Besides, he said that it would be disgraceful to him to leave Padua in the present circumstances, and that it would expose him to the suspicion of cowardice, which he never deserved.
Pandolfo earnestly solicited from Petrarch a copy of his Italian works.
Our poet in answer says to him, "I have sent to you by your messenger these trifles which were the amusement of my youth.

They have need of all your indulgence.

It is shameful for an old man to send you things of this nature; but you have earnestly asked for them, and can I refuse you anything?
With what grace could I deny you verses which are current in the streets, and are in the mouth of all the world, who prefer them to the more solid compositions that I have produced in my riper years ?" This letter is dated at Padua, on the 4th of January, 1373.

Pandolfo Malatesta died a short time after receiving it.
Several Powers interfered to mediate peace between Venice and Padua, but their negotiations ended in nothing, the spirits of both belligerents were so embittered.

The Pope had sent as his nuncio for this purpose a young professor of law, named Uguzzone da Thiene, who was acquainted with Petrarch.