Our poet, as we have seen, had studied the law, but had never followed the profession.

"It is not my vocation," he says, in his preface to his Familiar Epistles, "to undertake the defence of others.

I detest the bar; I love retirement; I despise money; and, if I tried to let out my tongue for hire, my nature would revolt at the attempt." But what Petrarch would not undertake either from taste or motives of interest, he undertook at the call of friendship.

He pleaded the cause of Azzo before the Pope and Cardinals; it was a finely-interesting cause, that afforded a vast field for his eloquence.

He brought off his client triumphantly; and the Rossis were defeated in their demand.
At the same time, it is a proud trait in Petrarch's character that he showed himself on this occasion not only an orator and a lawyer, but a perfect gentleman.