Petrarch, ever zealous for the common good of Italy, saw with pain the kindling of a war which could not but be fatal to her, and thought it his duty to open his heart to the Doge of Venice, who had shown him so much friendship.

He addressed to him, therefore, the following letter from Padua, on the 14th of March, 1351:-- "My love for my country forces me to break silence; the goodness of your character encourages me.

Can I hold my peace whilst I hear the symptoms of a coming storm that menaces my beloved country?
Two puissant people are flying to arms; two flourishing cities are agitated by the approach of war.

These cities are placed by nature like the two eyes of Italy; the one in the south and west, and the other in the east and north, to dominate over the two seas that surround them; so that, even after the destruction of the Roman empire, this beautiful country was still regarded as the queen of the world.

I know that proud nations denied her the empire of the land, but who dared ever to dispute with her the empire of the sea?
"I shudder to think of our prospects.