There is a fine Latin letter of
Petrarch's on this incompatibility between reverence and the presence
of the person, and between fame and life. It comes second in his
_Epistolae familiares?_[1] and it is addressed to Thomas Messanensis.
He there observes, amongst other things, that the learned men of his
age all made it a rule to think little of a man's writings if they had
even once seen him.
[Footnote 1: In the Venetian edition of 1492.]
Since distance, then, is essential if a famous man is to be recognized
and revered, it does not matter whether it is distance of space or of
time. It is true that he may sometimes hear of his fame in the one
case, but never in the other; but still, genuine and great merit may
make up for this by confidently anticipating its posthumous fame.
Nay, he who produces some really great thought is conscious of his
connection with coming generations at the very moment he conceives it;
so that he feels the extension of his existence through centuries
and thus lives _with_ posterity as well as _for_ it. And when, after
enjoying a great man's work, we are seized with admiration for him,
and wish him back, so that we might see and speak with him, and have
him in our possession, this desire of ours is not unrequited; for
he, too, has had his longing for that posterity which will grant
the recognition, honor, gratitude and love denied by envious
contemporaries.
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