At the commencement of the year 1354, before he departed for Venice, Petrarch received a present, which gave him no small delight.  It was a Greek Homer, sent to him by Nichola Sigeros, Praetor of Romagna.  Petrarch wrote a long letter of thanks to Sigeros, in which there is a remarkable confession of the small progress which he had made in the Greek language, though at the same time he begs his friend Sigeros to send him copies of Hesiod and Euripides.

A few days afterwards he set out to Venice.  He was the chief of the embassy.  He went with confidence, flattering himself that he should find the Venetians more tractable and disposed to peace, both from their fear of John Visconti, and from some checks which their fleet had experienced, since their victory off Sardinia.  But he was unpleasantly astonished to find the Venetians more exasperated than humbled by their recent losses, and by the union of the Lord of Milan with the Genoese.  All his eloquence could not bring them to accept the proposals he had to offer.  Petrarch completely failed in his negotiation, and, after passing a month at Venice, he returned to Milan full of chagrin.

Two circumstances seem to have contributed to render the Venetians intractable.  The princes with whom they were leagued had taken into their pay the mercenary troops of Count Lando, which composed a very formidable force; and further, the Emperor promised to appear very soon in Italy at the head of an army.

Some months afterwards, Petrarch wrote to the Doge of Venice, saying, that he saw with grief that the hearts of the Venetians were shut against wise counsels, and he then praises John Visconti as a lover of peace and humanity.

After a considerable interval, Andrea Dandolo answered our poet’s letter, and was very sarcastic upon him for his eulogy on John Visconti.  At this moment, Visconti was arming the Genoese fleet, the command of which he gave to Paganino Doria, the admiral who had beaten the Venetians in the Propontis.  Doria set sail with thirty-three vessels, entered the Adriatic, sacked and pillaged some towns, and did much damage on the Venetian coast.  The news of this descent spread consternation in Venice.  It was believed that the Genoese fleet were in the roads; and the Doge took all possible precautions to secure the safety of the State.

But Dandolo’s health gave way at this crisis, vexed as he was to see the maiden city so humbled in her pride.  His constitution rapidly declined, and he died the 8th of September, 1354.  He was extremely popular among the Venetians.  Petrarch, in a letter written shortly after his death, says of him:  “He was a virtuous man, upright, full of love and zeal for his republic; learned, eloquent, wise, and affable.  He had only one fault, to wit, that he loved war too much.  From this error he judged of a cause by its event.  The luckiest cause always appeared to him the most just, which made him often repeat what Scipio Africanus said, and what Lucan makes Caesar repeat:  ‘Haec acies victum factura nocentem.’”