Wikipedia
Petrarch's Secretum
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Petrarch, Veritas (Truth), Augustine and Abbot Crabbe with two attendants]] Secretum'' (De secreto conflictu curarum mearum'', translated as The Secret or My Secret Book) is a trilogy of dialogues in Latin written by Petrarch sometime from 1347 to 1353, in which he examines his faith with the help of Saint Augustine, and "in the presence of The Lady Truth". Secretum was not circulated until some time after Petrarch's death, and was probably meant to be a means of self-examination more than a work to be published and read by others.
The dialogue opens with Augustine chastising Petrarch for ignoring his own mortality and his fate in the afterlife by not devoting himself fully to God. Petrarch concedes that this lack of piety is the source of his unhappiness, but he insists that he cannot overcome it. The dialogue then turns to the question of Petrarch's seeming lack of free will, and Augustine explains that it is his love for temporal things (specifically Laura), and his pursuit of fame through poetry that "bind his will in adamantine chains".
Petrarch's turn towards religion in his later life was inspired in part by Augustine's Confessions, and Petrarch imitates Augustine's style of self-examination and harsh self-criticism in Secretum. The ideas expressed in the dialogues are taken mostly from Augustine, particularly the importance of free will in achieving faith. Other notable influences include Cicero and other Pre-Christian thinkers.
Secretum can be seen as an attempt by Petrarch to reconcile his Renaissance humanism and admiration of the classical world with his Christian faith. Especially important are his rejection of love for temporal things not because it is a sin, but because it prevents him from knowing the eternal, a position that resembles classical philosophy far more than the contemporary Christian theology. Classical writers are also regarded as sources of authority supporting Christianity, and Secretum quotes them more frequently than scripture.
Secretum may refer to:
- Secretum (book), a book by Petrarch
- Secretum (room) at the British Museum
- A sigillum secretum, a special seal used for private correspondence
The Secretum or secret museum was a section of the British Museum created officially in 1865 to store all historical items deemed to be obscene.
Usage examples of "secretum".
IT is well known that alchemy preceded chemistry and hence the Secreta came first.
He said he was looking for an eighteenth-century lowboy and one or two Louis XVI pieces, a secreta ire in particular, and a Louis XV commode.
There was a Regency library table under the bow window at one end of the room and a pair of shield-back armchairs on either side of a handsome secreta ire-bookcase, the whole lighted by wall sconces with delicate pink shades and several table lamps.
Rey la paladearon, como si fuera una plegaria secreta o una blasfemia.
He may stumble by accident on a secreta secret involving life or death to someone.
Punta Carnero, Punta Secreta, Punta del Fraile, and Punta Acebuche were all astern: Tarifa was not far off.
O artis inaestimabilis virtus quae dum se dicit ludere, naturae praevalet secreta vulgare.
Trithemius, theLiber de Angelis , the McMaster text, The Sworn Book of Honorius , the Secretum Philosophorum , and, of course, Ars Notorium .
He may have thought that whoever wore the Gothic crown, Duty forbade him to quit the Secretum at Ravenna just when war with the Empire was becoming every day more imminent.
Lucos ac nemora consecrant deorumque nominibus appellant secretum illud, quod sola reverentia vident.
O artis inaestimabilis virtus quae dum se dicit ludere, naturae praevalet secreta vulgare.
Tampoco olvidaré el soliloquio Rosencrantz habla con el Ángel, en el que un prestamista londinense del siglo XVI vanamente trata, al morir, de vindicar sus culpas, sin sospechar que la secreta justificación de su vida es haber inspirado a uno de sus clientes (que lo ha visto una sola vez y a quien no recuerda) el carácter de Shylock.