• In this canto Beatrice appears. The Seven Stars, or Septentrion of the highest heaven, are the seven lights that lead the procession, the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, by which all men are guided safely in things spiritual, as the mariner is by the Septentrion, or Seven Stars of the Ursa Minor, two of which are called the “Wardens of the Pole,” and one of which is the Cynosure, or Pole Star. These lights precede the triumphal chariot, as in our heaven the Ursa Minor precedes, or is nearer the centre of rest, than the Ursa Major or Charles’s Wain. In the Northern Mythology the God Thor is represented as holding these constellations in his hand. The old Swedish Rhyme Chronicle , describing the statues in the church of Upsala, says:⁠— “The God Thor was the highest of them; He sat naked as a child, Seven stars in his hand and Charles’s Wain. Spenser, Faerie Queene , I ii 1:⁠— “By this the northern wagoner had set His sevenfold teme behind the steadfast starre That was in ocean waves yet never wet, But firme is fixt, and sendeth light from farre To all that in the wide deep wandering arre.” ↩
• Song of Solomon 4:8:⁠— “Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon.” ↩
• At the voice of so venerable an old man. ↩