Among northern constellations, Ursa Major is frequently spoken of by Dante, under different names, but always with reference to its high northern latitude. As the Wain, “il Carro,” it is said to be lying in the north-west when Pisces is on the eastern horizon, and to have disappeared from view in the southern hemisphere.[296] The wain-pole or shaft is pictured as sweeping round in the diurnal revolution, but always remaining above our horizon day and night, throughout its turning:
“Quel Carro, a cui il seno Basta del nostro cielo e notte e giorno, Sì ch’ al volger del temo non vien meno.”[297]
The same idea is expressed in the Midwinter Ode, where the constellation is called the Seven Frosty Stars, never lost to sight in Europe:—
“Fuggito è ogni augel che ’l caldo segue Dal paese d’Europa, che non perde Le sette stelle gelide unquemai.”[298]
This is a reminiscence of some lines of Boëthius quoted by Dante in De Monarchia, in which the northern nations are described as under the sway of the “septem gelidi triones.”[299] The Septem Triones, the Seven Ploughing Oxen, was one of the Latin names for Ursa Major, whence comes “septentrional” for North. This name also is used by Dante in Purg. xxx. 1, where the Seven Candlesticks of the mystic procession seen in the Garden of Eden are likened to these seven stars, and are named the Septentrion of the First Heaven (the Empyrean). This divine Septentrion was guiding the Procession, as the starry Septentrion of a lower heaven guides the mariner into port:
“faceva lì ciascuno accorto Di suo dover, come il più basso face Qual timon gira per venire a porto.”[300]
Like the seven stars, also, the heavenly Septentrion is said figuratively to know neither setting nor rising, but unlike them it knows no cloud except of sin.[301] Because it is spoken of as guiding mariners, some commentators have taken the above to refer rather to Septentrio Minor (Ursa Minor), which also has seven chief stars, and is a better guide because nearer the Pole, as Thales taught; but the comparatively faint stars of the Little Bear would not be so apt a comparison with the celestial lights.
By the name of the Bears, both Ursa Major and Minor are referred to as guides at sea in Par. ii. 9. In the strange new seas on which Dante warns his readers he is about to enter, Minerva will blow a favouring wind, Apollo will steer the barque, and the nine Muses will guide his course by the Bears. They are also spoken of together in Purg. iv. 65, to indicate the northern part of the sky.
A fifth name for Ursa Major is derived from the fable (known to Dante probably from Ovid’s Metamorphoses) of the nymph Helice, who was turned into a she-bear by Juno, and was hunted by her own son, Orcas. Jupiter transformed them into Ursa Major and Boötes.
“Se i barbari, venendo di tal plaga Che ciascun giorno d’Elice si copra, Rotante col suo figlio ond’ ell’ è vaga, Vedendo Rome e l’ ardua sua opra, Stupefaciensi....”[302]