• The ascent to the Empyrean, the tenth and last Heaven. Of this Heaven, Dante, Convito , II 4, says:⁠— “This is the sovereign edifice of the world, in which the whole world is included, and outside of which nothing is. And it is not in space, but was formed solely in the primal Mind, which the Greeks call Protonoe. This is that magnificence of which the Psalmist spake, when he says to God, ‘Thy magnificence is exalted above the heavens.’ ” Milton, Paradise Lost , III 56:⁠— “Now had the Almighty Father from above, From the pure empyrean where he sits High throned above all highth, bent down his eye, His own works and their works at once to view. About him all the sanctities of heaven Stood thick as stars, and from his sight received Beatitude past utterance.” ↩
• The sixth hour is noon, and when noon is some six thousand miles away from us, the dawn is approaching, the shadow of the earth lies almost on a plane with it, and gradually the stars disappear. ↩
• The nine circles of Angels, described in Canto XXVIII . ↩