16
E
UR
A
MERICA
in his panegyric to Aulus Licinius Archias:
We have it upon the authority of the most learned men
that whereas attainment in other activities depends upon
talent, learning, and skill, the poet attains through his very
nature, is moved by the energy that is within his mind, and
as it were inspired by a divine inbreathing
—
so that Ennius
fairly calls poets sacred in their own right, since they
appear to be commended to us by the possession of a
divine gift. (as cited in Petrarch, 1953: 1243)
Likewise, the famed Roman satirist Juvenal emphasizes the
inherent difficulty of the poet’s task by claiming that “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” (
The Satires
VII. 66-68; as cited in
Petrarch, 1953: 1243).
14
Lucan similarly contends that “Sacred
and great is the task of poets” (as cited in Petrarch, 1953: 1243).
It is noteworthy that in this oration Petrarch also attempts to
justify the human quest for personal glory and criticizes the
duplicity of those philosophers who speechify about their
contempt for glory: “the desire for glory is innate not merely in the
generality of men but in greatest measure in those who are of some
wisdom and some excellence. Hence it is that although many
philosophers have much to say in contempt of glory, few or none
can be found who really condemn it” (1953: 1245). To Petrarch,
the disdain for celebrity claimed by the aforesaid philosophers is
belied by the fact that they proudly inscribed their names on their
works that attempt to discourage the pursuit of glory; instead, he,
following Cicero, believes that the pursuit of glory is an innate and,
therefore, innocuous part of human nature (1245).
15
Thus, it is
14
“The noble mind” refers to Virgil, and the allusion here is to the
Aeneid
(Virgil,
1986: 205), where Allecto persuades Turnus, king of the Rutili, into fighting
against Aeneas by incendiary rhetoric (Juvenal, 1991: 186).
15
Cicero once said in the presence of Julius Caesar, “You will not deny that you
crave glory most eagerly”
(as cited in Petrarch, 1953: 1245).
