Petrarch, de Otio et Solitudine (3):

The grandson of this man, and even Scipio Africanus himself, just as he was capable of enduring work in a way which stretches the bounds of credulity, was also desirous of tranquil relaxation, and is said to have been ‘accustomed to rusticate’ often and travel about alone with Laelius. The story goes that occasionally, wandering about on the Italian shores, he bent the hand which dominated Carthage and Numantia to pick up sea shells and shiny little pebbles. Thus, with the relaxation of the shortest length, he would restore his mind to the labor which remained. This account is related modestly and with due reverence in Cicero: incredibly, they (let me not misquote) ‘were accustomed to become boys again when they had flown to the country from the city as if from chains.’

Huius nepos, et ipse Africanus Scipio, sicut laboris supra fidem patiens sic otiose cupidus quietis, solus sepe cum Lelio “rusticari” peregrinarique “solitus” traditur; interdumque litoribus italicis vagabundus expugnatricem illam Carthaginis Numantieque dexteram ad marinas conculas lapillosque candidulos interlegendos inclinasse. Sic enim ad illud quod supererat negotiorum otio brevissimi temporis animum reparabat. Verecunde admodum hoc apud Ciceronem reverenterque narratur: eos incredibiliter, ne verba deseram, «repuerascere esse solitos cum rus ex urbe tanquam e vinculis evolassent».

Petrarch, de Otio et Solitudine (2):

That Scipio who first earned the title of Africanus through his deeds and virtue was a lover of solitude and leisure. And so, he was in the habit of withdrawing that spirit which dominated so many peoples, that military body exercised in wars, and those ears filled with the murmur of the camp and the blasts of the trumpets, not so that his virtue could languish in idleness, but so that his mind, distracted by the variety of his occupations, could compose itself. For this reason, he never seemed to himself to be entirely at leisure, given that he was always contriving something important with the perpetual occupation of his mind, nor did he ever seem to himself to be alone, since he was always accompanied by the gravest and noblest cares, nor did he ever seek the theater or the applause of the masses, since the memory of his own affairs applauded for him, and he was content with the testimony of his own conscience. Therefore, we understand that he was right to say that he was ‘never less at leisure than when he was at leisure, and never less alone than when he was lone.’ Cicero is the authority for the claim that Cato, hardly a middling imitator of that famous Africanus, left behind this account in writing.

Scipio ille qui primus agnomen Africani rebus gestis et virtute meruit, amator solitudinis atque otii fuit. Itaque spiritum domitorem gentium et militare illud corpus bellis exercitum auresque castrorum strepitu et tubarum fragoribus oppletas huc referre consueverat, non ut virtus otio langueret, sed ut se se mens varietate negotiorum distracta colligeret. Quamobrem neque sibi unquam otiosus, perpetua mentis occupatione grande aliquid moliens, neque sibi solus unquam videbatur, altissimis atque pulcerrimis comitatus curis, neque theatrum aut vulgi plausum querebat, rerum suarum plaudente memoria et conscientie testimonio contentus. ⟨2⟩ Iure ergo dicere solitum accepimus «nunquam se minus otiosum esse quam cum otiosus, nec minus solum quam cum solus esset». Idque ipsius Africani non mediocrem emulum M. Porcium Catonem scriptum reliquisse auctor est Cicero.