Secretum

By writing what he called a “secret book” – taking the shape of a conversation between himself and St Augustine – Petrarch aimed to compose a cathartic text which would alleviate his spiritual crisis and help him make further inroads towards knowledge and fulfilment.At once an intimate repository of his most personal thoughts and emotions and a literary masterpiece dealing with universal issues, Secretum – Petrarch’s best-known work in Latin – is a fascinating and pioneering example of the autobiographical genre.