Commentary Par VIII 136

As Heilbronn points out (Heil.1984.2), pp. 45-46, this phrasing joins with that found in [Par VIII 11-12] and [Par VIII 95-96] to connect with a passage in Convivio (Conv.II.xiii.14): 'and [rhetoric] appears in the morning when the rhetorician speaks before the face of his hearer, and it appears in the evening (that is, behind) when the rhetorician speaks through writing, from a distance.' Whether or not Dante's associations of the planets with the seven liberal arts in Convivio is binding in Paradiso is a question that remains to be settled, but, at the very least, a certain skepticism seems called for. It is probably just to reflect that, had he wanted to insist on these identities, he easily could have. That he did not would seem to make their application here dubious.