668 COSMOS. 



plied, and as Christian missionaries penetrated into the newly 

 discovered tropical lands of America, the fame of this constel- 

 lation continually increased. I find it mentioned first by the 

 Florentine, Andrea Corsali, in 1517, and subsequently, in 

 1520, by Pigafetta, as a wonderful cross (croce maravigliosa), 

 more glorious than all the constellations in the heavens. The 

 learned Florentine extols Dante's " prophetic spirit," as if the 

 great poet had not as much erudition as creative imagination, 

 and as if he had not seen Arabian celestial globes, and con- 

 versed with many learned oriental travellers of Pisa.^ Acosta, 

 in his Historia natural y moral de las Indias\ remarks, that 

 in the Spanish settlements of tropical America, the first set- 

 tlers were accustomed, even as is now done, to use, as a celes- 

 tial clock, the Southern Cross, calculating the hour from its 

 inclined or vertical position. 



* I have elsewhere attempted to dispel the doubts which several 

 distinguished commentators of Dante have advanced in modern times, 

 respecting the " quattro stelle." To take this problem in all its com- 

 pleteness, we must compare the passage, " lo mi volsi," &c. (Purgat. 

 1. v. 22-24), with the other passages: Purg.l. v. 37; viii. v. 85-93; 

 xxix. v. 121 ; xxx. v. 97; xxxi. v. 106; and Inf. xxvi. v. 117 and 127. 

 The Milanese astronomer, De Cesaris, considers the three "facelle" 

 (" Di che il polo di qua tutto quanto arde," and which set when the 

 four stars of the Cross rise,) to be Canopus, Aehernar, and Fomalhaut. 

 I have endeavoured to solve these difficulties by the following considera- 

 tions. " The philosophical and religious mysticism which penetrates and 

 vivifies the grand composition of Dante, assigns to all objects, besides 

 their real or material existence, an ideal one. It seems almost as if we 

 beheld two worlds reflected in one another. The four stars represent, 

 in their moral order, the cardinal virtues, prudence, justice, strength, 

 and temperance; and they, therefore, merit the name of the holy lights, 

 " luci sante" The three stars, Avhich light the pole, represent the theo- 

 logical virtues, faith, hope, and charity. The first of these beings 

 themselves reveals their double nature, chanting, ' Here we are nymphs, 

 in heaven we are stars;' Noi sem qui ninfe, e nel cielo semo stelle. 

 In the land of truth, in the terrestrial paradise there are seven nymphs. 

 In cercliio faceran di se daustro le sette ninfe. This is the union of 

 all the cardinal and theological virtues. Under these mystic forms, we 

 can scarcely recognise the real objects of the firmament, separated from 

 each other, according to the eternal laws of the celestial mechanism. 

 The ideal world is a free creation of the soul, the product of poetic 

 inspiration." (Examen crit., t. iv. pp. 324-332.) 



t Acosta, lib. i. cap. 5. Compare my Relation historique, t. i. 

 p. 209. As the stars a and y of the Southern Cross have almost the 

 same right ascension, the Cross appears perpendicular when passing the 

 meridian; but the natives too often forget that this celestial clock 





