Composition
Petrarch was working on De viris illustribus at the same time he was working on his epic poem Africa with Scipio Africanus being the center figure for both. The Africa was conceived as a poetic parallel of De Viris Illustribus. Petrarch conceived his first plan for De viris illustribus of biographies of illustrious men of Jewish, oriental, Greek and Roman famous figures in 1337-38. He wrote up his list of "Illustrious Men" from Adam to Hercules and Romulus to Titus in 1337-38 about the same time as he was writing up the Africa. Petrarch's earliest reference to writing a series of biographies of Lives can be found in the third book of his work Secretum which was originally written up around 1337. St. Augustine speaks to Petrarch
...thus, putting your hand to even greater works, you have tied yourself to a book of histories from the time of king Romulus to the emperor Titus, a task of immense duration and of very great labor.Petrarch went from these Lives of "Illustrious Men" into his work on the Africa using the research of De viris illustribus as the bases. Petrarch was preoccupied with this idea of a series of biographies of Lives of ancient heroes of generals and statesmen for almost forty years. There were several plans of De viris illustribus. In 1348-49 Petrarch made a larger version of Lives. Petrarch writes a letter to Luca Cristiani in 1349 concerning these Lives for De viris illustribus that he was doing in the valley at Vaucluse in France;
...no place had afforded me more leisure or more exciting stimulation: that solitude has permitted me to collect in one scheme outstanding men from all lands and from all ages.Petrarch mentions in letters from Vaucluse around 1350 that he was working on a De viris illustribus that was wholly committed to those who were illustrious "from every country" and that he was "bringing together illustrious men from all lands and centuries." This is known to scholars as an "all-ages" plan. Petrarch added the "bio" of Julius Caesar, De gestis Cesaris ("On the Deeds of Caesar"), later as the twenty-fourth and last character of the Roman version finished about 1364 (fourteenth reigning year of John the Good) as an afterthought to his original "Famous Men." He wanted to depict events that were controlled by the Roman leaders, not events that happened by luck or fortune. He wanted to be a critical historian and convey these illustrious men in dignity. For these reasons he is considered the first historian of the Renaissance.
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