Vacate et videte: The Concept of Otium in Francesco Petrarca. Augustine of Hippo’s Influence and Interpretation

Abstract

In this article I develop an analysis of Petrarch’s concept of otium in the treatise De otio religioso and I analyze the influence that the reading and elaboration of Augustine’s works had in the formation of the concept. I take as a testimony of such reading Petrarch’s glosses to three manuscripts that were part of his personal library and contained Augustine’s works, in particular the De vera religione and the Enarrationes in Psalmos (ms. Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Latin 2201, 1994 y 1989¹ y 1989²).