The general theme of the Aeneid is followed by Petrarch's story of the hero Cornelius Scipio. The Aeneid not only provided Petrarch with a rhetorical cultivation but also with a collection of epic emotions to work from. The Aeneid and the Africa complement each other, as the former describes the foundation of Rome and the latter Rome's rise to world power. Livy and Cicero's version of the Dream of Scipio , which are rebuilt in the poem, complement each other and are sources of the Africa.
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The dream shapes the context from which the poem is to be understood. Petrarch very likely was influenced by Dante's Divine Comedy for his Africa. Dante's prestigious work was well known and surely a challenge to him. Petrarch intentionally did this to increase the importance of Sophonisba to the level of a new Dido queen of Carthage. In Book 6 Sophonisba is captured by the poem's hero, Cornelius Scipio. She commits suicide so she does not become Scipio's nor Rome's war prize. Here she shows her love for Massinissa. Virgil's Dido blames Rome for the ruin of herself as does Sophonisba.
In Petrarch's poem the hero, Scipio, does not come to an end. Petrarch could have chosen between Julius Caesar and Cornelius Scipio for a great Roman hero to write about and decided on Scipio.
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The title for the poem Africa is based on the nickname of the hero. Petrarch's irresistible desire to imitate the ancients was probably influenced by Albertino Mussato 's Latin tragic play Ecerinis , which was modeled on Seneca the Younger 's tragedy works. Petrarch's Africa was conceived as a classical Latin poetic counterpart and the highlight of his similar De viris illustribus about famous men of ancient times.
Cornelius Scipio , the hero of Petrarch's epic poem, also appears in other of Petrarch's works such as Rhymes , Triumphs , and De otio religiosorum. Petrarch conceived his Africa as a poetic parallel of his De viris illustribus "Illustrious Men" , that he was working on simultaneously. They were Scipio the Elder B. He had the reputation of a chaste and temperate man. Both had the nickname "Africanus". Petrarch conceived his first plan for De viris illustribus of biographies of illustrious men of Jewish, oriental, Greek and Roman famous figures in before that of the Africa.
Augustine speaks to Petrarch. It seems like Petrarch had the idea to write up a list of biographies of Roman leaders "Illustrious Men" from the republican period before that of the Africa. Petrarch saw his task in writing these two great endeavors as describing illustrious men, not lucky ones. He wanted to depict events that were controlled by them, not events that happened by luck or fortune. Petrarch wrote his nine book epic poem in hexameters , the standard metre for Epic in Classical Latin and consisting of six metrical feet.
This is based on Livy's third decade of his History of Rome. Petrarch uses the Dream of Scipio as a beginning point to his epic poem in Books 1 and 2. He presents Scipio as the center figure. From here in Books 3 and 4 he gives the history of Scipio's friend Gaius Laelius being sent to Syphax to negotiate becoming a Roman ally and break off the relations with the Carthaginians.
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Book 5 and 6 then gives the history of Sophonisba , a new Dido Queen of Carthage. Book 7 gives the history of the Battle of Zama. Book 8 gives the history of the defeat of Carthage which concludes the Second Punic War. Book 9 shows Scipio returns to Rome for his triumphal victory celebration at the steps of the Capitol. Petrarch's original conception as a goal for his epic poem was to bring back the glorious days of ancient Rome.
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There was a clash however between this fame for glory at his coronation and Christian values he was trying to impart to his readers. In the s Petrarch reworked the Africa extensively to reflect this. These events ultimately established the main concepts of the poem.
Petrarch was writing his third book of the Secretum , a sort of self investigation of moral values especially as it related to fame, structured as an imaginary dialogue with Saint Augustine , also in the s. From this developed the Secretum's Africa, a conflict between the vanity of the glory for Rome and Christian values.
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Petrarch also set the rewritting in the s in relation to events that recently happened. The Black Death pandemic killed many of his friends, including his former patron and master Cardinal Stefano Colonna the Elder in In the revised version of his epic poem he makes references to his close friend king Robert of Naples Book 9, He portrays the concept that because of king Robert's death in that all hope is lost for a continuation of a renaissance that was initiated at the coronation sponsored by the king.
Petrarch griefs over the momentum king Robert initiated for a "rebirth" of cultural values that is now lost. He gives hope, however, that in future centuries that the Africa will be rediscovered and enjoy its own "rebirth" and the glory of ancient Roman moral pursuits. Petrarch worked on his epic poem and —44, however guarded it with his life and did not allow it to be circulated since he considered it unfinished.
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He worked on his epic poem to the end of his life in The competition became intense, especially between the humanists of Florence and Padua. Generally speaking however, the literary world gave little attention to Petrarch's epic poem and it was viewed as just a minor curiosity.
Leon Pingaud produced the first serious scholarly edition in Paris in and even it was done with little thought. Needless to say his work did little to the already long time tarnished reputation of the Africa. This order agrees with the order Wilkins, , p. There are multiple differences between the manuscript and edition that appear to be errors: The poet describes the effect of each on his beloved Laura with imagery drawn from his encyclopedic knowledge of ancient history, including the fall of Carthage, the march of Xerxes into Greece, and the legends of Perseus, Andromeda, Pygmalion, and Camilla and her Amazons.
Chastity triumphs over Love, and finally Eternity triumphs over them all, and the poet is united with his love for all time. Mazzoni, Rome, , no. The text differs from the edition, and initials sometimes appear to be incorrect. Anonymous, unedited poem; apparently recorded in only one other manuscript: Perugia, Biblioteca Comunale, I. The sonnet found in this manuscript varies from that of the Frati edition in both text and morphology, and as seen in other poems in this manuscript, the initials are occasionally incorrect. Further research in contemporary manuscripts may yield other copies.
This poem, however, reflects on the Virgin Mary for interpretation, see Letteratura italiana , Online Resources and it is the only excerpt from his Canzoniere included in this manuscript. Francesco Petrarch Arezzo, Padua, was a prolific Italian scholar and writer who produced poetry in both Latin and Italian, as well as many essays, letters, and histories touching on a range of themes from love, fortune, and faith, to introspection and ignorance.
He is best known for his vernacular Il Canzoniere and Trionfi. An ongoing and extensive survey of Petrarch manuscripts, the Censimento dei Codici Petrarcheschi , produced 13 volumes between and , including the Census of manuscripts in the United States Dutschke One was written by Domenico da Monticchiello, a contemporary of Petrarch and court poet to the Visconti family, and appears in four manuscripts held in Florence. There are two poems attributed to Simone Serdini, an itinerant court poet of the subsequent generation who died in prison, which also appear in several manuscripts.
However, the remaining five poems are anonymous, and only one is presently edited. One seems to appear only in this manuscript. These poems offer a compelling opportunity for further study, as does a potential connection between this manuscript and Florence, Biblioteca Riccardiana, MS , which shares some of its rare material.
The variety of the poetry collected here suggests this volume was curated according to the tastes of the reader who commissioned it, offering interesting avenues for future research. Il Canzoniere , ed.