Note 304 — SECOND PART. The Astronomy of Dante. (continued 2)

I do not know whether this comparison originated with Dante, but it was well known to Spanish sailors two centuries later. In the Arte of Navigation which was “Englished out of the Spanyshe,” by Richard Eden in 1561, Beta and Gamma of Ursa Minor are referred to as “two starres called the Guardians, or the mouth of the horne.”