n 



FETRONIUS ARBITER. 



PETRUS HISPANUS. 



77 



be in thai country Mcnt unbeliever* and scoffers at revelstion, but 

 there were DO heretic*. Then were many who openly charged the 

 pope and his court with heinous crime, but who at the mine time felt 

 a cort of loathing at the very name of heretic or schismatic. The 

 influence of traditional veneration for the authority of the Church, 

 the |*r*oauon of iU infallibility, remained, although diverted of all 

 d< votinn, of all enthusiasm, of all respect even for the person of the 

 bead of that Church. 



Petraroa was not a man of extremes : his dislike of the Papal court 

 of Avignon originated in two feelings, one of honest indignation 

 against its corruptions, and another of national, or rather classical 

 attachment to Rome, which mode him urge with all his powers of 

 persuasion the return of the head of the Church to a residence in 

 that city. When he spoke of Babylon he alluded to the captivity of 

 the Jews, to which ho compared the residence of the pones at Aviguou. 

 Of several popes, such as Urban VI. and Gregory XI., be speaks in 

 his letters with great respect and personal attachment. He went to 

 Rome expressly to attend the jubilee of 1350, and, as he states in his 

 letters to Boccaccio (' Epistolaj Familiarea '), for the sake of obtaining 

 the plenary indulgence, and " with a firm resolve of putting an end to 

 his career of sin." He had an accident on the road, which made him 

 lame, and which he said was a salutary punishment for his sins. He 

 gives some account of that jubilee, and of the vast number of pilgrims 

 who resorted to Rome on the occasion. After baring visited the 

 churches and performed his devotions, he wrote that " he had now 

 become free from the plague of concupiscence, which hod tormented 

 him till then, and that in looking back to his post life he shuddered 

 with shame." ('Epistoto Scniles,' viii. 1.) So much for those who 

 would persuade us that 1'etr.irca was a concealed heretic. His 

 hostility was local and personal ; it was directed against Avignon, and 

 not against Rome ; against the corrupt dignitaries of the Church, not 

 gainst the Church itself. Petrarca however, although religiously dis- 

 posed, was far from superstitious. He was one of the few of Ids age 

 who spurned astrology, and yet, strange to say, a cardinal had nearly 

 persuaded Pope Innocent VI. that he was a magician, because he was 

 familiar with strange books a very serious charge in those times. 

 Petnrca's letter of advice to Boccaccio, when he thought of turning 

 monk, is a lasting monument of sound religion and good sense. 



The Latin epistles of Petraroa, which are very numerous, are the 

 most important of his prose writings. They embrace a stormy and 

 confused period of nearly half a century, for the history of which 

 many of them afford trustworthy materials. Petrarcn was one of the 

 earliest and most enlightened travellers of modern Europe ; he was 

 an eye-witness of many important events; he corresponded with 

 kings, emperors, popes, statesmen, and men of learning. 



Professor Lovati, of Milan, has composed out of the ' Epistle* ' of 

 Petrarca an entertaining work descriptive of the manners and history 

 of bis age, in which he gives copious extracts translated into Italian, 

 ' Viaggi di Francesco Petrarca in Froncia, in Germania, ed in Italia,' 

 6 vola. Svo, Milan, 1820. Professor Meneghelli, of 1'aduo, published 

 in 1818 'Index F. Petrarchm Epistolarum quo) editaj Bunt, et qua) 

 adhuc iocditto;' but his list, as be himself admits, is not complete. 

 Domcnico de' Kosetti, of Trieste, baa published a bibliography of the 

 works of Petrarca, their various editions, commentators, ftc. ; and he 

 has also edited a biography of Petrarca by his friend Boccaccio, ' Serie 

 cronologica di edUioni delle Opere di Petrarca,' Trieste, 1834. 



The other prose works of Petrarca are : 1. ' De Remediis utriusquo 

 Fortunte,' libri iL 2. De Vitt Solitario,' lib. ii. 3. 'De Utio Religio- 

 aorum,' lib. ii. 4. ' Apologia contra Gullum.' 5. ' De Ufficio et 

 Virtutibus Imperatoria. 6. ' Rerum Memorandarum,' libri iv. In 

 this work, in which he has imitated Valerius Maximus, without how- 

 ever borrowing from him, Petrarca quotes a vast number of facts from 

 ancient and modern history, each illustrative of some principle ol 

 moral philosophy ; it is in fact a treatise of practical ethics. 7. ' De 

 vera Sapientii,' being dialogues between a sophist and an uneducated 

 man. 8. ' De Contemptu Mundi,' being imaginary dialogues between 

 the author and St. Augustine. Petrarca bad studied the Latin fathers 

 attentively. 9. ' Vitarum Virorum illustrium Epitome.' Another anc 

 ampler work of Petrarca under the same title, of which the one just 

 mentioned is only an abridgement, has remained inedited, but an 

 imperfcc-t Italian translation, by Donato degli Albanzoni, was publUhed 

 at Venice in 1627 (D. do Rossetti, ' Petrarca, Giulio Celso, e Boccaccio 

 illustration* Bibliologica,' Trie.*, 1828). 10. 'De Vita Beato.' 11 

 'De Gbedientia ac Fide UxoriA.' 12. 'lUnerarium Syriacum.' 13 

 Several oration*, De AvaritiA vitando,' ' De Libertate capescenda,' to. 

 Of bis Latin style the following judgment is given by an Italian 

 scholar : " In modelling bis style upon the Roman writers, he was 

 unwilling to neglect entirely the fathers of the Church, whose phrase 

 ology was more appropriate to his subjects; and the public affairs 

 being at that period transacted in Latin, he could not always rejec 

 many of those expressions which, although originating from barbarous 

 ages, bad been sanctioned by the adoption of the universities, and were 

 the more intelligible to his readerf. In sacrificing gravity he gainet 

 freedom, fluency, and warmth ; and bis prose, though not a mode 

 for imitation, is beyond the reach of imitators, because it is origin* 

 aad his own." (Foecolo 'On the Poetry of Petrarch.') Petrarca' 

 4 Opera Oinnia ' were published at Basel in 1681, 2 vola, folio. 



PETKO'MUS A'UBITKK is the name of the author, or supposed 



uthor, of a kind of novel in Latin, of which we have only fragments, 

 eacriptive of the licentious manners of the Romans under the empire. 

 Several young debauchees, one of whom is the chief narrator, are 

 represented strolling about Campania, and then proceeding by sea to 

 Croton ; they meet with numerous adventures with men and women 

 of various ranks, but all as profligate as themselves. Both the 

 leecriptions and the dialogue arc extremely obscene, and serve to 

 corroborate the testimony of Juvenal and other writers as to tho 

 xceasive depravity of morals under the empire. As a picture of 

 manners the work is not without its value, though it is totally unfit 

 or general readers. The style is fluent, and the language is considered 

 classical. Tho episode entitled ' Trimalcion's Feast' is a curious 

 Icscription of a banquet given by a pompous wealthy freed man. The 

 narrative is intermixed with verses and fragments of poems, one of 

 which refers to the civil wan of Csesar, and contains a very strong 

 uvcctive against tho corruption of Roman manners. The prose 

 narrative has been supposed by some to be a satire on Nero and his 

 court, but this supposition does not seem to rest on sufficient evidence. 

 Indeed the ago of the work is not ascertained, and some date it as late 

 as the time of the Autouiues. (Ignarra, ' De Palajstra Nespolitaim.') 

 Caius Petronius, a man of high rank, is mentioned by Tacitus (' Annul,' 

 ivi. 18, 19) as being for a time a favourite of Nero, and minister of 

 lis pleasures, " arbiter elcgantue," which may be translated " umpire 

 of fashion and master of the ceremonies." Being afterwards discarded 

 >y Nero through the jealousy of Tigellinus, and expecting his sentence 

 of death, he anticipated it by causing his reins to be opened in the 

 wth, and allowing himself to die gradually while conversing with his 

 'riends on light subjects (A.I). 66). He is stated during this interval 

 to have written an account of Nero's secret debaucheries, which he 

 sent to the emperor. Whether the fragment which we have was part 

 of this work, or whether it was written by another Petronius, baa been 

 much disputed. The best edition of Petronius is that by P. I'.unniuin, 

 2 vols. 4to, 1743, in which all the various opinions on the work and iU 

 author are given. 



PETROV, VASSILI PETROVITCH, was the son of a clergyman 

 at Moscow, where ho was born in 1736. While in the Zaikouopuskoi 

 school in that city he distinguished himself by his aptitude for ancient 

 and modern languages, and also by a natural eloquence, and fluency of 

 ideas and words. It was not however until his twenty-seventh year 

 that ho composed tho ode on Catharine's coronation, which obtained 

 for him the notice snd protection of tho empress, and of many of the 

 nobles at her court, and especially of Prince Potemkin. For a time 

 be held the appointment of reader to the empress, but at his pressing 

 solicitations obtained leave to travel He visited England, and several 

 other countries, from the year 1772 to 1774. After his return he was 

 mode imperial librarian, which situation however ho resigned in 1780 

 on account of ill-health, and he retired with a pension to a village in 

 the government of Orlov. Here he divided his time between literary 

 and agricultural pursuits, visiting Moscow every winter for tho purpose 

 of availing himself of its libraries. So diligent were his habits of tu' ! y, 

 that at the age of sixty he began to learn the modern Greek language. 

 He died December 4-16, 1799, in his sixty-fourth year. 



A complete edition of his original works appeared in 3 vols. Svo, 

 1811 ; besides which there is a translation by him of Virgil's '.I 

 in 2 vols., 1781-86. His poems consist chiefly of odes and epistles ; and 

 although they have now lost much of their first interest, having been 

 written upon particular occasions, many of the odes arc stamped by 

 high poetical beauty and merit, by vigour and originality of ideas, and 

 by energy of expression, though his versification is occasionally harsh 

 and his diction not sufficiently polished. It should be borne in mind 

 however that at tho time Petrov began to write the language itself 

 bad not received that refinement which it now possesses, and he cer- 

 tainly did much for his native literature. Merzliakov calls him tho 

 "philosopher bard," and says that he "abounds in transcendent 

 imagery, traced with a pen of fire." 



I'KTRUS APON1S. [ABANO, PiKTBO DL] 



PET11US 1 1 ISl'A'N US, a native of Lisbon, son of a physician named 

 Julian, became eminent for bis acquaintance with the sciences, parti- 

 cularly that of medicine, the practice of which be followed for some 

 time with great reputation. He afterwards entered holy orders, and 

 advanced by degrees to high preferment. After being Archbishop of 

 Br*ga in Portugal (Bracara Augusta), he was made cardinal by 

 Gregory X. in 1 '273 ; and on the death of Adrian V. ho was elected to 

 the pontifical dignity, September 13, 1276. He took the name of 

 John, and styled himself on his seal Joannes XX. ; but in his epitaph 

 at Viterbo he is called Joannes XXI. One of the first acts of his 

 pontificate was to confirm Adrian's revocation of the famous consti- 

 tution of Gregory X. (enacted at the Council of Lyon, 1274), which 

 ordered that the cardinals should be strictly chut up in the conclave 

 during their election of a new pope. He did all in his power to assist 

 the Christians in the East, and sent legates to the different princes of 

 Europe to persuade them to engage in a fresh crusade against the 

 Saracens. He died at Viterbo, about eight months after his elevation 

 to the holy see, May 17, 1277, of the injuries occasioned by the falling 

 of the roof of his bed-chamber. He was a very learned man himself, 

 and a great patron of learning in others ; but he does not seem to 

 have been eminent for piety and holiness of life. He wrote several 

 work* on medicine, logic, &c., of which the greater part are still 



