Dante and the Southern Cross

Abstract

“…vidi quattro stelle Non viste mai, fuor ch'alla prima gente.”Purg. i. 23. No one will accuse me of excessive patriotism when I say that Dante was one of the very few chosen spirits of the fourteenth century who were thoroughly acquainted with all natural phenomena, so far as they were then known and understood, whilst he was perhaps the only one who manifested a decided contempt for all the pretensions of astrologists and necromancers (Inf. xx.). The words of such a man are deserving of the best consideration, alike of literary and scientific men; it is therefore to be hoped that before the discussion ends those best qualified to speak will throw more light on the lines in question.