He then went to Florence, where he made but a short stay.

There he found his friends still alarmed about the accident which had befallen him in his journey to Rome, the news of which he had communicated to Boccaccio.
Petrarch went on to Padua.

On approaching it, he perceived a universal mourning.

He soon learned the foul catastrophe which had deprived the city of one of its best masters.
Jacopo di Carrara had received into his house his cousin Guglielmo.
Though the latter was known to be an evil-disposed person, he was treated with kindness by Jacopo, and ate at his table.

On the 21st of December, whilst Jacopo was sitting at supper, in the midst of his friends, his people and his guards, the monster Guglielmo plunged a dagger into his breast with such celerity, that even those who were nearest could not ward off the blow.