Friday, March 01, 2002 :::
So in my Ren & Ref class we read this very profound work by the scholar, poet & humanist Petrarch. A lot of his work touched me, so I'd like to share some with all of you. This entire piece is a letter written to a Roman philosopher as though he was still alive. In this, Petrarch is describing his assent up Mt. Ventosum, Italy. I hope you will find the life lessons I did within these words.
" But as a poet once put it well 'Remorseless labour conquers all.'...Thus, once again I found myself taking the easy way, the roundabout path of winding hollows only to find myself soon back in my old difficulty. I was simply putting off the trouble of climbing;but no man's wit can alter the nature of things, and there is no way to reach the heights by going downward. In short, I tell you that I made this same mistake three or more times...I finally sat down in a hollow and my thoughts quickly turned from material things to the spititual and I said to myself what follows, 'What you have experianced so often today certainly happens to many others in their journey toward the blessed life. But this is not so easily percieved by men, for the movements of the body are out in the open while those of the soul are invisible & hidden. The life we call blessed is to be sought on a high level, & straight is the way that leads to it. Many, also, are the hills that stand in the way that leads to it. To wish is not enough, you must earn with ardent eagerness to gain your end. What then is holding you back? While much that is dubious and evil still clings to me, what I once loved, I love no longer. Come now, what am I saying? I still love it, but more moderatly. The fact is, I love, but I love what I long not to love, what I would like to hate. Thus, my thoughts turned back over the last 10 years & then with concentrated thought on the future, I asked myself , 'If you should prolong this uncertain life of yours, could you not face death with complete assurance at least with hopefullness, calmly dismissing from your thoughts the residuum of life that fades into old age?' I thought in silence of the vanity in us mortals who neglect what is noblest in ourselves in a vain show, only because we look around ourselves for what can be found only within us....Written in the world of the living."-Petrarch
::: posted by Jen at 2:04 PM
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