addressed to every reader of the Paradiso:⁠— “Whether the sun, predominant in heaven, Rise on the earth, or earth rise on the sun; He from the east his flaming road begin, Or she from west her silent course advance, With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps On her soft axle; while she paces even, And bears thee soft with the smooth air along; Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid.” Thus, taking the earth as the central point, and speaking of the order of the Ten Heavens, Dante says, Convito , II 4:⁠— “The first is that where the Moon is; the second is that where Mercury is; the third is that where Venus is; the fourth is that where the Sun is; the fifth is that where Mars is; the sixth is that where Jupiter is; the seventh is that where Saturn is; the eighth is that of the Stars; the ninth is not visible, save by the motion mentioned above, and is called by many the Crystalline; that is, diaphanous, or wholly transparent. Beyond all these, indeed, the Catholics place the Empyrean Heaven; that is to say, the Heaven of flame, or luminous; and this they suppose to be immovable, from having within itself, in every part, that which its matter demands.