„o preceps et calamitose senex” – Petrarch’s Damning Review of Cicero and Seneca

Abstract

In Book 24 of Petrarch's letter collection titled Familiarium rerum libri, there is a group of ten pieces that the literature considers (using Petrarch's terms) as antiquis illustrioribus. As the name suggests, these letters were written to famous ancient authors. Petrarch formulates these pieces as if they were real missives addressed to his contemporaries, thus effectively placing himself in the company of his famous predecessors. With almost no exception, he addresses his 'correspondents' in a tone of the highest praise, with two exceptions: he condemns Cicero (in one of the two letters addressed to him) and Seneca. Although we know (and he expressly states this in addition to his condemnation) that Petrarch considers Cicero to be the greatest master of Latin prose and Seneca to be the greatest of ancient moral philosophy, he does not overlook their human, character deficiencies, and he sharply points them out.