Dante and the early astronomers . tlife, in the north. The constellations are upside downfor the south, so they can have no effect there, there-fore, there are no animals there (since every race ofanimals is under the protection of a constellation);therefore no plants, since they exist for animals, andtherefore, Ristoro concludes his chain of argumenttriumphantly, there are no men, and no lands, for landwithout life would be useless. Ristoro reproduces Alfraganus description of the USED BY DANTE. 247 suns movements as seen in different latitudes, quoteshim as saying that the equatoral regions
Dante and the early astronomers . tlife, in the north. The constellations are upside downfor the south, so they can have no effect there, there-fore, there are no animals there (since every race ofanimals is under the protection of a constellation);therefore no plants, since they exist for animals, andtherefore, Ristoro concludes his chain of argumenttriumphantly, there are no men, and no lands, for landwithout life would be useless. Ristoro reproduces Alfraganus description of the USED BY DANTE. 247 suns movements as seen in different latitudes, quoteshim as saying that the equatoral regions are inhabited,and Avicenna that the temperature there is equablebecause days and nights are always equal. The cityArym which is exactly on the equator has a perfectclimate, and as it has tw^o summers and two wintersthere are two harvests; moreover, all the stars in thesky are visible at the equator; therefore, the bestastronomers, and the wisest and richest men, ought tolive there, says Kistoro. When writing thus, he seems ,^. NorthPole
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