[16] When it is sunrise at Jerusalem it is midnight in Spain, midday at the Ganges, and sunset in Purgatory.
[17] To be buried alive.
[18] Leah and Rachel are respectively the types of the virtuous active and contemplative life.
[19] As they come nearer home.
[20] In the preceding canto a mystic procession, symbolizing the Old and New Dispensation, has appeared in the Earthly Paradise. At its head were seven candlesticks, symbols of the sevenfold spirit of the Lord; it was followed by personages representing the truthful books of the Old Testament, and these by the chariot of the Church drawn by a griffon, who in his double form, half eagle and half lion, represented Christ in his double nature, human and divine.
[21] The lower septentrion, the seven stars of the Great Bear.
[22] Words from the Æneid (vi. 884), sung by the angels.
[23] The olive is the symbol of wisdom and of peace; the three colors are those of Faith, Charity and Hope.
[24] Words from the Æneid, iv. 23.
[25] All the joy and beauty of Paradise which Eve lost, and which were now surrounding Dante.