Strepitumque Acherontis avari: Petrarchan Descent to the Hades of Lucretius

Abstract

The article analyses the traces of Lucretius in Petrarch (1304-1374), which are primarily to be found in the De otio religioso and the Familiares. These traces This content downloaded from 157.55.39.211 on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 04:40:44 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms PETRARCHAN DESCENT ΤΟ THE HADES OF LUCRETIUS 385 would appear to be linked to the end of book three and the beginning of book four of De rerum natura and deal with the torments of classical Hades front the points of view of ordering; the torment of Tantalus; a particular use of epithets; a Petrarchan amplificano of a Lucretian locus; the claim to a literary first; and lexical parallele. What Petrarch knew of the manuscript tradition regarding Lucretius is discussed. The author hypothesizes that Petrarch used Lucretius for a Carthusian audience in a humanistic attempt to address and possible even resemanticize the ter m felicitas. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.211 on Mon, 08 Aug 2016 04:40:44 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms