sun
had sunk. Other Greek philosophers, as for example Anaxagoras and
Democritus, explained it as a reflection of the light of the sun which
still found its way even though that luminary had passed from sight.
Dante himself says that, following Aristotle, he cannot help but think
that the Milky Way is composed of a multitude of minute stars which
are gathered very closely together in this particular part of the
heavens, and which are so small that they cannot be distinguished from
one another, though their light causes that special white luminosity
which we call the Milky Way. This explanation is the true one, only
that the apparent smallness of the stars are due to their distance,
and not to their actual minuteness of size.

A brief list of the other astronomical phenomena mentioned by Dante
has been made by Professor Kuhns. This serves to show very clearly
that Dante's knowledge with regard to the heavens was quite as
extensive as that of the modern educated man, indeed, probably more
so, and that it was quite as exact. The little touch which shows that
he knew, for instance, that August is the month when shooting stars
are more frequent, is wonderfully illuminating. His powers of
observation are brought out by his having seen them during the day as
well as at night. In all this it must not be forgotten that Dante was
no mere pedant making a display of his knowledge; that he was not one
to parade his erudition for the sake of show; that indeed no one has
ever written so compressedly as he; that every word that he {352} used
counts in bringing out his meaning, and yet that we find all this
wealth of information with regard to astronomy in a book that was
meant to proclaim, and has, in the opinion of men for all time since,
expressed more sublimely the significance of man's relations to the
universe and his reflections on the infinite in lofty poetic thought,
than any other that was ever written. Professor Kuhns says:

"The other celestial phenomena mentioned by Dante may be dismissed
briefly. We have references to the eclipse and its cause, and the
Blessed in the Heaven of the Fixed Stars flame brightly, _a guisa di
comete_ (in the guise of a comet). Shooting-stars are referred to
several times, almost invariably as a conventional figure for
rapidity. August is the month when they are the most frequent, and
they are most seen to shoot with lightninglike swiftness across the
serene blue sky or pierce t