[433] Par. xxx. 1-3.
[434] Par. ix. 82-87.
[435] Conv. III. vi. 7-32.
[436] Conv. IV. xxiii. 50 to end.
[437] Comp. del Mondo, I. xxii.
[438] “The sixth hour, that is, the middle of the day, is the most noble of all the day, and the most virtuous.”
[439] Luke xxiii. 44-46. Dante understands this to mean that death took place at about the sixth hour, not the ninth.
“From the first hour to that which cometh next (As the sun changes quarter) to the sixth.” Par. xxvi. 141-142. (Carey).
[441] It is easily seen that this is correct, if we divide the 360° of the moon’s path through the zodiac by the 27 days and eight hours in which she traverses it, and returns to the same star. Brunetto Latini says “La lune s’esloigne dou Soleil chascun jor xiii degrez po s’en faut,” but he is wrong, having apparently forgotten that the sun is also moving in the same direction, at the average rate of nearly 1° daily.