farther-shining light than any heavenly star.
Did he literally think that a navigable distance between two lands is greater than the distance between earth and stars?
It’s possible. Maybe he thought of the astral distance as similar to the height of a mountain, which is much more quickly gained than travel to a far land.
Moreover, the fact that a distant land is invisible whereas the stars are visible could give the impression that the stars are relatively close.
But this could just be metaphor.
