Page:Sonnets and Ballate of Guido Cavalcanti.djvu/18

 of certain effect; in Sonnet xxxv. the image of his lady has these powers. It is a spiritual chemistry, and modern science and modern mysticism are both set to confirm it.

The heavens were, according to the Ptolemaic system, clear concentric spheres with the earth as their pivot; they moved more swiftly as they were far removed from it, each one endowed with its virtue, its property for affecting man and destiny; in each its star, the sign visible to the wise and guiding them. A logical astrology, the star a sort of label of the spiritual force, an indicator of the position and movement of that spiritual current. Thus “her” presence, his Lady’s, corresponds with the ascendency of the star of that heaven which corresponds to her particular emanation or potency. Likewise

“Thou shalt see the rays of this emanation going up to heaven as a slender pillar of light.” Or returning and correlating this line with the first stanza of the ballata, one subtile body issues from the lips of the lady, from that a subtler body, and from that a body of pure flame, “the star,” in which is heard the voice.

I would go so far as to say that Il Paradiso and the form of the Commedia might date from