And I shall circle, Lady of Heaven, while
      Thou followest thy Son, and mak’st diviner
      The sphere supreme, because thou enterest it.” 
    Thus did the circulated melody
      Seal itself up; and all the other lights
      Were making resonant the name of Mary. 
    The regal mantle of the volumes all [116]
      Of that world, which most fervid is and living
      With breath of God and with his works and ways,
    Extended over us its inner curve,
      So very distant, that its outward show,
      There where I was, not yet appeared to me. 
    Therefore mine eyes did not possess the power
      Of following the incoronated flame,
      Which had ascended near to its own seed. 
    And as a little child, that towards its mother
      Extends its arms, when it the milk has taken,
      Through impulse kindled into outward flame,
    Each of those gleams of white did upward stretch
      So with its summit, that the deep affection
      They had for Mary was revealed to me. 
    Thereafter they remained there in my sight,
      Regina coeli singing with such sweetness, [132]
      That ne’er from me has the delight departed. 
    Oh, what exuberance is garnered up
      In those resplendent coffers, which had been
      For sowing here below good husbandmen! 
    There they enjoy and live upon the treasure [137]
      Which was acquired while weeping in the exile
      Of Babylon, wherein the gold was left. 
    There triumpheth beneath the exalted Son
       Of God and Mary, in his victory,
       Both with the ancient council and the new,
    He who doth keep the keys of such a glory. [143]

[Line 1:  Dante is with Beatrice in the eighth circle, that of the fixed stars.  She is gazing upwards, watching for the descent of the Triumph of Christ.]

[Line 12:  Under the meridian, or at noon, the shadows being shorter move slower, and, therefore the sun seems less in haste.]

[Line 21:  By the beneficent influences of the stars.]

[Line 29:  The old belief that the stars were fed by the light of the sun.  So Milton,—­

    “Hither, as to their fountain, other stars
    Repair, and in their golden urns draw light.”

Here the stars are souls, the sun is Christ.]

[Line 45:  Beatrice speaks.]

[Line 55:  The Muse of harmony and singing.]

[Line 72:  The rose is the Virgin Mary, Rosa Mundi, Rosa Mystica; the lilies are the Apostles and other saints.]

[Line 78:  The struggle between his eyes and the light.]

[Line 89:  Christ reascends, that Dante’s dazzled eyes, too feeble to bear the light of his presence, may behold the splendors around him.

The greater fire is the Virgin Mary, greater than any of those remaining.  She is the living star, surpassing in brightness all other souls in heaven, as she did here on earth:  Stella Maris, Stella Matutina.]