She who blesses._]
[Footnote B: According to the astronomy of the times, the sphere of the
stars moved from west to east one degree in a hundred years. The twelfth
of a degree was, therefore, eight and a half years. See the _Convito_,
Tratt. II. c. vi.]
[Footnote C: Compare with this passage Canzone x, st. 5, 6. Especially
the lines,
"E, se 'l libro non erra,
Lo spirito maggior tremo si forte,
Che parve ben, che morte
Per lui in questo mondo giunta fosse."
"And, if the book errs not, the chief spirit so greatly trembled, that
it plainly appeared that death for him had arrived in this world."
When Dante meets Beatrice in Purgatory, he says, referring to this
time,--and it is pleasant to note these connections between his earliest
and his latest works,--
"Tosto che nella vista mi percosse
L' alta virtu, che gia m' avca trafitto
Prima ch' io fuor di puerizia fosse."
Canto xxx. l. 40-42.
]
"At that instant, the spirit of the soul, which dwells in the high
chamber to which all the spirits of the senses bring their perceptions,
began to marvel greatly, and, addressing the spirits of the sight, said
these words: _Apparuit jam beatitudo vestra._ [Now hath appeared your
bliss.] At that instant the natural spirit, which dwells in that part
where the nourishment is supplied, began to weep, and, weeping, said
these words: _Heu miser! quia frequenter impeditus ero deinceps._ [Woe
is me wretched! because frequently henceforth shall I be hindered.
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