PETRARCH THE MAN 



anniversary of Petrarch's birth at Arezzo, Novati under- 

 took to defend Petrarch for living with the Visconti, 

 and, referring to the inconsistency of this lover of a 

 rural life Uving at a court, maintained that Petrarch 

 continued unchanged his train of life, and that, after 

 all, from 1334 on there was no real court in Milan. 

 Suppose there was not, suppose that Petrarch's feeling 

 against the Visconti could hardly be as strong as that 

 of the Florentines, who had just cause to fear; suppose 

 the Visconti, whose reputation indeed is particularly 

 odious, were no worse than other tyrants, nevertheless 

 they were tyrants; and Milan was a great city. Although 

 we must not imagine Petrarch dweUing in a narrow, 

 malodorous, noisy city street, nevertheless his Hfe with 

 the Visconti must have been very different from his 

 existence earlier at Vaucluse, or later at Arqua. 



But it is quite easy to make altogether too much of 

 Petrarch's inconsistency. We know perfectly well how 

 possible and natural it is to love both city and country, 

 and how greatly our pleasure is heightened by going 

 from one to the other. Of course Petrarch is largely to 

 blame for the severe criticism that has been meted out 

 to him. He invited it by the intemperance of his 

 statements. We will not take him at his word, then, 

 when he indulges in an invective against hfe in a city. 

 Must we also be a little on our guard when he praises 

 the country ? There is, for instance, a letter {Fam., 

 rx, 14) written to a certain priest of Piacenza named 

 Luca, in which Petrarch makes this significant remark: 



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