hyun Hong and Bahram Javidi

12. Ip-Norm Optimum Distortion-Tolerant Filter for Image

Recognition
Luting Pan and Bahram Javidi

Part IV: Commercial Applications of Image Recognition Systems

13. Image-Based Face Recognition: Issues and Methods

Wen-Yi Zhao and Rama Chellappa

14. Image Processing Techniques for Automatic Road Sign

Identification and Tracking
Elisabet Pe´rez and Bahram Javidi

15. Development of Pattern Recognition Tools Based on

the Automatic Spatial Frequency Selection Algorithm in
View of Actual Applications
Christophe Minetti and Frank Dubois

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Contributors

Bir Bhanu Center for Research in Intelligent Systems, University of

California, Riverside, California

Francis Chan Naval Undersea Warfare Center, Newport, Rhode Island

Lipchen Alex Chan U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi,

Maryland

Rama Chellappa University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Sandor Z. Der U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland

Frank Dubois Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium

Olivier Germain Ecole National Supérieure de Physique de Marseille,

Domaine Universitaire de Saint-Jérôme, Marseille, France

Seung Hyun Hong University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

Bahram Javidi University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

Grinnell Jones III Center for Research in Intelligent Systems, University

of California, Riverside, California

Sherif Kishk University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

Abhijit Mahalanobis Lockheed Martin, Orlando, Florida

Hesham Mahmoud Wireless Facilities, Inc., San Diego, California

Osamu Matoba Institute of Industrial Science, University of Tokyo,

Tokyo, Japan

Christophe Minetti Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,
Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
xi
 xii Contributors

Nasser M. Nasrabadi U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi,

Maryland

Luting Pan University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut

Elisabet Pérez Polytechnic University of Catalunya, Terrassa, Spain

Brian Redman Arete Associates, Tucson, Arizona

Philippe Réfrégier Ecole National Supérieure de Physique de Marseille,

Domaine Universitaire de Saint-Jérôme, Marseille, France

Joseph Rosen Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

Firooz Sadjadi Lockheed Martin, Saint Anthony, Minnesota

Enrique Tajahuerce Universitat Jaume I, Castellon, Spain

Wen-Yi Zhao Sarnoff Corporation, Princeton, New Jersey

Qinfen Zheng University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 1
Neural-Based Target Detectors for
Multiband Infrared Imagery
Lipchen Alex Chan, Sandor Z. Der, and
Nasser M. Nasrabadi
U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Human visual performance greatly exceeds computer capabilities, probably

because of superior high-level image understanding, contextual knowledge,
and massively parallel processing. Human capabilities deteriorate drastically
in a low-visibility environment or after an extended period of surveillance,
and certain working environments are either inaccessible or too hazardous
for human beings. For these reasons, automatic recognition systems are
developed for various military and civilian applications. Driven by advances
in computing capability and image processing technology, computer mimi-
cry of human vision has recently gained ground in a number of practical
applications. Specialized recognition systems are becoming more likely to
satisfy stringent constraints in accuracy and speed, as well as the cost of
development and maintenance.
The development of robust automatic target recognition (ATR) sys-
tems must still overcome a number of well-known challenges: for example,
the large number of target classes and aspects, long viewing range, obscured
targets, high-clutter background, different geographic and weather condi-
tions, sensor noise, and variations caused by translation, rotation, and scal-
ing of the targets. Inconsistencies in the signature of targets, similarities
between the signatures of different targets, limited training and testing
data, camouflaged targets, nonrepeatability of target signatures, and
Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,
Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
1
 2 Chan, Der, and Nasrabadi

difficulty using available contextual information makes the recognition pro-

blem even more challenging.
A complete ATR system typically consists of several algorithmic com-
ponents, such as preprocessing, detection, segmentation, feature extraction,
classification, prioritization, tracking, and aimpoint selection [1]. Among
these components, we are particularly interested in the detection-classifica-
tion modules, which are shown in Fig. 1. To lower the likelihood of omitting
targets of interest, a detector must accept a nonzero false-alarm rate. Figure
1 shows the output of a detector on a typical image. The detector has found
the target but has also selected a number of background regions as potential
targets. To enhance the performance of the system, an explicit clutter rejec-
tor may be added to reject most of the false alarms produced by the detector
while eliminating only a few of the targets. Clutter rejectors tend to be much
more complex than the detector, giving better performance at the cost of
greater computational complexity. The computational cost is often unim-
portant because the clutter rejector needs to operate only on the small subset
of the image that is indicated by the detector.
The ATR learning environment, in which the training data are
collected, exerts a powerful influence on the design and performance of
an ATR system. Dasarathy [2] described these environments in an increas-
ing order of difficulty, namely the supervised, imperfectly supervised, un-
familiar, vicissitudinous, unsupervised, and partially exposed environments.
In this chapter, we assume that our training data come from an unfamiliar
environment, where the labels of the training data might be unreliable to a
level that is not known a priori. For the experimentation presented in this
chapter, the input images were obtained by forward-looking infrared

Figure 1 A typical ATR system.

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Neural-Based Target Detectors 3

(FLIR) sensors. For these sensors, the signatures of the targets within the
scene are severely affected by rain, fog, and foliage [3]. Clark et al. [4] used
an information-theoretic approach to evaluate the information bound of
FLIR images in order to estimate the best possible performance of any
ATR algorithm that uses the given FLIR images as inputs. On the other
hand, some FLIR enhancement techniques may be used to preprocess
the FLIR input images. Lo [5] examined six of these techniques and
found that a variable threshold zonal filtering technique performed most
satisfactorily.
The major goal of this research is to examine the benefits of using two
passive infrared images, sensitive to different portions of the spectrum, as
inputs to a target detector and clutter rejector. The two frequency bands
that we use are normally described as mid-wave (MW, 3–5
m) and long-
wave (LW, 8–12
m) infrared. Two such images are shown in Fig. 2.
Although these images look roughly similar, there are places where different
intensities can be noted. The difference tends to be more significant during
the day, because reflected solar energy is significant in the mid-wave band,
but not in the long-wave band. These differences have indeed affected the
detection results of an automatic target detector. As shown in Fig. 3, dif-
ferent regions of interest were identified by the same target detector on these
two images. Because a different performance is obtained using either the
MW or the LW imagery, our first question is which band alone provides
better performance in target detection and clutter rejection? The second
question is whether combining the bands results in better performance
than using either band alone, and if so, what are the best methods of
combining these two bands.

Figure 2 Typical FLIR images for the mid-wave (left) and long-wave (right)
bands, with an M2 tank and a HMMWV around the image center. Different degree
of radiation, as shown by the windshield of the HMMWV, is quite apparent.

Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,

Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 4 Chan, Der, and Nasrabadi

Figure 3 The first seven regions of interest detected on the mid-wave (left) and the
long-wave (right) bands. Note that the M2 tank is missed in the case of the long-wave
image but detected in the mid-wave image.

To answers these questions, we developed a set of eigen-neural-based

modules and use them as either a target detector or clutter rejector in our
experiments. As shown in Fig. 4, our typical detector/rejector module con-
sists of an eigenspace transformation and a multilayer perceptron (MLP).
The input to the module is the region of interest (target chip) extracted
either from an individual band or from both of the MW and LW bands
simultaneously. An eigen transformation is used for feature extraction and
dimensionality reduction. The transformations considered in this chapter
are principal component analysis (PCA) [6], the eigenspace separation trans-
form (EST) [7], and their variants that were jointly optimized with the MLP.
These transformations differ in their capability to enhance class separability
and to extract component features from a training set. When both bands are
input together, the two input chips are transformed through either a set of
jointly obtained eigenvectors or two sets of band-specific eigenvectors. The
result of the eigenspace transformation is then fed to the MLP that predicts
the identity of the input, which is either a target or clutter. Further descrip-
tions about the eigenspace transformation and the MLP are provided in the
next two sections. Experimental results are presented in Section 4. Some
conclusions are given in the final section of this chapter.

1.2 EIGENTARGETS

We used two methods to obtain the eigentargets from a given set of training
chips. PCA is the most basic method, from which the more complicated EST
method is derived.
Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,
Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
 Neural-Based Target Detectors 5

Figure 4 Schematic diagram of our detector/rejector module.

1.2.1 Principal Component Analysis

Also referred to as the Hotelling transform or the discrete Karhunen–Loève
transform, PCA is based on statistical properties of vector representations.
PCA is an important tool for image processing because it has several useful
properties, such as decorrelation of data and compaction of information
(energy) [8]. Here, we provide a summary of the basic theory of PCA.
Assume a population of random vectors of the form
2 3
x1
6x 7
6 27
x¼6 6 .. 7
7 ð1Þ
4 . 5
xn

The mean vector and the covariance matrix of the vector population x are
defined as

mx ¼ Efxg ð2Þ


Cx ¼ E ðx
mx Þðx
mx ÞT ð3Þ

respectively, where Efargg is the expected value of the argument and T

indicates vector transposition. Because x is n dimensional Cx is a matrix
of order n  n. Element cii of Cx is the variance of xi (the ith component of
the x vectors in the population) and element cij of Cx is the covariance
between elements xi and xj of these vectors. The matrix Cx is real and
symmetric. If elements xi and xj are uncorrelated, their covariance is zero
and, therefore, cij ¼ cji ¼ 0. For N vector samples from a random popula-
Copyright © 2002 by Marcel Dekker,
Decker, Inc. All Rights Reserved
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[52] It amounts to 5 degrees of longitude in 300 years.
[53] This is evident from the way he treats them, picking up an
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[54] Taken from the Almagest catalogue, as given in Delambre’s
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[55] Fifteen stars.
[56] Lockyer, Dawn of Astronomy, p. 196.
[57] The changing latitudes of the planets, for instance, which
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[58] It therefore really approached more nearly the sidereal year,
although the cycle was based on the tropical year.
[59] De Mon. II. vii., “Temple Classics” edition.
[60] De Senectute.
[61] The average year was the same, 365¼ days, in the old 8-
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[62] See p. 45.
[63] Ezekiel, v. 5.
[64] Arabic gib = Latin sinus, a fold; i.e. the chord folded in two.
[65] The Arabian mile was equal to 4000 “black cubits,” and if this
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instead of 25,000 and 8000.
[66] The Catalogue of Hipparchus is said to have contained 1080
stars, but Ptolemy’s has only 1022.
[67] Earth’s diameter, and even Earth’s distance from the sun, is
too small a unit. Light, travelling 186,000 miles a second, takes
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[68] It is impossible to measure the diameter of any star, even
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as great as the sun!
[69] The mean length of Earth’s shadow (which varies a little with
her distance from the sun,) is 857,000 miles, or 216 times her
semi-diameter.
[70] It was also translated from Arabic into Latin at Toledo, in
1175.
[71] Paradise Lost, II. 418
[72] Paradise Lost, VIII. 34-38.
[73] Paradise Lost, VIII. 77-84.
[74] All quotations from Salimbene’s Chronicle are taken from
Coulton’s From Saint Francis to Dante.
[75] Croniche Fiorentine, Bk. VII. par. 80.
[76] Inf. xx. 118.
[77] V. E., I. xii. 20-35.
[78] Villani, Croniche Fiorentine, VI. 1 and 24.
[79]

“That other, round the loins

So slender of his shape, was Michael Scot,
Practised in every sleight of magic wile.”
Carey.

[80] Boccaccio’s Vita di Dante; Translation from Toynbee’s Dante

Alighieri (Oxford Biographies), pp. 92, 93.
[81] Inf. xv. 23 et seq.
[82] Inf. xv. 119.
[83] “If thou follow thy star,” Inf. xv. 55.
[84] “First refuge,” Par. xvii. 70.
[85] Par. xvii. 71, 72.
[86] Imbriani, Dante a Padova.
[87] “Torno a Ravenna e de lì non mi parto (I am going back to
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which Cecco d’ Ascoli puts into the mouth of Dante, as though
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[88] Inf. xxxi. 136-141.
[89] Conv. II. xiii. 22-26.
[90] Conv. III. ix. 146-157.
[91] Conv. II. xv. 73-77.
[92] Conv. II. iii. 36-52, V. N. xxx.
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only movement which ought to be assigned to the star sphere;
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planetary spheres and the star sphere, for which two more
spheres must be assumed, a ninth sphere for precession, and a
tenth, the primum mobile, for the diurnal motion. Outside all was
the Empyrean. Dante never mentions trepidation, and evidently
did not believe in it: he needed only nine moving spheres,
therefore, but counts the Empyrean as a tenth heaven.
[94] Conv. II. xiv. 198-202. Ibid. 249-253.
[95] “Ptolemy says in the book above cited.”
[96] Par. xiii. 1-13.
[97] See Schiaparelli’s letter in Lubin’s Dante e gli Astronomi
Italiani. The name is, however, also used as a sub-title in the
printed edition of Christmann, Frankfort, 1590, which was based
not on the translation of Gerard but of Johannes Hispalensis of
Seville; and Toynbee thinks that this Frankfort edition represents
most nearly the version of Alfraganus used by Dante. It is the
only one of the five printed editions which gives the same figure
for the diameter of Mercury as that quoted by Dante. See
Toynbee, “Dante’s Obligations to Alfraganus” in Romania xxiv. 95,
and Moore, Studies in Dante iii. p. 3, note.
[98] “That glorious philosopher to whom Nature most fully
revealed her secrets,” Conv. III. v. 54-56; “almost divine,” Conv.
IV. vi. 133; “supreme and highest authority,” Ibid. 52.
[99] Moore, Studies in Dante I. (Scripture and Classical Authors in
Dante), from which much of the information in this chapter has
been taken.
[100] Conv. II. iii. 19-21.
[101] Conv. III. v. 62-65.
[102] “My master.”
[103] Conv. III. v. 32.
[104] Inf. ii. 76-78; Par. xxii. 134-138.
[105] Conv. ii. xiv. 174-176.
[106] Phaëthon, Conv. II. xv. 53-55, Purg. xxix. 118-120; Latona,
Purg. xx. 130-132; the Horses of the Sun, Conv. IV. xxiii. 134-139,
etc., etc.
[107] Conv. III. v. 115-117.
[108] “A man of supreme excellence.” Conv. II. v. 21, 22.
[109] Conv. III. xiv. 76-79.
[110] Par. iv. 22-24, 49-60.
[111] Conv. III. xi. 39; Inf. iv. 137.
[112] Conv. III. xi. 22-33; II. xiv. 144-147; III. v. 29-44; III. xi.
41-47.
[113] Conv. II. xiv. 34, 35.
[114] Conv. II. xv. 56.
[115] Qu. xviii. 38, 39.
[116] Conv. III. ii. 37.
[117] Conv. II. xv. 77, II. xiv. 32.
[118] Conv. II. xiv. 170-174.
[119] Inf. iv. 80, 81, 90, 131-144.
[120] “The advocate of the Christian centuries.” (Par. x. 199).
Orosius is also mentioned by name in Conv. III. xi. 27; V. E. II. vi.
84; and De Mon. II. ix. 26.
[121]

“He who is nearest to me on the right

My brother and master was, and he Albertus
Is of Cologne, I Thomas of Aquinum.”
(Par. x. 97-99).

[122] Toynbee, Dante Dictionary; the source also of many other

details given in this chapter.
[123] Albert in Conv. III. v. 113-115, vii. 26-28; IV. xxiii. 125-6;
Aquinas in Conv. II. xv. 125-6; IV. viii. 3-6, xv. 125-130, xxx. 26-
30; De Mon. II. iv. 5-8; and see Purg. xx. 69.
[124] V. E., I. xiii. 1-11.
[125] Inf., xxxii. 81, and x. 85, 86.
[126] Purg., iii. 112-129.
[127] “Replied after this fashion.”
[128] Li Louvres dou Trésor, Chabaille, Paris 1863.
[129] Ibid.
[130] “Here beginneth the book of the Composition of the World
together with its Causes: written by Ristoro of Arezzo in that most
noble city.”
[131] “Here endeth this book, in the year of our Lord one
thousand two hundred and eighty-two. Rudolph Emperor at this
date. Martin IV. resident Pope.” Amen.
[132] “Alfraganus said in the 8th chapter”; “Alfraganus bears
witness in the 22nd chapter of his book.”
[133] “The famous Ptolemy.”
[134] “Who was a very great teacher of astrology.”
[135] “An Arabian philosopher of Baghdad, 1058-1111.”
[136] “The uncovered earth,” i.e. not hidden under the ocean.
[137] Bk. VI. cap. xi.
[138] Conv. I. i. 125, 126. Compare Conv. IV. xxiv. 1-13.
[139] V. N. ii. 9-12, xxx. 13-24.
[140] V. N. ii. 1-12.
[141] V. N. xlii. 47.
[142] V. N. xxx. 1-6.
[143] V. N. xlii. 30.
[144] Conv. II. xiii. 22-26.
[145] Son. xxxvi. 2; Canz. xx. 89.
[146] Canz. xix. 117; Canz. ix. 16, 17.
[147] Canz. xx. 89; Son. xxviii. 11.
[148] Son. xxviii.; Canz. xv. 4, 7.
[149] Canz. xv. 3, 29, 41.
[150] Son. xxviii. 2.
[151] Son. xxviii. Canz. xix. 77, Ball. vi. 11, 12, Canz. xv. 41., Son.
xxvi. 14.
[152] Conv. I. i. 111-113 and 125-127.
[153] Conv. I. i. 67-86.
[154] “As the Philosopher says at the beginning of the First
Philosophy, ‘All men naturally desire to have knowledge.’ The
reason of this may be that everything, being impelled by foresight
belonging to its own nature, tends to seek its own perfection.
Wherefore inasmuch as knowledge is the final perfection of our
soul in which our final happiness consists, all men are naturally
subject to the desire for it.” Conv. I. i. 1-11.
[155]

“Oh ye whose intellectual ministry

Moves the third heaven.”—Carey.

[156] “The sun sees not, though circling all the world.”
[157] The spherical form of Earth, and the action of gravity at the
earth’s surface, were commonplaces with the Greeks, as we have
seen in Part I. of this book. Posidonius, Strabo, and other classical
writers speak of the tides as following the revolution of the
heavens, and having periods similar to those of the moon;
Albertus Magnus and Aquinas ascribe them to the influence of the
moon, and so does Dante himself in Par. xvi. 83.
[158] See Moore, Studies in Dante, II. “The Genuineness of the
Quæstio de Aqua et Terra,” for a complete discussion of the
question.
[159] V. N. xliii. 3-7.
[160] Conv. II. xiv. 244-217. “It is noble and lofty because of its
noble and lofty subject, which is the movement of the heavens; it
is lofty and noble because of its certainty, which is without flaw.”
[161] See p. 156.
[162] “The great wheels,” “eternal wheels,” “starry wheels.”
[163] “Swift, almost as the heaven ye behold.” Par. ii. 21.
[164] “Against the course of the sky.” Par. vi. 2.
[165]

... “That sphere,

Which aye in fashion of a child is playing.”
Purg. xv. 2, 3. (Longfellow).

[166] “Under a poor sky.” Purg. xvi. 2.

[167]

“And as advances, bright exceedingly,

The handmaid of the sun, the heaven is closed,
Light after light, to the most beautiful.”
Par. xxx. 7-9. (Longfellow).

[168]

“As at evening hour

Of twilight, new appearances through heaven
Peer with faint glimmer, doubtfully descried.”
Par. xiv. 70-72. (Carey).
[169] In Kenneth Grahame’s delightful book, full of sympathy with
Nature, The Wind in the Willows. The moon rose when it was
“past ten o’clock,” and “sank earthwards reluctantly and left
them” before dawn.
[170] H. G. Wells, The Time Machine.
[171] Inf. xv. 18, 19; Purg. xviii. 76-81; Purg. x. 14, 15, Cf. ix. 44.
[172] Purg. xxix. 53, 54.
[173] Qu. xx. 61-63.
[174] “Now she shines on one side, and now on the other,
according to the way the sun looks upon her.” Conv. II. xiv. 77-79.
[175]

“At what times both the children of Latona,

Surmounted by the Ram and by the Scales,
Together make a zone of the horizon,
As long as from the time the zenith holds them
In equipoise, till from that girdle both
Changing their hemisphere disturb the balance,
So long, her face depicted with a smile,
Did Beatrice keep silence.”
Par. xxix. 1-8.

[176] “Many moons.” Canz. xx. 89.

[177] “And the first heaven is not grudging to her.”—Sonetto
xxviii.
[178] Purg. xix. 1, 2.
[179] Inf. xx. 127-129.
[180] Purg. ix. 1-9.
[181] Conv. IV. xvi. 89-93.
[182] Inf. x. 80.
[183] Inf. xx. 126.
[184] Purg. xxix. 78; Ep. vi. 54.
[185] Par. xxiii. 26.
[186] Par. x. 67; xxii. 139; xxix. 1.
[187] Purg. xxiii. 120.
[188] Purg. xx. 132.
[189] Par. ii. 25-36.
[190] De Mon. I. xi. 35-37.
[191] Par. x. 67-69; and Purg. xxix. 78.
[192] Purg. xxix. 53, 54; and Par. xxiii. 26.
[193] “And this moon, because of her inferiority, is rightly called
feminine.”
[194] Ecl. ii. 1-4.
[195] Purg. iv. 62, 63; Purg. iv. 59; and xxix. 117, 118; Par. i. 38;
Canz. xix. 114; Par. xxii. 116.
[196] “The perfection and beauty of his shape.” Canz. xix. 76.
[197] V. N. xlii. 29; Canz. ix. 2; Conv. II. xiv. 126, 127; Purg. xvii.
52, 53; Par. i. 54; and x. 48, etc.
[198] Inf. i. 17, 18.
[199]

“O pleasant light, my confidence and hope!

Conduct us thou,” he cried, “on this new way.”
Purg. xiii. 16, 17. (Carey).

[200] Par. xxii. 55, 56; Inf. vii. 122; De Mon. II. i. 37-39; and Par.
ii. 106-108; Canz. xi. 37; Conv. III. xii. 59, 60, etc. etc.
[201] Canz. ix. 5.
[202] Inf. i. 41-43.
[203] Purg. xix. 10, 11.
[204] Par. xxiii. 1-9.
[205] Inf. ii. 127-129.
[206] De Mon. II. i. 36-41.; Canz. ix.
[207] Canz. xix. 96-114.
[208] Ep. v. 10; and vii. 19, 20, 25.
[209] “A sun rose upon the world.” Par. xi. 50.
[210] Par. xi. 52-54.
[211] “O sun that healest all imperfect vision,” Inf. xi. 91.
[212] “The sun of my eyes.” Par. xxx. 75 (See also Par. iii. 1-3).
[213] Conv. III. xii. 52-63.
[214] “The Sun of the angels.” Par. x. 53.
[215] “That Sun which enlightens all our company.” Par. xxv. 54.
[216] “The Sun which satisfies it.” Par. ix. 8.
[217] “I have lost the sight of that high Sun whom thou desirest.”
Purg. vii. 25, 26. Compare Par. xxx. 126; xv. 76; xviii. 105.
[218] “The path of the sun.” Purg. xii. 74.
[219] “Shining more brightly and with slower steps, the sun had
gained the circle of midday.” Purg. xxxiii. 103, 104.
[220] “Nine times already since my birth had the heaven of light
returned to the selfsame point almost, as concerns its own
revolution.”
V. N. ii. 1-4. (Rossetti).
[221] “I have dwelt with Love since my ninth revolution of the
sun.” Son. xxxvi. 1, 2.
[222] See diagram on p. 276.
[223]

“O glorious stars ...

With you was born, and hid himself with you,
He who is father of all mortal life,
When first I tasted of the Tuscan air.”
Par. xxii. 112-117. (Longfellow).

At this date the sun entered the constellation of

Gemini on June 1 (Old Style), but was in the sign
from May 11 to June 11, and it is always to the signs
that Dante refers in the Divine Comedy. The
anonymous fourteenth century commentator known
as “l’Ottimo” interprets this passage as indicating the
time “between the middle of May and the middle of
June.”
[224]
 “Ere January be unwintered wholly
By the centesimal on Earth neglected.”
Par. xxvii. 142-143. (Longfellow).

[225]

“In that part of the youthful year wherein

The sun his locks beneath Aquarius tempers,
And now the nights draw near to half the day.”
Inf. xxiv. 1-3. (Longfellow).

[226] “Night that opposite to him revolves.” (Longfellow).

[227]

“The Scales, that from her hands are dropped

When she reigns highest.”
Purg. ii. 5, 6. (Carey).

[228]

“And he: Now go, for the sun shall not lie
Seven times upon the pillow which the Ram
With all his four feet covers and bestrides.
Before that such a courteous opinion ...”
Purg. viii. 133-136. (Longfellow).

[229] “I have come to that part of the wheel.” Canz. xv.

[230] Like all mediæval writers, Dante includes the sun and moon
among the seven planets. The others do not cast perceptible
shadows, except Venus and Jupiter at their brightest.
[231]
 “I to that point in the great wheel have come,
Wherein the horizon, when the sun doth set,
Brings forth the twin-starred heaven to our sight;
And Love’s fair star away from us doth roam,
Through the bright rays obliquely on it met
In such wise that they veil its tender light;
That planet which makes keen the cold of night
Shows himself to us in the circle great,
Where each star of the seven casts little shade.”
(Plumptre).

[232] “The Wheel which, when the sun sets, brings forth for us
on the horizon the jewelled sky.”
[233] Sulla Data del Viaggio Dantesco p. 90, note.
[234] Comparing Conv. II. ii. 12, xiii. 49-52, and IV. i. 60-62, we
learn that in August 1293 (vide infra, p. 314), Dante first became
acquainted with the Lady Philosophy; that in the early part of
1296 he was completely under her spell; and that some time
afterwards she for a while estranged herself from him.
[235]

“Scattered and faded now is all the foliage

Which had burst forth, beneath the power of Aries,
To beautify the world, the grass is withered.”
Canz. xv. 40-42.

[236]

“This everlasting spring

Nocturnal Aries never can despoil.”
Par. xxviii. 116-117.

[237]

“Thereafterward a light among them brightened

So, that if Cancer one such crystal had
Winter would have a month of one sole day.”
Par. xxv. 100-102. (Longfellow).

[238] Ep. ix. 46-49.

[239] Inf. iii. 23.
[240] Inf. xvi. 82, 83.
[241] “Resounded through the air without a star.” Inf. iii. 23.
[242] “The fair things that heaven holds.” Inf. xxxiv. 137, 138.
[243] Purg. viii. 85.
[244] Purg. xxvii. 89, 90.
[245] “Beautiful stars,” Inf. xvi. 83.
[246] “Thence issuing we beheld again the stars.”
[247] “Pure and disposed to mount unto the stars.”
[248] “The Love that moves the sun and the other stars.”
[249] Purg. ix. 4; Purg. viii. 89; Purg. i. 25; Par. xxiii. 26.
[250] Par. ii. 130, 142-144.
[251] Par. x. 76.
[252] Par. xxi. 28-33.
[253] Inf. ii. 55.
[254] Par. xxv. 70. See also Conv. II. xvi. 4-12, where the writings
of Boëthius and Cicero, and all instructive books, are called stars
full of light.
[255] Par. xxiv. 147.
[256]

“Even as remaineth splendid and serene

The hemisphere of air, when Boreas
Is blowing from that cheek where he is mildest,
Because is purified and resolved the wrack
That erst disturbed it, till the welkin laughs
With all the beauties of its pageantry:
Thus did I likewise, after that my Lady
Had me provided with her clear response,
And like a star in heaven the truth was seen.”
Par. xxviii. 79-87. (Longfellow).

[257] “The shining star.” Par. xxiii. 92.

[258]
 “O Trinal Light, that in a single star
Sparkling upon their sight so satisfies them,
Look down upon our tempest here below!”
Par. xxxi. 28-30. (Longfellow).

[259] Purg. xxix. 91.

[260]

“Of those long hours wherein the stars above

Wake and keep watch, the third was almost nought.”
V. N. iii. 81, 82. (Rossetti).

[261] Inf. vii. 98, 99.

[262]

“Like unto stars neighbouring the stedfast poles.”

Par. x. 78.

[263] Purg. viii, 86, 87.

[264] “These stars all revolve round the same point, and the
nearer a star is to this point, the smaller is the circle that it
makes, and the slower its motion appears.” El. Ast. cap. ii.
[265] Purg. i. 22-27.
[266]

“My insatiate eyes

Meanwhile to heaven had travelled, even there
Where the bright stars are slowest, as a wheel
Nearest the axle.”
Purg. viii. 85-87. (Carey).

[267]

“And he to me: The four resplendent stars

Thou sawest this morning are down yonder low,
And these have mounted up to where those were.”
Purg. viii. 91-93. (Longfellow).

[268] Conv. II. xv. 10-14, and 96-104.

[269] “The glorious Lady.”
[270] V. N. ii. 9-15.
[271]
“I say that the starry heaven displays a multitude
of stars to us, for as the Sages of Egypt have
perceived, including the last star which appears to
them in the south, they reckon one thousand and
twenty-two starry bodies, of which I am now
speaking.”

Conv. II. xv. 18-22. (Jackson).

[272]
“You are to know that the Sages measured the
places of all the fixed stars as accurately as possible
with their instruments, as far south as they could
see in the third climate.... The number of all the
stars which he was able to measure is one thousand
and twenty-two.”
[273]
“We see in it (the starry heaven) a difference in
the magnitude of the stars and in their light.”

Qu. xxi. 19-21.

[274]

“Lights many the eighth sphere displays to you

Which in their quality and quantity
May noted be of aspects different.”
Par. ii. 65-66. (Longfellow).

[275] “The Ram.” Purg. viii. 134; Par. xxix. 2.

[276] “The sign which follows Taurus,” Par. xxii. 110, 111; “The
eternal Twins,” xxii. 152; “The fair nest of Leda,” xxvii. 98.
[277] “The Balance.” Purg. ii. 5.
[278] “The cold creature.” Purg. ix. 5.
[279] “The Goat of the sky.” Par. xxvii. 69.
[280] “The celestial Carp.” Purg. xxxii. 54.
[281] Purg. iv. 61.
[282] “The burning Lion’s breast.” Par. xxi. 14.
[283] “Greater Fortune.”
[284]

“Gems ... set in the shape of that cold animal

Which with its tail doth smite amain the nations.”
(Longfellow).

[285] Par. xiii. 11, 12.

[286]

“A voice,
That made me seem like needle to the star,
In turning to its whereabout.”
Par. xii. 29, 30. (Carey).

[287] “The needle which guides mariners, for by the virtue of the
heavens it is attracted and turned towards that star which is
called the North Star.” Composizione del Mondo, Bk. VII. part iv.
ch. 2.
[288] Inf. xxvi. 127-129.
[289] Purg. i. 30.
[290] Purg. i. 26.
[291] Purg. viii. 89.
[292] “Four bright stars, four sacred lights.”
[293]

“We are nymphs here, and in heaven we are stars.”

Purg. xxxi. 104-106.

[294] Purg. xxxi. 111.

[295] Antonelli thinks the four stars were α and β Crucis, α and β
Centauri, all of which had been mentioned by Ptolemy, and all lie
near the circle which marks the limit of circumpolar stars in the
supposed latitude of Purgatory (32° south). The three stars he
says were ζ Navis, Canopus, and Achernar:—Antonelli, Accenni
alle Dottrine Astronomiche nella Divina Commedia.
[296] Inf. xi. 113, 114; Purg. i. 30.
[297]

“The Wain, that in the bosom of our sky

Spins ever on its axle, night and day.”
Par. xiii. 7-9. (Carey).

[298]

“Fled is every bird that seeks the warmth,

From European lands which never lose
The seven cold stars.”
Canz. xv. 27-29.

[299]

“Seven cold oxen.”

De Mon. II. ix. 96.

[300]

“To duty there

Each one convoying, as that lower doth
The steersman to his port.”
Purg. xxx. 4-6. (Carey).

[301] Purg. xxx. 1-3.

[302]

“If the barbarians coming from some region

That every day by Helice is covered,
Revolving with her son whom she delights in,
Beholding Rome and all her noble works
Were wonder-struck....”
Par. xxxi. 31-35. (Longfellow).

[303] “Those under the sway of the seven cold oxen.”

[304] I do not know whether this comparison originated with
Dante, but it was well known to Spanish sailors two centuries
later. In the Arte of Navigation which was “Englished out of the
Spanyshe,” by Richard Eden in 1561, Beta and Gamma of Ursa
Minor are referred to as “two starres called the Guardians, or the
mouth of the horne.”
[305] Par. xiii. 1-28.
[306] Par. viii. 52, 53.
[307] Par. v. 136, 137.
[308] Par. viii. 16.
[309] Par. x. 76, 40-42.
[310] Par. xiv. 97-101.
[311] Par. xv. 13, 14.
[312] Par. xxi. 32, 33; xxiii. 26, 27.
[313] Par. xxii 23; xxiv. 11, 12.
[314] Par. viii. 20, 21; and xxviii. 100-102.
[315]

“Saw I many little flames

From step to step descending and revolving,
And every revolution made them fairer.”
Par. xxi. 136-138. (Longfellow).

Compare 80, 81 and 39; and Par. xxiv. 10, 11.

[316]

“As soon as singing thus those burning Suns

Had round about us whirled themselves three times,
Like unto stars neighbouring the steadfast poles.”
Par. x. 76-78. (Longfellow).

[317] Par. xxi. 80, 81; xii. 3; xviii. 41, 42.

[318] Par. xxiv. 22-24, x. 73, and many others.
[319]

“What time abandoned Phaëton the reins,

Whereby the heavens, as still appears, were scorched.”
Inf. xvii. 107-108. (Longfellow).

[320]
 “Even as, distinct with less and greater lights,
Glimmers between the two poles of the world
The Galaxy that maketh wise men doubt,
Thus constellated in the depths of Mars
Those rays described the venerable sign
That quadrants joining in a circle make.”
Par. xiv. 97-102. (Longfellow).

[321] “The Galaxy, that is, the white circle commonly called St.
James’s Way.”
[322] “And in the Galaxy this heaven has a close resemblance to
Metaphysics. Wherefore it must be known that the Philosophers
have had different opinions about this Galaxy. For the
Pythagoreans affirmed that the sun at one time wandered in its
course, and in passing through other regions not suited to sustain
its heat, set on fire the place through which it passed; and so
these traces of the conflagration remain there. And I believe that
they were influenced by the fable of Phaëton, which Ovid tells at
the beginning of the second book of the Metamorphoses. Others
(as for instance Anaxagoras and Democritus) said that the Galaxy
was the light of the sun reflected in that region. And these
opinions they confirmed by demonstrative reasons. What Aristotle
may have said about it cannot be accurately known, because the
two translations give different accounts of his opinion. And I think
that any mistake may have been due to the translators, for in the
New Translation he is made to say that the Galaxy is a
congregation, under the stars of this part of the heaven, of the
vapours which are always being attracted by them; and this
opinion does not appear to be right. In the Old Translation he
says that the Galaxy is nothing but a multitude of fixed stars in
that region, stars so small that they are not separately visible
from our earth, but the appearance of whiteness which we call
the Galaxy is due to them. [And it may be that the heaven in that
part is more dense, and therefore retains and reproduces that
light] and this opinion Avicenna and Ptolemy appear to share with
Aristotle. Therefore, since the Galaxy is an effect of those stars
which cannot be perceived except so far as we apprehend these
things by their effect, and since Metaphysics treats of primal
substances which in the same way we cannot apprehend except
by their effects, it is plain that there is a close resemblance
between the starry heaven and Metaphysics.”
 Conv. II. xv. 44-86. (Jackson).
[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.
[325]

“Sweet colour of oriental sapphire,

Which was gathering in the serene aspect
Of the sky, pure even to the first circle,
To my eyes restored delight,
So soon as I had come forth from that dead air,
Which had troubled eyes and breast.
The fair planet that inspires love
Was making all the orient smile,
Veiling the Fishes which were in her train.”

Alternative rendering of the first three lines:—

“Sweet colour of oriental sapphire,

Which was diffused over the tranquil scene,
From mid-heaven even to the first circle.”
Purg. i. 13-21.

[326] First, or prime, circle.

[327] Conv., II. iv. 1-3.
[328] Literally, “was assembling,” or “was being collected.”
[329] “From the middle.”
[330] “Of the air.”
[331] “From the east there shone upon the Mountain Cytherea,
who in the flame of love seems to be always burning.” Purg. xxvii.
94-96.
[332] “Veiling the Fishes” (the zodiacal constellation).
[333] “Her appearance, now in the morning, and now in the
evening.” Conv. II. xiv. 114, 115.
[334]
 “The star
That woos the sun, now following, now in front.”
Par. viii. 11-12. (Longfellow).

[335]

“I saw how move themselves,

Around and near him, Maia and Dione.”
Par. xxii. 143-144.

[336]

“That fair planet, Mercury.”

Son. xxviii. 9.

[337] “Mercury ... as it moves is more veiled by the rays of the

sun than any other star.” Conv. II. xiv. 99-100.
[338]

... “The sphere

That veils itself from men in alien rays.”
Par. v. 128, 129.

[339] “This Fire.” Par. xvi. 38.

[340] “The burning smile of the star.” Par. xiv. 86.

[341] “Mars shows red.” Purg. ii. 14.

[342]

“This Mars ... his heat is like the heat of a fire ...
his colour is as if he were on fire.”
Conv. II. xiv. 162-165.

[343] “Sweet star.” Par. xviii. 115.

[344] “The torch of Jove.” Par. xviii. 70.
[345] “Amongst all the stars it shows white, as if silveredover.”
Conv. II. xiv. 202-204.
[346]
 “Jupiter
Seemed to be silver there with gold inlaid.”
Par. xviii. 95-96. (Longfellow).

[347] “One is the slowness of its movement through the twelve

signs; for twenty-nine years and more, according to the writings
of the astrologers, are required for its revolution: the other is that
it is high above all other planets.” Conv. II. xiv. 226-231.
[348] Par. xxi. 18.
[349] Par. xxi. 25.
[350] Par. xxi. 13.
[351] “Circling the world.” Par. xxi. 26.
[352] “Beneath the burning Lion’s breast.” Par. xxi. 14.
[353] Purg. ii. 13-15.
[354]

“Towards us came the being beautiful,

Vested in white, and in his countenance
Such as appears the tremulous morning star.”
Purg. xii. 88-90. (Longfellow).

[355] “He who drew beauty from Mary, as the Morning Star does
from the Sun.”
Par. xxxii. 107, 108.
[356] “All the seven.” Son. xxviii. 14, and Par. xxii. 148.
[357] “The oblique circle which carries the planets.”
[358] Par. xvi. 34-39.
[359] “About a year.”
[360] “Three,” for “thirty.”
[361] Conv. II. vii. 88, 89.
[362] “The star of Venus had twice revolved in that circle of hers
which makes her appear as evening and morning star, according
to her two seasons, since the translation of that holy Beatrice
who lives in heaven with the angels and on earth in my soul,
when that Gentle Lady, of whom I made mention at the end of
the ‘New Life,’ appeared first before my eyes, escorted by Love,
and took some place in my mind.” Conv. II. ii. 1-12.
[363] “Venus [ambitum epicycli peragit] anno Persico 1, mensibus
7, et diebus prope 9,” that is, the period of Venus on her epicycle
is 365 + 210 + 9 = 584 days nearly, according to Alfraganus. The
modern mean value is also 584 days.
[364] See Lubin’s Dante e gli Astronomi Italiani. The period of
225 days may be easily deduced from Ptolemy’s system, for it is
the time in which the epicycle of Venus would make an absolute
revolution round its centre, the diameter becoming parallel to its
former position. But the Greeks invariably reckoned the period as
the time in which it revolved relatively to Earth, that is 584 days.
[365] Ep. viii. 158, 159.
[366]

“The while, little by little, as I thought,

The sun ceased, and the stars began to gather.”
V. N. xxiii. 176, 177. (Rossetti).

See also the prose description just before, lines 35-37.

[367] Par. xxix. 97-102.

[368] Par. xxvii. 35, 36.
[369] Par. xxv. 118-121.
[370] Qu. xx. 3-5, 26-29.
[371] “Blazing brilliantly like comets.” Par. xxiv. 12.
[372] Inf. xxviii. 16-17; Purg. iii. 112-132.
[373] V. E. II. vi. 48.
[374] “I, who saw it clearly.”
[375] Naturales Quæstiones, Bk. I.
[376] Conv. II. xiv. 168-171, and Purg. v. 37.
[377] Par. xv. 16-18.
[378] “Some ignorant people think that they are stars which fall
from heaven and vanish.” Comp. del Mondo, VII. v.
[379] “Early in the night.”
[380] “Midnight.” Purg. v. 38.
[381]

“Vapours enkindled saw I ne’er so swiftly

At early nightfall cleave the air serene,
Nor, at the set of sun, the clouds of August,
But upward they returned in briefer time,
And on arriving with the others, wheeled
Towards us.”
Purg. v. 37-41. (Longfellow).

(By “vapours that cleave the clouds of August,” flashes of

lightning without thunder are meant. Aristotle believed both these
and meteorites to be ignited vapours).
[382]

“As through the pure and tranquil evening air

There shoots from time to time a sudden fire,
Moving the eyes that steadfast were before,
And seems to be a star that changeth place,
Except that in the place where it is kindled
Nothing is missed, and this endureth little.”
Par. xv. 13-18. (Longfellow).

[383] “The star.”

[384] As this is the value given by Alfraganus, we must here
understand Arabian miles. The distances from Rome to the north
and south pole are therefore probably equal to 3500 to 9750
English miles, and both are a little too large, because the half
circumference of Earth is too large. The proportion is about right,
however, for Rome is nearly three times as far from the south
pole as the north, her latitude being 42° N. Alfraganus placed her
in the fifth climate, at the northern boundary of which he said the
pole was elevated 43½°.
[385] Qu. xix. 36.
[386] Adopting the reading of Dr. Moore: “nella mezza terra, alla
mezza terza,” that is, “at the equator at middle-tierce.” See
Studies in Dante III. 107, 108.
[387] “For now, after what has already been said, the rest may
be understood by whomsoever has a noble mind, to which it is
well to leave a little labour.” (Cf. Par. x. 22-25).
[388] Purg. xiv. 148-151.
[389] “O unspeakable Wisdom who hast thus ordained, how poor
is our intellect to understand Thee! And you, for whose benefit
and pleasure I am writing, in what blindness you live, not lifting
up your eyes to these things, but keeping them fixed on the
slough of your folly.”
[390] “And the sky revolves like a mill-stone.” El. Ast. ch. vii.
[391] “There the sky will revolve, with all its stars,
mill-stone fashion.” Comp. del Mondo. I. xxiii.
[392] “It follows that Maria must see this sun ‘circling the world’
like a mill.” Conv. III. v. 142-147.
[393] “A winding path, which the learned call a spiral.”
[394] “Lucan, who was well known to Dante, had observed that
shadows cast by the sun in the southern hemisphere travel to the
right instead of to the left, and fall southwards when with us they
fall to the north.” Moore, Studies in Dante i. p. 239.
[395]

“If their pathway were not thus inflected,

Much virtue in the heavens would be in vain,
And almost every power below here dead.”
Par. x. 16-18. (Longfellow).

[396]

“And now remain, reader, on your bench, thinking over this!”

Par. x. 22, 23.

[397] Thus Petrarch: “Le stelle vaghe e lor viaggio torto.” (“The
wandering stars and their winding way.”) Sonetto de Morte di
Madonna Laura.
[398] Cf. Conv. III. v. 76, 191.
[399]

“Which always remains between the sun and the winter.”

Purg. iv. 81.

[400] Studies in Dante iii. p. 166.

[401] Purg. xxi. 46-48; Purg. xix. 38.
[402] Purg. xxviii. 143.
[403] “The land where shadows are lost.” Purg. xxx. 89.
[404] “The great dry land.” Inf. xxxiv. 113.
[405] “The unpeopled world.” Inf. xxvi. 117.
[406] “Behind the sun.” Ibid.
[407] Conv. III. v. 117, 118.
[408] Refraction makes the pole visible a little before one reaches
the equator, but such refinements need not be considered in
dealing with a popular work like the Convivio.
[409]

“There riseth up from Ethiopia’s sands

A wind from far-off clime which rends the air,
Through the sun’s orb that heats it with its ray.
The sea it crosses; thence, o’er all the lands
Such clouds it brings that but for wind more fair
O’er all our hemisphere ’twould hold its sway;
And then it breaks and falls in whitest spray
Of frozen snow and pestilential showers.”
Canz. xv. 14-21. (Plumptre).

[410] “Now heats it.”

[411] “This hemisphere.”
[412] Just as in Par. xxviii. 80.
[413] Qu. xix. 53-57, and repeated in xxi. 36-40.
[414] Luke xxiii. 44.
[415] Par. xxix. 97-102.
[416] Dante believed the death of Christ to have taken place
when it was noon in Jerusalem. Conv. IV. xxiii. 105-106.
[417] Purg. iv. 137-139.
[418] Purg. xxvii. 1-5.
[419] Orosius says: “Europæ in Hispania occidentalis oceanus
termino est, maxime ubi apud Gades insulas Herculis columnæ
visuntur.... Asia ad mediam frontem orientis habet in oceano Eoo
ostia fluminis Gangis.”
[420] Qu. xix. 38-52.
[421] Moore, Studies in Dante iii. p. 124.
[422]

“The strait pass, where Hercules ordained

The boundaries not to be o’erstepped by man.”
Inf. xxvi. 107-109. (Carey).

[423] Inf. xxvi. 106-142.

[424] Ptolemy’s Geography, Bk. I.
[425] See p. 176.
[426] Esdras II. vi. 42.
[427] Beazley, Dawn of Geography iii. 28, 29.
[428] Corvino and Marco Polo made the voyage in the same year,
1292, but in reverse directions.
[429] Purg. iii. 25.
[430] Purg. xv. 1-6.
[431] Purg. iv. 68-71; xxvii. 1-5.
[432] Purg. xxviii. 142. Opinions differed as to its exact site, and
some placed it in the ocean beyond the eastern limit of the
habitable earth. In V. E. I. viii. 6-10, Dante says that the root of
the human race was planted in eastern lands, but this refers to
Adam’s home after the expulsion from Paradise.
[433] Par. xxx. 1-3.
[434] Par. ix. 82-87.
[435] Conv. III. vi. 7-32.
[436] Conv. IV. xxiii. 50 to end.
[437] Comp. del Mondo, I. xxii.
[438] “The sixth hour, that is, the middle of the day, is the most
noble of all the day, and the most virtuous.”
[439] Luke xxiii. 44-46. Dante understands this to mean that
death took place at about the sixth hour, not the ninth.
[440]
 “From the first hour to that which cometh next
(As the sun changes quarter) to the sixth.”
Par. xxvi. 141-142. (Carey).

[441] It is easily seen that this is correct, if we divide the 360° of

the moon’s path through the zodiac by the 27 days and eight
hours in which she traverses it, and returns to the same star.
Brunetto Latini says “La lune s’esloigne dou Soleil chascun jor xiii
degrez po s’en faut,” but he is wrong, having apparently forgotten
that the sun is also moving in the same direction, at the average
rate of nearly 1° daily.
[442] Inf. xxix. 11.
[443] Purg. xxiii. 5, 6.
[444] Par. xxxii. 139.
[445] “Midway in the journey of our life.” Inf. i. 1.
[446] “The sweet season.” Inf. i. 43.
[447]

“Aloft the sun ascended with those stars

That with him rose when Love Divine first moved
Those its fair works.”
Inf. i. 38-40. (Carey).

[448] “Those stars.”

[449] Purg. xi. 108; Conv. II. xv. 12-14.
[450] Conv. III. vi. 28-30.
[451] On the day of the spring equinox the sun rises and sets a
few minutes after six o’clock, because we set our clocks not by
the real sun but the more convenient “mean sun.”
[452] The clock-hours in this column are not to be regarded as if
taken from a railway time-table! Sunrise is at 6 a.m. within a few
minutes only, for the reasons above stated, viz.: our clocks are
regulated by the “mean” sun, and it is not necessarily the exact
day of the equinox when the vision begins.
[453] Or “almost at late midnight.”
[454] Or “nigh me:” “presso” may mean either.
[455] “The Lady who rules here.” Inf. x. 80.
[456] “Lower Hell.” Inf. viii. 75.
[457] Cf. Par. ii. 48-51.
[458] The retardation is not likely to be more than the average of
50 minutes, and may be less, because the moon is in Libra, and
therefore going south. This tends to diminish the interval between
one moonset and the next in the northern hemisphere, just as
the days get shorter when the sun goes south in autumn.
[459] Some think the interval between this reference and the last
almost too short, but the words do not indicate that Malacoda
spoke on the stroke of seven! and the moon may have set at
about 6.30.
[460] “Darkness of Hell.” Purg. xvi. 1.
[461] “The fair planet which kindles love.”
[462] “Departed, as he came, swiftly.”
[463] If the meaning is that the sun is now 50° above the
horizon, this would indicate a later hour, nearing midday, for the
sun does not rise vertically in this latitude, and reaches only 58°
at noon at the time of the equinox. But the first explanation is the
more probable.
[464] “The shore.”
[465] See table on p. 361.
[466] “We must not assume, as some commentators have done,
that the signs rise at equal intervals of two hours, although each
circles the star sphere in 24 hours. See fig. 46, where the dotted
line shows how e.g. Cancer, circling parallel with the celestial
equator, will rise at a point considerably north of east, and having
had to traverse more than 90 degrees since Aries rose due east,
will not rise until about 7 hours later, i.e. 1 p.m. Conversely
Scorpio, following Libra, will rise south of east, and a little less
than 2 hours later. The moon’s retardation, therefore, is less in
this part of the zodiac than it would otherwise be, and the hour is
probably nearer eight than nine.”
[467] “Superlatively obscure.”
[468] “Out of the arms of her lover.”
[469] “Cold creature.”
[470] “The climax of the day.”
[471] See Moore, Studies in Dante iii. pp. 75-84, for a detailed
discussion of this passage. Several commentators have held that
lines 1 to 6 describe the dawn of day elsewhere; and it is true
that it would be nearly 6 a.m. and Pisces would be on the horizon
in Italy when the hour was nearly 9 p.m. in Purgatory.
[472] “Vespers there.”
[473] “Here.”
[474] See for instance the “Carte Pisane,“ and the Central
Mediterranean map of Vesconte, dating from about 1300 and
1311 respectively, in Beazley’s Dawn of Geography, iii. Latitudes
and longitudes are not given, but from certain centres lines
radiate to all points of the compass, like great spiders’ webs.
[475] De Mon. II. iii. 87-90. etc.
[476] “It is bounded on the east and north by the Tyrrhenian sea,
which lies towards the port of Rome,” Moore, Studies in Dante iii.
p. 72.
[477] Purg. xxxii. 56, 57.
[478]

“My more than father said unto me, Son,

Come now, because the time that is ordained us
More usefully should be apportioned out.”
Purg. xxiii. 4-6. (Longfellow).

[479] Purg. xxi. 20-27.

[480] Purg. xiii. 22-23.
[481] On an Astronomical Point in Dante’s Purgatorio, by P. H.
Cowell, F.R.A.S., The Observatory, December 1906.
[482] “That circles opposite to him.” Purg. ii. 4.
[483] The signs follow one another on the meridian at intervals of
exactly 2 hrs.
[484] “At the hour.”
[485] “I turned to the east.”
[486] “Pure and ready to rise to the stars.” Purg. last line.
[487] “The climax of the day.”
[488] It has been suggested to read the line Par. i. 44. “Tal foce;
e quasi tutto là era bianco,” transferring the “quasi” (almost) so
that the meaning should be “almost was wholly white that
hemisphere,” and to interpret that it is now morning of the day
following the events in the last Canto of the Purgatorio. But if so,
Dante would have spent a whole night in the Earthly Paradise
without mentioning it, or explaining this long delay after he had
become “pure and ready to rise to the stars.” (For the meaning of
“foce,” the “passage,” see later, p. 400).
[489] Par. i. 46, 47.
[490]

“Love that rules the heavens,

with thy light Thou didst raise me.”
Par. i. 74, 75.

[491] “Turned her eyes again towards heaven.”

[492] “Beatrice gazed upwards, and I at her.”
[493]

“Turned again with yearning

to that part where the world is most living.”
Par. v. 86, 87.

[494] Inf. i. 38-40.

[495] Conv. II. iv. 52-62.
[496] “That part.”
[497] “He who is father of all mortal life.” Par. xxii. 116; see also
De Mon. I. ix. 6, 7.
[498] See Par. x. 7-21.
[499] Longfellow says:—“Looking down from the terrace of Monte
Cassino upon the circular threshing-floor of stone in a farm lying
below, I first felt the aptness of Dante’s phrase. This very scene
may have suggested it to him.”
[500]
 “So my lady stood, erect
and intent, turned towards that place
under which the sun shows least haste.”
Par. xxiii. 10-12.

[501] See Par. iv. 34-39.

[502] Purg. xxix. 12 and 34.
[503] “Region.”
[504] Par. xxiii. 29, 30.
[505] Par. xxvii. 64-66.
[506] Compare Purg. xv. 1-5, where the course the sun still has
to run between vespers and sunset is described as equal to the
space between the third hour and sunrise.
[507]

“The threshing-floor that maketh us so proud,

To me revolving with the eternal Twins,
Was all apparent made from hill to harbour.”
Par. xxii. 151-3. (Longfellow).

[508] Della Valle boldly assumes that they were over the same
meridian, by a poetical licence, although at the same time the sun
was in a different sign. Dante only mentions the latter fact, he
thinks, in order to show that he was a few degrees north of the
sun (Gemini being more northerly than Aries); therefore he could
see over the edge, as it were, of the sun-lighted hemisphere of
Earth. This is desperately subtle.
It is, however, the only way in which the passages can be
reconciled with his further assumption, shared by some other
commentators, that Dante, in his flight through the spheres,
simply ascended without any movement in longitude except that
he was carried round by the daily revolution of the spheres. All
the planets, therefore, were ranged one above the other, in the
sign of Gemini, and it was always noon on the earth below his
feet, since that was the hour at which he ascended from the
Earthly Paradise, and his movement was the same as the sun’s.
(Here Della Valle is inconsistent, however, for he maintains that
the ascent was made in the early morning.) But this is a very
artificial conceit, and not indicated by Dante. He implies that
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