held employments of trust and honour. Garzo, his great-grandfather, was
a notary universally respected for his integrity and judgment. Though he
had never devoted himself exclusively to letters, his literary opinion
was consulted by men of learning. He lived to be a hundred and four
years old, and died, like Plato, in the same bed in which he had been
born.

Garzo left three sons, one of whom was the grandfather of Petrarch.
Diminutives being customary to the Tuscan tongue, Pietro, the poet's
father, was familiarly called Petracco, or little Peter. He, like his
ancestors, was a notary, and not undistinguished for sagacity. He had
several important commissions from government. At last, in the
increasing conflicts between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines--or, as
they now called themselves, the Blacks and the Whites--Petracco, like
Dante, was obliged to fly from his native city, along with the other
Florentines of the White party. He was unjustly accused of having
officially issued a false deed, and was condemned, on the 20th of
October, 1302, to pay a fine of one thousand lire, and to have his hand
cut off, if that sum was not paid within ten days from the time he
should be apprehended. Petracco fled, taking with him his wife, Eletta
Canigiani, a lady of a distinguished family in Florence, several of whom
had held the office of Gonfalonier.

Petracco and his wife first settled at Arezzo, a very ancient city of
Tuscany. Hostilities did not cease between the Florentine factions till
some years afterwards; and, in an attempt made by the Whites to take
Florence by assault, Petracco was present with his party. They were
repulsed. This action, which was fatal to their cause, took place in the
night between the 19th and 20th days of July, 1304,--the precise date of
the birth of Petrarch.