De viris illustribus
Petrarch was working on "De viris illustribus" at the same time he was working on his epic poem "Africa" with Scipio Africanus being the center figure for both. The "Africa" was conceived as a poetic parallel of "De Viris Illustribus". Petrarch conceived his first plan for "De viris illustribus" of biographies of illustrious men of Jewish, oriental, Greek and Roman famous figures in 1337-38. He wrote up his list of "Illustrious Men" from Adam to Hercules and Romulus to Titus in 1337-38 about the same time as he was writing up the "Africa". Petrarch's earliest reference to writing a series of biographies of Lives can be found in the third book of his work "Secretum" which was originally written up around 1337. St. Augustine speaks to Petrarch