No More Learning

His good
friend was very unwell, but received him with joy, and pressed him to
pass the night under his roof. That night and all the next day it rained
so heavily that Petrarch, more from fear of his books and papers being
damaged than from anxiety about his own health, gave up his Italian
journey for the present, and, returning to Vaucluse, spent there the
rest of November and the whole of December, 1352.

Early in December, Petrarch heard of the death of Clement VI. , and this
event gave him occasion for more epistles, both against the Roman court
and his enemies, the physicians. Clement's death was ascribed to
different causes. Petrarch, of course, imputed it to his doctors.
Villani's opinion is the most probable, that he died of a protracted
fever. He was buried with great pomp in the church of Notre Dame at
Avignon; but his remains, after some time, were removed to the abbey of
Chaise Dieu, in Auvergne, where his tomb was violated by the Huguenots
in 1562. Scandal says that they made a football of his head, and that
the Marquis de Courton afterwards converted his skull into a
drinking-cup.

It need not surprise us that his Holiness never stood high in the good
graces of Petrarch. He was a Limousin, who never loved Italy go much as
Gascony, and, in place of re-establishing the holy seat at Rome, he
completed the building of the papal palace at Avignon, which his
predecessor had begun. These were faults that eclipsed all the good
qualities of Clement VI. in the eyes of Petrarch, and, in the sixth of
his eclogues, the poet has drawn the character of Clement in odious
colours, and, with equal freedom, has described most of the cardinals of
his court. Whether there was perfect consistency between this hatred to
the Pope and his thinking, as he certainly did for a time, of becoming
his secretary, may admit of a doubt. I am not, however, disposed to deny
some allowance to Petrarch for his dislike of Clement, who was a
voluptuary in private life, and a corrupted ruler of the Church.
Early in May, 1353, Petrarch departed for Italy, and we find him very
soon afterwards at the palace of John Visconti of Milan, whom he used to
call the greatest man in Italy. This prince, uniting the sacerdotal with
the civil power, reigned absolute in Milan. He was master of Lombardy,
and made all Italy tremble at his hostility. Yet, in spite of his
despotism, John Visconti was a lover of letters, and fond of having
literary men at his court. He exercised a cunning influence over our
poet, and detained him. Petrarch, knowing that Milan was a troubled city
and a stormy court, told the Prince that, being a priest, his vocation
did not permit him to live in a princely court, and in the midst of
arms. "For that matter," replied the Archbishop, "I am myself an
ecclesiastic; I wish to press no employment upon you, but only to
request you to remain as an ornament of my court. " Petrarch, taken by
surprise, had not fortitude to resist his importunities. All that he
bargained for was, that he should have a habitation sufficiently distant
from the city, and that he should not be obliged to make any change in
his ordinary mode of living. The Archbishop was too happy to possess him
on these terms.

Petrarch, accordingly, took up his habitation in the western part of the
city, near the Vercellina gate, and the church of St. Ambrosio. His
house was flanked with two towers, stood behind the city wall, and
looked out upon a rich and beautiful country, as far as the Alps, the
tops of which, although it was summer, were still covered with snow.
Great was the joy of Petrarch when he found himself in a house near the
church of that Saint Ambrosio, for whom he had always cherished a
peculiar reverence. He himself tells us that he never entered that
temple without experiencing rekindled devotion. He visited the statue of
the saint, which was niched in one of the walls, and the stone figure
seemed to him to breathe, such was the majesty and tranquillity of the
sculpture.