So that a fear within my breast arose
Of showing with mine eye my abjectness.
In another Sonnet, this poetical philosopher alleges, that the warm-hearted sympathize so deeply, that their very countenances tell of other's woes. He says in the Color d’Amore e di pietà sembianti:—
Never did Pity's semblance and Love's hue
Take such admired possession of thy face.
Fair lady! thou hast long and oft observed,
The gentle glittering eyes that told of grief.
Again,—
I struggle to prevent my love-worn eyes
From gazing in your beams, but all is vain;
And by their gazing they are quite consumed,
And speak your sorrows but in tears.
In Cansone 20th, we hear him say:—
I never thought that sighs could such distress
Bring to the heart, and torture so severe;
That my proud eye would yield a picture there,
That to all eyes my face with death appears.
Again, Dante says:—
And first I look into those lovely eyes
Which pass thro' mine, and penetrate the heart
With beams so animating and so bright,
That from the sun they seem to flow.
Anacreon is generally objectionable, yet we may quote his 27th Ode:—
We read the flying courser's mane,
Upon his side in marks of flame;
And by their turban'd brows alone,
The warriors of the East are known.
But in the lover's glowing eyes,
The inlet to his bosom lies;
Through them we see the small faint mark,
Where love has dropp'd his burning spark.
