Commentary Par VIII 112-114

This brief exchange may remind readers of the similar sort of question-and-answer drill performed by Socrates and one of his 'student' interlocutors (whose response is the deferential 'Yes, Socrates' that still strikes readers as comical) in Platonic dialogues.  As Bosco/Reggio point out (DDP Bosco.Par.VIII.114), Dante is here citing an Aristotelian maxim, 'Nature never fails to provide the things that are necessary,' that he also cites in Conv.IV.xxiv.10, Mon.I.x.1, and Quest.44.