page 1242 note 1 The coronation and the oration aie discussed in a chapter in my book, The Meking of the “Comminer's of Petrach and Other Perarchan Studies (Rome, 1951).

page 1242 note 2 “But a sweet longing urges me upward over the lonely slopes of Par” (Virgil, Gerges iii, 291-292).

page 1242 note 3 That is, the poet's task.

page 1243 note 4 “It takes a noble mind, not one dismayed by the cost of a coverlet, to behold the chariots, the horses, and the faces of the gods, and such a fury as could confound the Rutulian” (Juvenal, Setire vii, 66-68).

page 1243 note 5 “Sacred and great is the task of poets” (Phorsalies ix.980).

page 1243 note 6 “Relentless toil overcomes all difficulties” (i.145).

page 1243 note 7 “For if Virgil had had no boy to serve him and no tolerable dwelling, all the snakes would have fellen from her hair, and her trumpet, silent, would have sounded no dread note.” These lines follow immediately those quoted above from Juvenal

page 1243 note 8 “But the good poet, whose line is not commonplace, who does not deal in the reworking of old stuff, not stamp his songs in a common mint (I cannot shew him to you, I ca only imagine him) must have a spirit free from anxiety, untouched by any bitterness, eager for the woods, and ready to drink at the fountain of the Muses. For none can sing in the Pierian cave or wield the thyrsus who is oppressed by sad poverty and lacks the coin to meet the body's dairy and nightly needs” (vii.53-62).

page 1244 note 9 Petrarch had in mind the Augustan poet Varius, mentioned by Horace and Virgil. His name appears at Varus in some MSS., including Petraich's own MS. of Virgil.

page 1244 note 10 “Then genius found its due reward; then it was worth while for many to grow pale and to abstain from wine for all December” (vii.96-97).

page 1244 note 11 “Break your pen, poor fellow, and destroy the battles over which you have toiled in the night hours, writing sublime songs in your poor little room, hoping to earn a meagre bust, bedecked with ivy. There is nothing more to hope for: the rich miser has now learned to admire and to praise only the fluent, as boys admire the bird of Juno. The time is past that could endure the sea, the helmet, and the mattock. Weariness overcomes the spirit; and old age, eloquent but naked, hates itself and its own Muse” (vii.27-35).

page 1245 note 12 “Love of his fatherland has conquered” (Acncid vl.823).

page 1245 note 13 Lsws ii.2.

page 1245 note 14 Oration for Marcus Marcallus, 8.

page 1245 note 15 “The thought of the listener excites the toiling writer; excellence grows when it is praised; and the thought of glory is a powerful spur” (Epistles from Pentus iv.2, 35-36).

page 1246 note 17 “Love of his fatherland has conquered, and the immense desire for praise.”

page 1246 note 18 “Master of the arts and bestower of genius” (Satirez, Prologue, 10).

page 1246 note 19 The Latin words are ăliquis figeretienibus.

page 1247 note 20 “And now I have finished my work, which neither the wrath of Jove nor fire nor sword nor the ravagea of tune can destroy” (xv.871-872).

page 1247 note 21 “Wilt thou long endure and be read, surviving thine author, oh my Thabaid, whereon for twelve long yean I have toiled through the night watches?” (xii.811-813).

page 1247 note 22 “Fortunate are ye both! If my verses have any power, no day shall ever cancel you from the memory of the ayes, as long as the progeny of Aeneas dwells on the unshakable rock of the Capitol, and the Roman father holds imperial sway” (Aeneid ix.446-449).

page 1247 note 23 “You too, now consecrate, shall survive the unforgetting years, even though my songs rise from a less lofty lyre” (x.445-446).

page 1247 note 24 “Posterity shall read of me and thee; and our Pkarsalia shall live, and shall not by any age be condemned to oblivion” (ix.985-986).

page 1247 note 25 “Many mighty men lived before Agamemnon, but all are buried in a tearless night. . . since they lack an inspired bard” (iv.9, 25-28).

page 1248 note 26 “For valor delights to win alliance with the Muses: he loves song whose deeds are worthy of song” (On the Consulate of Stilicko iii.5-6).

page 1248 note 27 “There is little difference between buried indolence and hidden excellence” (Odes iv.9, 29-30).

page 1248 note 28 This anecdote it derived from Cicero's Oration for Arckias, 24.

page 1248 note 29 “But laurei now and myrtle and ivy tre still, and the sacred fillet that your brows should bear.” The poem from which these two lines are quoted it not otherwise known.

page 1248 note 30 “Within a fragrant laurel grove” (vi.658).

page 1248 note 31 “And you, oh laurels, I will pluck, and thee, myrtle, therewith, since thus combined ye mingle sweet fragrances” (ii.54-55).

page 1248 note 32 “The thickly-branched laurel will shut out the hot shafts of the sun” (ii.15, 9-10).

page 1248 note 33 “Rest under my laurel tree thy body wearied with long campaigning” (ii.7, 18-19).

page 1249 note 34 “There was a laurel tree in the midst of the palace, in a high inner court, sacred in its leafage, and reverently guarded for many years” (vii.59-60).

page 1249 note 35 “In the midst of the palace, under the open sky, there was a great ⨿tar, and beside it an ancient laurel tree overhanging the altar” (ii.512-514).

page 1249 note 36 “A priest of Apollo, hit brows bound with fillets and the sacred laurel” (iii.80-81).

page 1249 note 37 “Whence the laurels of Thessaly are brought to the Pythian garnet” (vi.409).

page 1249 note 38 “The Capitol calls for the sacred laurel” (i.287).

page 1249 note 39 “Nor to have slept on twin-peaked Parnassus” (Prologue, 2-3).

page 1249 note 40 The single MS. of the oration is defective at this point.

page 1249 note 41 “To lovely Venus the myrtle, to Apollo his own laurel” (vii.62).

page 1249 note 42 “Which Father Latinus, it is said, found while he was building the first citadel, and consecrated to Apollo” (vii.61-62).

page 1249 note 43 The 12th-century lexicographer, Uguiccione of Pisa.

page 1250 note 44 The MS. is defective at this point.

page 1250 note 45 “For whom the laurel won eternal honors by thy Dalmatian triumph” (ii.l, 15-16).

page 1250 note 46 “A time will come when, stronger through an inspiration laurel-wreathed, I shall sing of thy deeds” (i.32-33).

page 1250 note 47 “For whom the twin laurels of poet and warrior flourish in rivalry” (i.15-16).

page 1250 note 48 Oretion for Morcus Morcallus, 9.

page 1250 note 49 At this point Petrarch is addressing directly his friend Orso dell' Anguillaia, one of the two Rosass Senators then in office.

page 1250 note 50 Robert II of Anjou, King of Naples and Sicily, who a few days earlier had given Pstmsch's three-day oral examination, at the end of which he had pronounced him quzlified to receive the laurel crown.