Africa (Petrarch)

"Africa" is an epic poem in Latin hexameters by the 14th century Italian poet Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca). It tells the story of the Second Punic War, in which the Carthaginian general Hannibal invaded Italy, but Roman forces were eventually victorious after an invasion of north Africa led by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, the epic poem's hero. The first sections of "Africa" were written in the valley of Vaucluse after Petrarch's first visit to Rome in 1337. The design of his epic poem and also the "De Viris Illustribus" were inspired after he visited Rome on his grand tour. Petrarch was a young man when he conceived "Africa" and notes this in his Letter to Posterity. The fact that he abandoned it early on is not entirely correct since it was far along when he received two invitations (from Rome and from Paris) in September 1340 each asking him to accept the crown as poet laureate.

"While I was wandering in those mountains upon a Friday in Holy Week, the strong desire seized me to write an epic in an heroic strain, taking as my theme Scipio Africanus the Great, who had, strange to say, been dear to me from my childhood. But although I began the execution of this project with enthusiasm, I straightway abandoned it, owing to a variety of distractions." [Bergin and Wilson, p. ix.] Petrarch writes that Publius Cornelius Scipio (Scipio Africanus the Great) was equally glorious on the battle field as Caesar, but also had the reputation of a chaste and temperate man, even a lover of solitude. Petrarch defines Hannibal's conqueror "quel fiore antico di vertuti e d'arme." He felt kinship and admiration for this epic hero. In fact, in addition to making Scipio the hero of his poem, he gave him also special treatment in his "De Viris Illustribus". [Bergin and Wilson, p. x.]

A preliminary form of the poem was completed in time for the laurel coronation April 8th, 1341 (Easter Sunday). Petrarch continued to revise it however for the rest of his life. The text was not made public until 1397, three decades after his death. It was dedicated to Robert of Naples, king of Sicily. He says of this: "I showed him my Africa which so delighted him that he asked that it might be dedicated to him." It could easily be inferred from this wording that the epic poem was far enough along to receive this flattering colloquy. [Bergin and Wilson, p. xi.] By 1343 the work was "provvisoriamente" finished as we have it today worldwide. [Bergin and Wilson, p. xii.]

To Petrarch, his "Africa" was his "croce e delizia" for the rest of his life. Petrarch set great store by "Africa" and his other classicizing works, but the epic was not particularly well-received because of the literary transposition from Livy; only the two parts of the "death of Magone" and the "love story of Sofonisba" are generally considered as touching examples of elegiac lyrics. The "editio princeps" of the "Africa" was first published and printed, as part of Petrarch's collected works ("Opera omnia"), at Venice in 1501. [Bergin and Wilson, p. xiii] This was a banquet of compositions that he produced at a young age while in the middle of writing his "Africa". The events of the journeys in "Africa" ultimately leading to the destruction of Carthage (Numidia) in Petrarch's poem written in hexameters is based on the Second Punic War. The Third Punic War lead to Carthage being razed. No people remained. The Roman name for Carthaginian was "Punici" or "Poenici".

Notes

External links

*Outline of contents in the Latin Vicipaedia
* [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11778a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3540 Literary Encyclopedia - Francesco Petrarch]

Bibliography

*Petrarch's "Africa" English translation by Thomas G. Bergin + Alice S. Wilson. New Haven. Yale University Press 1977.
*Ernest H. Wilkins, "Descriptions of pagan divinities from Petrarch to Chaucer" in "Speculum" vol. 32 (1957) pp. 511-522.