 Petrarch then went from these Lives of "Illustrious Men" into his work on the "Africa" using the research of "De viris illustribus" as the bases.Petrarch writes a letter to Luca Cristiani in 1349 concerning these Lives for "De viris illustribus" and his epic poem "Africa" that he was doing in the valley at Vaucluse;
Petrarch saw his task in writing these two great endeavors as "describing illustrious men, not lucky ones.