The following tables ([pp. 425-26]) summarize the foregoing pages. It will be noted with what appropriate symbolism Dante enters Hell on the evening of Good Friday, spends that night and the whole of Saturday in the depths, and rises out of them on Easter Day before the dawn.
For although he reaches Earth’s centre on Saturday evening by Jerusalem time, the change of hemisphere there makes his time suddenly go back twelve hours, so that it is again Saturday morning, and he spends the day and night of Saturday (Purgatory time) in climbing to Earth’s surface.
DAYS OF THE VISION AND POSITIONS OF
THE SUN, MOON, AND PLANETS.
| Dante’s Journey. | Jerusalem Time. | Purgatory Time. | Positions of Sun, Moon and Planets in Zodiac. | References. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Night | Moon full in Libra, about 7th degree | Inf. xx. 127. | |||
| Forest | Day I. Good Friday (1300) | Sun in Aries, about 7th degree | Inf. i. 38-40. | ||
| Night | |||||
| Inferno | Day II. Saturday | ||||
| Night | Day III. Saturday | ||||
| Earth’s | Day | in | |||
| Interior | (Sunday) | Purgatory | |||
| Easter Day | Night | ||||
| Day IV. (Sund.) | Venus in Pisces at dawn | Purg. i. 19-21. | |||
| Easter Day in Purgatory | |||||
| Night | Moon in the middle of Scorpio | Purg. ix. 1-6. | |||
| Purgatory | Day V. (Mond.) | ||||
| Night | Moon at end of Scorpio or beginning of Sagittarius | Purg. 79-81. | |||
| Day VI. (Teus.) Night | |||||
| Earthly Paradise, | Day VII. | Sun in the middle | Par. i. 37-44; | ||
| planetary & | (Wed.) | of Aries | x. 7-33; | ||
| stellar spheres | Saturn in Leo | xxvii. 86,87. | |||
| Primum Mobile | Day VIII. | Par. xxi. 13-15. | |||
| and Empyrean | (Thur). | ||||
Summary.
Arguments for 1300 or 1301.
From Expressions and Incidents in the D.C.
| Malacoda. | Inconclusive: method of reckoning uncertain. |
| Inf. xxi. 112-114. | |
| “Nel mezzo del cammin.” | Inconclusive: a precise year possibly not indicated, |
| Inf. i. 1. | and date of Dante’s birth not certainly known. |
| Casella. | Inconclusive: may refer to Bull of 1299, |
| Purg. ii. 98-99. | but possibly of 1300. |
| Can Grande. | For 1300: Can Grande 9 years old in March 1300. |
| Par. xvii. 80, 81. | |
| Cunizza. | For 1300: “questo centesim’ anno” can only mean 1300. |
| Par. ix. 40. | |
| Nino’s widow. | Inconclusive: might put off widow’s weeds |
| Purg. viii. 74. | before re-marriage. |
| Guido Cavalcanti. | For 1300: Guido, Dante’s intimate friend, |
| Inf. x. 111. | died in August 1300. |