“The Swerve” chapter 2 2-1-Q

 In chapter 2 of the “Swerve” by Stephan Greenblatt it talks a lot about Poggio’s background and the discovery of the manuscript of “On the Nature of Things”. The chapter shares details on Poggio’s career as a papal secretary and him having a passion for ancient texts. He was able to have access to many libraries and resources that helped him look for lost works. The quote “It was Poggio Bracciolini’s good fortune to be born at a time when the great libraries of the ancient world had long since been destroyed, but the monasteries that had been established throughout Europe still preserved many of the ancient texts” I think this quote sums up how Poggio was lucky to have the resources he did to find the ancient works. The chapter also goes into the discovery of a manuscript that was forgotten “On the Nature of Things” By Lucretius. It was found in a monastery library by Poggio. The quote “The monastery libraries were not only repositories of ancient books; they were also places where books were copied, and Poggio was able to find and secure copies of texts that had been lost to the world for centuries.” This quote related to how Poggio found the manuscript. A connection to self I found while reading this chapter is the curiosity Poggio has. Throughout the chapter he has such a passion for finding these manuscripts that I relate to myself as I have such a passion for what I am doing in life. It shows that curiosity is so important and can lead to new discoveries. It shows that curiosity and passion can maybe end up changing the world around us. A question I had was how did Poggio’s passion for finding these manuscripts influence his actions?