I have nothing wherewith to reproach myself; and I shall be satisfied if he turns out an honest man, as I hope he will.

Themistocles used to say that he liked a man without letters better than letters without a man." In the month of August, 1357, Petrarch received a letter from Benintendi, the Chancellor of Venice, requesting him to send a dozen elegiac verses to be engraved on the tomb of Andrea Dandolo.

The children of the Doge had an ardent wish that our poet should grant them this testimony of his friendship for their father.

Petrarch could not refuse the request, and composed fourteen verses, which contain a sketch of the great actions of Dandolo.

But they were verses of command, which the poet made in despite of the Muses and of himself.
In the following year, 1358, Petrarch was almost entirely occupied with his treatise, entitled, "De Remediis utriusque Fortunae," (A Remedy against either extreme of Fortune.) This made a great noise when it appeared.