[1] Sen., xiv., i. Printed as a separate tractate in the Basle editions, under the title De republica optime administranda. Opera, pp. 372 sqq.
[2] Fam., ii., 13 (vol. i., p. 133).
[3] Ep. Poet. Lat., ii., 1.
[4] Fam., iv., 8 (vol. i., p. 219).
[5] Cf. Sen., x., 2 (Opera, pp. 870-872), where Petrarch describes the sad change of times since his student days. The mercenary bands (grandes compagnies) who wandered into Italy from France were doubtless a prime cause of the poet's gloomy views.
[6] Purgatorio, vi.
[7] Petrarch's letter "to a Friend" (Ep. sine Titulo, vii.; also apud Fracassetti, App. Lit., No. 2) was doubtless addressed to Rienzo in 1343, and expresses the enthusiasm which he felt upon first meeting him.
[8] Fam., vii., 7.
[9] Fantastic is the adjective applied to Rienzo, even by contemporaries. Giovanni Villani (xii., 90) says that the more thoughtful judged that "la dita impreso del tribuno era un opera fantastica e da poco durare." The author of the Vita di Cola di Rienzo refers to his fantastic smile.