John di Dondi, his physician, or rather his friend, for he would have no physician, would not quit Padua without going to see him.

He wrote to him afterwards that he had discovered the true cause of his disease, and that it arose from his eating fruits, drinking water, and frequent fastings.

His medical adviser, also, besought him to abstain from all salted meats, and raw fruits, or herbs.

Petrarch easily renounced salted provisions, "but, as to fruits," he says, "Nature must have been a very unnatural mother to give us such agreeable food, with such delightful hues and fragrance, only to seduce her children with poison covered over with honey." Whilst Petrarch was thus ill, he received news very unlikely to forward his recovery.

The Pope took a sudden resolution to return to Avignon.
That city, in concert with the Queen of Naples and the Kings of France and Arragon, sent him vessels to convey him to Avignon.