Dante expressly says, in Canto IV 28:⁠— “He of the Seraphim most absorbed in God, Moses, and Samuel, and whichever John Thou mayst select, I say, and even Mary, Have not in any other heaven their thrones Than have those spirits that just appeared to thee, Nor of existence more or fewer years; But all make beautiful the primal circle, And have sweet life in different degrees, By feeling more or less the eternal breath. They showed themselves here, not because allotted This sphere has been to them, but to give sign Of the celestial which is least exalted.” The threefold main division of the Paradiso, indicated by a longer prelude, or by a natural pause in the action of the poem, is:⁠—1. From Canto I to Canto X 2. From Canto X to Canto XXIII 3. From Canto XXIII to the end. ↩