PETRARCH THE MAN 



door told me that the Bishop had arrived. So a day 

 does not pass which does not prove to me and teach me 

 how vain are mortal cares, and how idle are our lamen- 

 tations." 



" Povero Messer Francesco! " says Fracassetti in his 

 note to this letter, which, with its horrid twang and 

 display of temper, shows Petrarch at his very worst, 

 and would lead one to believe that he was totally bereft 

 of humor. Both letters might easily make one doubt 

 whether he really loved soUtude and the country for 

 their own sake. Did he not seek them rather because, 

 as he writes to Luca, doing something unusual and 

 standing apart from the crowd, which he bitterly hated, 

 he would be more conspicuous ? It was flattering to 

 any poet to be kindly received by nobles and kings; 

 but what was that compared to the glory of having 

 them come out of their way to see him ? This is all 

 true, but not the whole truth. 



Petrarch had more than one reason for living in the 

 country; but I am certain that he loved nature to an 

 extraordinary degree. Of this love, his chmbing of 

 Mount Ventoux is usually cited as a proof, and with 

 some reason, for not many men before the nineteenth 

 century cared for mountain ascents. As additional 

 evidence may be quoted some passages from his works, 

 prose and verse. In the Secretum, St. Augustine says 

 to Petrarch: '' Do you remember with what pleasure 

 you used to wander about the country ? Now, l)ang 

 upon the grass in the meadows, you Hstened to the 



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