# Africa, the Latin epic on Scipio, circulates as a lifetime unfinished monument

Date: 1343

## The fact

Africa, a hexameter epic on Scipio Africanus, was the Latin work most tightly bound to the 1341 laurel in [Petrarch](/people/petrarch)’s self-presentation, composed from the late 1330s and still being handled in later years, never a tidy print-shop close in his life. It is not Livy’s third decade and not a later nationalist Scipio.

## Context

An unfinished epic can still teach. Shared with readers at Naples and Avignon. Hannibal and Scipio in verse are educational objects, not 202 BCE certificates. Modest weight because circulation was narrower than the Canzoniere.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

## Evidence and sources

Latin Library at https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/petrarch.html locates Petrarch’s Latin. Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch independently names Africa among the Latin works tied to the laurel. Treccani restates the epic.

Official or archival record: The Latin Library — Petrarch (https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/petrarch.html; The Latin Library).

## Significance

Latin epic as a teaching monument is an education path of high confidence on authorship and modest weight on access. It is not a unique Punic War dataset.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. Africa is not the Canzoniere and not Livy’s recovered books. Mixed effects of Africa, the Latin epic on Scipio, circulates as a lifetime unfinished monument are separate paths.

## What is established and what is not

Established: Africa as a lifetime Latin epic project around the laurel years. Not established: a finished 1343 editio and not a unique Zama coefficient. Hexameter Scipio, advertised at the 1341 crown, still a working text afterward, year-level midpoint 1343. Official locator https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/petrarch.html is not independent locator https://www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch. Later Italian nationalism and UNESCO files are not this lifetime instrument. Hexameter Scipio, advertised at the 1341 crown, still a working text afterward, year-level midpoint 1343. Official locator https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/petrarch.html is not independent locator https://www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch. Later Italian nationalism and UNESCO files are not this lifetime instrument. Hexameter Scipio, advertised at the 1341 crown, still a working text afterward, year-level midpoint 1343. Official locator https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/petrarch.html is not independent locator https://www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch. Later Italian nationalism and UNESCO files are not this lifetime instrument.

Shared responsibility is part of Africa, the Latin epic on Scipio, circulates as a lifetime unfinished monument. Naming Petrarch does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1343-01-01 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

The contribution type is direct. The attached driver is edu-[digital-learning-access](/drivers/edu-digital-learning-access). The welfare reading used in this dossier is improving. That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

## People

- Petrarch: https://factrail.ai/people/petrarch

## Drivers

- Digital Learning Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/edu-digital-learning-access

## Sources

- https://www.thelatinlibrary.com/petrarch.html
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/pet-africa-epic