'" (Cath. Encycl., VII, 170.)
According to Dante's conception, Heaven, being non-spatial and
non-temporal, is not a place but a state of spiritual life. As an aid in
depicting that state he makes use of a unique literary device. He
poetically creates nine Heavens, the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, the Fixed Stars, the Primum Mobile or First
Movement. These, according to the Ptolemaic system which our poet
follows, are concentric with the earth, around which as their center
they revolve, while the earth remains fixed and motionless. The motion
of each of these nine spheres, originally coming from the Primum Mobile,
is communicated to it by the love of the angelic guardians, a literal
application of the common saying that "love makes the world go around."
As a poetic fiction necessary for him to enter finally the true Heaven
Dante is required to pass through these nine spheres, the fiction being
used by him as an artist to declare the glories of the heavens and as a
teacher to inculcate doctrines for the instruction and edification of
mankind. In each of the nine Heavens groups of the blessed are
represented as coming to meet him "as he returns to God as to the port
whence (he) set out when (he) first entered upon the sea of this life.
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