De hac spirante Laurea
De hac spirante Laurea

Summary/Abstract: Epistolary volumes seem to be a perpetual challenge regarding the earnestness of an author. While the letter is, generically, a substitute for direct dialogue, generally limited to two persons, the publication of an epistolary corpus or only one half of it (without the parallel letters) requires a re-evaluation of authenticity. Petrarch opens the Rerum familiarium with an epistle addressed to "his Socrates" (Fam. 1.1), intended to justify the new reading of his own correspondence, preserved over the decades, as a unitary work that was now to be published. We dwell on the letter Fam. 2.9 – an important milestone of Petrarch's confessions, both from the standpoint of personal biography and of his relation to ancient authors, in a Christian context – endeavouring to fill the time gap: composed, probably, in 1336, the epistle bears some signs of the lustra that had passed by the time of its ecdotic review.

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