Latona

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Latona is recalled by Dante in the simile describing the trembling of the island of Purgatory, compared to Delos, where Latona, according to myth, gave birth to Apollo and Diana to escape the jealousy of Juno. The image of the "nest" that Latona made in Delos evokes the refuge offered to her by Neptune, who caused the island to rise from the waters. Latona is then recalled as the mother of the Moon, her daughter by Jove, whom Dante glimpses during his celestial journey. The use of the figure of Latona and her children, the sun and the moon, also serves to establish with astronomical precision a moment of the journey, when the two celestial bodies, being in opposite signs, cut the line of the horizon.