"
(Purg. XIII,73)
Gentleness also reveals itself in lovely lines wherein the poet speaks
of the relations of parent and child. He tells us, for instance, how
"An infant seeks his mother's breast
When fear and anguish vex his troubled heart."
(Purg. XXX.)
He recalls how he himself with child-like sorrow stood confessing his
sins:
"As little children, dumb with shame's keen smart,
Will listening stand with eyes upon the ground
Owning their faults with penitential heart
So then stood I."
(Purg. XXXI, 66)
When overcome by the splendor of the heaven Saturn it is as a child he
turns to Beatrice for assurance:
"Oppressed with stupor, I unto my guide
Turned like a little child who always runs
For refuge there where he confideth most,
And she, even as a mother who straightway
Gives comfort to her pale and breathless boy
With voice whose wont is to reassure him,
Said to me: 'Knowest thou not thou art in heaven?'"
(Par. XXII, I)
Again, it is the gentle heart of a fond father who speaks in the
following lines:
"Awaking late, no little innocent
So sudden plunges towards its mother's breast
With face intent upon its nourishment
As I did bend.
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