DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.63447#0537
DANTE.
521
finally set at rest ; the beauty of the allusion is equalled
by its literal exactness :
“ Io mi volsi a man destra, e posi mente
All’ altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle,
Non viste mai fuor ch’ alia prima gente.”
Purgatorio, c. i. v. 22 —5.
Three of these stars are beautifully visible to the
naked eye, being of the first magnitude; there is a fourth
which is inferior, and a fifth still less brilliant. They
blaze out in the darkness of the tropical sky with addi-
tional intensity, because the heavens around them are
very barren of stars. Alexander von Humboldt says of
them (“Cosmos,” vol. ii.):—In consequence of the pre-
cession of the equinoxes the starry heavens are perpetually
changing their aspect from every portion of the earth’s
surface. The early races of mankind 1 beheld in the far
north the glorious constellations of the southern hemi-
sphere rise before them, and after remaining long invisible
they will again appear in those latitudes after a lapse of
thousands of years. The Southern Cross began to
become visible, in 52-30° north latitude, two thousand
nine hundred years before our era; since, according to
Galle, this constellation might previously have reached an
altitude of more than 10°. When it disappeared from
the horizon of the countries of the Baltic the Great
Pyramid of Cheops had already been erected more than
five hundred years.” The happy expression of “ la prima
gente” therefore applies, with scientific accuracy, to the
“ early races of mankind,” and not to a mere poetically
vague “Adam and Eve,” as some commentators have in-
correctly assumed.2
There are many other evidences of an attentive observa-
tion of the laws of nature in the “ Divina Commedia,” and
of a surprising correctness, if we consider the state of
knowledge of the period.
In the Inferno, canto xi., v. 5, the natural repose or
slumber of plants is alluded to.
1 La prima gente.
2 The name “ Cross of the South ” was given to these “ quattro luce
sante ” in 1517 by Andrea Corsali, a Florentine astronomer.
521
finally set at rest ; the beauty of the allusion is equalled
by its literal exactness :
“ Io mi volsi a man destra, e posi mente
All’ altro polo, e vidi quattro stelle,
Non viste mai fuor ch’ alia prima gente.”
Purgatorio, c. i. v. 22 —5.
Three of these stars are beautifully visible to the
naked eye, being of the first magnitude; there is a fourth
which is inferior, and a fifth still less brilliant. They
blaze out in the darkness of the tropical sky with addi-
tional intensity, because the heavens around them are
very barren of stars. Alexander von Humboldt says of
them (“Cosmos,” vol. ii.):—In consequence of the pre-
cession of the equinoxes the starry heavens are perpetually
changing their aspect from every portion of the earth’s
surface. The early races of mankind 1 beheld in the far
north the glorious constellations of the southern hemi-
sphere rise before them, and after remaining long invisible
they will again appear in those latitudes after a lapse of
thousands of years. The Southern Cross began to
become visible, in 52-30° north latitude, two thousand
nine hundred years before our era; since, according to
Galle, this constellation might previously have reached an
altitude of more than 10°. When it disappeared from
the horizon of the countries of the Baltic the Great
Pyramid of Cheops had already been erected more than
five hundred years.” The happy expression of “ la prima
gente” therefore applies, with scientific accuracy, to the
“ early races of mankind,” and not to a mere poetically
vague “Adam and Eve,” as some commentators have in-
correctly assumed.2
There are many other evidences of an attentive observa-
tion of the laws of nature in the “ Divina Commedia,” and
of a surprising correctness, if we consider the state of
knowledge of the period.
In the Inferno, canto xi., v. 5, the natural repose or
slumber of plants is alluded to.
1 La prima gente.
2 The name “ Cross of the South ” was given to these “ quattro luce
sante ” in 1517 by Andrea Corsali, a Florentine astronomer.