De Viris Illustribus (Petrarch) - Plans

Plans

Petrarch worked on various "plans" and versions of De viris illustribus. He was not only influenced by ancient historians like Livy and Valerius Maximus, but by other historians of his time period that were working on similar ideas. In the early part of the fourteenth century in northern Italy it was fairly commonplace among historians to write a series of biographies on famous men. A friend of Petrarch's, Giovanni Colonna, authorized his version of a De viris illustribus before he left Avignon for Rome in 1338. Another of Petrarch's friends, Guglielmo Pastrengo, had two works on lives of famous men, De viris illustribus and De originibus. Petrarch's friend, Pastrengo, also wrote a work on De viris illustribus and De originibus. The previous historian's works of De originibus are about the origins and definitions of geographical sites, peoples, and certain stone structures.

Historian Kohn says that there was at least three different "plans" that Petrarch devised for his De viris illustribus. The first plan, prior to his famous epic poem Africa, was written around 1337. It is known as the "republican Rome" plan. The second plan started in 1350 entered in Christian figures, similar in style to Jerome's De viris illustribus and his "Church Fathers." It was finished around 1351-53 and called the "all-ages" plan. Petrarch enjoyed both the writings of ancient writers before the Christian era for their history of famous men and that of Jerome's Latin "Church Fathers" for their Christian viewpoints. He viewed both as a world being in decline. The third plan was a series of biographies of Romulus to Trajan and is referred to as "ancient secular heroes." In this plan most biographies are considered lengthy, while others are considered massive. For example, the biography of Cornelius Scipio is 20,000 words and that of the newly entered Julius Caesar is 70,000 words long. Petrarch's characters were of military heroes and civic leaders, while other authors wrote on most any notable men. Petrarch's overall goal attitude was to convey antiguity history balanced with the Christian tradition. He presented a moral aim of doing the right thing compared to actions of the past. He saw Jerome's "Church Fathers" as presenting moral virtues through Christian traditional viewpoints. He felt that by close examination of the ancient Roman leaders the reader could gain their virtues.

Petrarch intended his work to be instructional for teaching moral righteousness. He found comfort in the misfortunes of Old Testament figures such as Jacob and Joseph. He showed to his fourteenth century readers the lessons of common sense morality that could be learned from the ancient Roman leaders and Old Testament figures. He stressed these points over that of victories on the battlegrounds, which he considered as mere luck and incompetence of the enemies. He saw his duty of his work to be "describing illustrious men, not lucky ones."