Excerpt from Epistolae Selectae: Francisci Etrarchae The chief evidence for understanding the man Petrarch is contained in his letters, and the present selection has been made with the intention of giving an account of his life in his own words and of introducing descriptions of historical events of which he was a spectator. It is hoped that the selection is wide enough to allow the reader to form his own opinion as to Petrarch's character. Shorter letters are generally given in their entirety. The omissions in longer letters often consist of illustrations from the Classics and the Latin Fathers, which to us appear a pedantic display of learning. In this respect it is unfair to judge Petrarch by modern standards; such passages at least serve to reveal the width and thoroughness of his scholarship in an age when there were no indexes and few books of reference. A brief summary of passages omitted has been incorporated in the text. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.