Abstract
For Petrarch, felicitas was the primary motivation for ethical enquiry, and a true understanding of its nature and implications was essential to the elaboration of a valid moral philosophy. Augustinus devotes particular attention to that 'deadly plague of the soul which the moderns call accidia, the ancients egritudo'. The Secretum was intended to address the misery from which Franciscus suffered. The 'confusion' of the Secretum is, however, most commonly described in terms of the use of incompatible elements of Stoic philosophy recovered primarily from Cicero and Seneca and the fideism of St. Augustine's later writings. Augustinus' connection of will and happiness illustrates that Franciscus cannot fully understand the implications of human mortality. The role played by reason in Stoic moral philosophy appears to have a parallel in Petrarch's treatment of reason in the Secretum.Keywords:Augustinus; Franciscus; Secretum; stoic philosophy
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