ght for the Day – Petrarch on History // (Steven Hayward).

I actually wrote here the other day regarding the destruction of academic history , which often brings me to today’ s thought from the fourteenth century ” father regarding Renaissance humanism, ” Petrarch:

Inside my work may be sought simply deeds that can be attributed to through and its opposite, for this, except if I am mistaken, is the successful end and purpose of historians, to treat only of works that readers should copy or avoid. Whoever presumes to wander beyond these kinds of borders, let him be aware that he could be straying in foreign area, and let him return quickly, unless from time to time he need to seek out pleasant diversions to be able to entertain his readers.

This considered prompts the following reflection inside Harvard historian James Hankins’ book Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy (highly recommended–and hopefully another podcast guest):

Petrarch, no new person to digression, is forced to acknowledge that he too sometimes information amusing anecdotes about the lifestyles of illustrious men and quotations their grave or humorous sayings. Nevertheless, the meaningful purpose of history is his / her guiding star. History is properly a faculty of prudence ; their goal is to make people better, and by doing so change states and revive typically the greatness of ancient The italian capital. [Emphasis added.]

[Podcast listeners who pay close attention may detect here a subtext of my long-running–or is it long-suffering?–dispute with “Lucretia” (speaking of the greatness of ancient Rome. . .).]