He
continued
ill during the summer of 1370.
Petrarch
The world's youthful
appearance is owing to its revolutions, and the changes it has undergone
by deluges and conflagrations. " "Those free-thinkers," Petrarch tells
us, "had a great contempt for Christ and his Apostles, as well as for
all those who did not bow the knee to the Stagirite. " They called the
doctrines of Christianity fables, and hell and heaven the tales of
asses. Finally, they believed that Providence takes no care of anything
under the region of the moon. Four young Venetians of this sect had
attached themselves to Petrarch, who endured their society, but opposed
their opinions. His opposition offended them, and they resolved to
humble him in the public estimation. They constituted themselves a
tribunal to try his merits: they appointed an advocate to plead for him,
and they concluded by determining that he was a good man, but
illiterate!
This affair made a great stir at Venice. Petrarch seems at first to have
smiled with sensible contempt at so impertinent a farce; but will it be
believed that his friends, and among them Donato and Boccaccio, advised
and persuaded him to treat it seriously, and to write a book about it?
Petrarch accordingly put his pen to the subject. He wrote a treatise,
which he entitled "De sui ipsius et aliorum Ignorantia--" (On his own
Ignorance, and on that of others).
Petrarch had himself formed the design of confuting the doctrines of
Averroes; but he engaged Ludovico Marsili, an Augustine monk of
Florence, to perform the task. This monk, in Petrarch's opinion,
possessed great natural powers, and our poet exhorts him to write
against that rabid animal (Averroes) who barks with so much fury against
Christ and his Apostles. Unfortunately, the rabid animals who write
against the truths we are most willing to believe are difficult to be
killed.
The good air of the Euganean mountains failed to re-establish the health
of Petrarch.
He continued ill during the summer of 1370. John di Dondi,
his physician, or rather his friend, for he would have no physician,
would not quit Padua without going to see him. He wrote to him
afterwards that he had discovered the true cause of his disease, and
that it arose from his eating fruits, drinking water, and frequent
fastings. His medical adviser, also, besought him to abstain from all
salted meats, and raw fruits, or herbs. Petrarch easily renounced salted
provisions, "but, as to fruits," he says, "Nature must have been a very
unnatural mother to give us such agreeable food, with such delightful
hues and fragrance, only to seduce her children with poison covered over
with honey. "
Whilst Petrarch was thus ill, he received news very unlikely to forward
his recovery. The Pope took a sudden resolution to return to Avignon.
That city, in concert with the Queen of Naples and the Kings of France
and Arragon, sent him vessels to convey him to Avignon. Urban gave as a
reason for his conduct the necessity of making peace between the crowns
of France and England, but no one doubted that the love of his own
country, the difficulty of inuring himself to the climate of Rome, the
enmity and rebellious character of the Italians, and the importunities
of his Cardinals, were the true cause of his return. He was received
with great demonstrations of joy; but St. Bridget had told him that if
he went to Avignon he should die soon afterwards, and it so happened
that her prophecy was fulfilled, for the Pope not long after his arrival
in Provence was seized with a mortal illness, and died on the 19th of
December, 1370. In the course of his pontificate, he had received two
singular honours. The Emperor of the West had performed the office of
his equerry, and the Emperor of the East abjured schism, acknowledging
him as primate of the whole Christian Church.
The Cardinals chose as Urban's successor a man who did honour to their
election, namely, Pietro Rogero, nephew of Clement VI. , who took the
name of Gregory XI. Petrarch knew him, he had seen him at Padua in 1307,
when the Cardinal was on his way to Rome, and rejoiced at his accession.
appearance is owing to its revolutions, and the changes it has undergone
by deluges and conflagrations. " "Those free-thinkers," Petrarch tells
us, "had a great contempt for Christ and his Apostles, as well as for
all those who did not bow the knee to the Stagirite. " They called the
doctrines of Christianity fables, and hell and heaven the tales of
asses. Finally, they believed that Providence takes no care of anything
under the region of the moon. Four young Venetians of this sect had
attached themselves to Petrarch, who endured their society, but opposed
their opinions. His opposition offended them, and they resolved to
humble him in the public estimation. They constituted themselves a
tribunal to try his merits: they appointed an advocate to plead for him,
and they concluded by determining that he was a good man, but
illiterate!
This affair made a great stir at Venice. Petrarch seems at first to have
smiled with sensible contempt at so impertinent a farce; but will it be
believed that his friends, and among them Donato and Boccaccio, advised
and persuaded him to treat it seriously, and to write a book about it?
Petrarch accordingly put his pen to the subject. He wrote a treatise,
which he entitled "De sui ipsius et aliorum Ignorantia--" (On his own
Ignorance, and on that of others).
Petrarch had himself formed the design of confuting the doctrines of
Averroes; but he engaged Ludovico Marsili, an Augustine monk of
Florence, to perform the task. This monk, in Petrarch's opinion,
possessed great natural powers, and our poet exhorts him to write
against that rabid animal (Averroes) who barks with so much fury against
Christ and his Apostles. Unfortunately, the rabid animals who write
against the truths we are most willing to believe are difficult to be
killed.
The good air of the Euganean mountains failed to re-establish the health
of Petrarch.
He continued ill during the summer of 1370. John di Dondi,
his physician, or rather his friend, for he would have no physician,
would not quit Padua without going to see him. He wrote to him
afterwards that he had discovered the true cause of his disease, and
that it arose from his eating fruits, drinking water, and frequent
fastings. His medical adviser, also, besought him to abstain from all
salted meats, and raw fruits, or herbs. Petrarch easily renounced salted
provisions, "but, as to fruits," he says, "Nature must have been a very
unnatural mother to give us such agreeable food, with such delightful
hues and fragrance, only to seduce her children with poison covered over
with honey. "
Whilst Petrarch was thus ill, he received news very unlikely to forward
his recovery. The Pope took a sudden resolution to return to Avignon.
That city, in concert with the Queen of Naples and the Kings of France
and Arragon, sent him vessels to convey him to Avignon. Urban gave as a
reason for his conduct the necessity of making peace between the crowns
of France and England, but no one doubted that the love of his own
country, the difficulty of inuring himself to the climate of Rome, the
enmity and rebellious character of the Italians, and the importunities
of his Cardinals, were the true cause of his return. He was received
with great demonstrations of joy; but St. Bridget had told him that if
he went to Avignon he should die soon afterwards, and it so happened
that her prophecy was fulfilled, for the Pope not long after his arrival
in Provence was seized with a mortal illness, and died on the 19th of
December, 1370. In the course of his pontificate, he had received two
singular honours. The Emperor of the West had performed the office of
his equerry, and the Emperor of the East abjured schism, acknowledging
him as primate of the whole Christian Church.
The Cardinals chose as Urban's successor a man who did honour to their
election, namely, Pietro Rogero, nephew of Clement VI. , who took the
name of Gregory XI. Petrarch knew him, he had seen him at Padua in 1307,
when the Cardinal was on his way to Rome, and rejoiced at his accession.
