Petrarch's Letter To Cicero

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Petrarch’s letter to Cicero symbolizes his quest for knowledge from the ancient philosophers and his effort to bring out the best of humanism in Florentine society. His very act of writing a letter to an ancient philosopher represents his longing to be associated with the antiquity and his desires to get guidance from the ancient leaders. This letter addresses to an individual (Cicero), but it is intended for the Florentine society, which shows that Petrarch wanted to provide a new lens of studying history—by questioning the authors and finding morality through the study of antiquity and the ancient philosophers. It is the essence of humanism to constantly try to improve the society by guiding it towards being moral and focused in improving …show more content…

He repeatedly questions Cicero’s judgments and the ways that he dealt with certain people such as Antony and Augustus (third paragraph). He begins the letter in delight as if he had found some valuable jewels when he found Cicero’s letters (first paragraph). However, his amazement gradually turns into disappointment and condemnation as Cicero fails to live up to Petrarch’s expectation of being a “traveler in the night, whose torch lights up for others.” Petrarch takes control of the letter from the second paragraph, which in a way implies that he is doing better than Cicero and commands to Cicero to “be the listener” (second paragraph) and grieves at his “fickleness” and feels pity and shame towards him (third paragraph, line 21). Petrarch had to reconcile with the notion that even the highly respected ancient leaders’ personality was not consistent with their public glory. As a result, Petrarch feels “no confidence in the arts in which” Cicero is “so proficient” (Third paragraph). Cicero certainly stands out in the Renaissance history because of his glory as a great leader and a philosopher, but Petrarch’s letter certainly makes us question his abilities and

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