• The joy of spirits in Paradise is shown by greater brightness. ↩
• The spirit of Justinian. ↩
• Mercury is the planet nearest the Sun, and being thus “veiled with alien rays,” is only visible to the naked eye at the time of its greatest elongation, and then but for a few minutes. Dante, Convito , II 14, says, that Mercury “is more veiled by the rays of the Sun than any other star.” And yet it will be observed that in his planetary system he places Venus between Mercury and the Sun. ↩
• Milton, Paradise Lost , III 380:⁠— “Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear, Yet dazzle heaven.” And again, V 598:⁠— “A flaming mount, whose top Brightness had made invisible.” ↩