The highly ambivalent relationship of the Renaissance to antiquity can best be illustrated with reference to Rome. Oscillating between euphoria and melancholy, humanist thought revolved around Rome as the centre of all its hopes. Francesco Petrarca's (1304-1374) vision was a rebirth of Rome, while Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560) was preoccupied with finally laying it to rest together with all it stood for. In a sophisticated intertextual dovetailing of writings from antiquity, Du Bellay pits against Petrarch's restauratio not translatio but the religious schema of grace. In the name of Marguerite, poetry redeems us from the curse of history that bears the name of Rome.