- Preface
- 1. A Civilization in Crisis
- A New “Paideuma” and the Birth of the Humanities
- The Causes of the Crisis
- The Reform of Christian Culture
- The Humanist Movement Takes Shape
- 2. Virtue Politics
- Obedience and Legitimacy
- Virtue Politics
- Classical Sources of Virtue Politics
- How Not to Reform a Republic
- Eloquence and the “Virtuous Environment”
- A New Way of Thinking about Politics
- 3. What Was a Republic in the Renaissance?
- The Renaissance Concept of the State
- What Is the Meaning of Respublica in the Italian Renaissance?
- Respublica Romana
- Respublica in Medieval Scholasticism
- Leonardo Bruni and Respublica in the Fifteenth Century
- Respublica: An Idealization of Ancient Government
- Is Civic Humanism Found Only in Non-monarchical Republics?
- 4. Taming the Tyrant
- Tyranny in Greek Philosophy
- Cicero’s Understanding of Caesar’s Tyranny as Violation of Ius
- Bartolus of Sassoferrato and Baldo Degli Ubaldi
- Petrarch on Living with Tyrants
- Was Caesar a Tyrant?
- Petrarch, Salutati, Guarino, Poggio
- Poggio on Tyranny and the “Problem of Counsel”
- Pier Candido Decembrio on the Virtues of a Tyrant
- The Recovery of Ancient Greek Sources on Tyranny
- 5. The Triumph of Virtue: Petrarch’s Political Thought
- Petrarch’s Politics of Virtue
- Cola di Rienzo: Populism and Its Limits
- Petrarch’s New Realism
- 6. Should a Good Man Participate in a Corrupt Government? Petrarch on the Solitary Life
- The De Vita Solitaria: An Ideal of Private Life for Literary Men
- The Defense of Private Life
- Seneca versus Augustine: Political Obligation and Political Autonomy
- 7. Boccaccio on the Perils of Wealth and Status
- Boccaccio’s Political Experience
- The Need to Reform the Materia Prima of Politics: Human Nature
- Virtue, Education, and Tyranny
- Boccaccio and the Humanist Debate about Private Wealth and Economic Injustice
- Boccaccio and Virtue Politics
- 8. Leonardo Bruni and the Virtuous Hegemon
- Why Florence Deserves to Be the Heir of Rome: The Panegyric of the City of Florence
- Political Liberty as a Source of Virtue
- The Etruscan Model: Leadership in a Federal Republic
- Dante and Bruni on the Legitimation of Empire
- 9. War and Military Service in the Virtuous Republic
- Late Medieval Civic Knighthood and the Context of Leonardo Bruni’s De Militia
- Excursus: The Humanists and Partisan Politics
- Bruni’s De Militia: A New Interpretation
- Excursus on the “Virtuous Environment”: Donatello and the Representation of Classical Military Virtue
- Do Humanist Teachings on Warfare Anticipate Machiavelli?
- Virtue in Military Life
- Roberto Valturio on the Education of Soldiers
- 10. A Mirror for Statesmen: Leonardo Bruni’s History of the Florentine People
- History as Political Theory
- Virtue in the Service of the Republic’s Glory
- The Primacy of the Popolo and the Suppression of Factions
- Moderation in Politics as the Key to Social Concord
- 11. Biondo Flavio: What Made the Romans Great
- The Roma Triumphans and the Revival of Roman Civilization
- What Was the Respublica Romana for Biondo?
- Biondo’s Virtue Politics, Republicanism, and the Greatness of Rome
- A Cosmopolitan Papalist
- 12. Cyriac of Ancona on Democracy and Empire
- A Short History of the Term Democratia
- Cyriac of Ancona’s Attempted Rehabilitation of the Term Democratia
- Cyriac the Caesarian
- 13. Leon Battista Alberti on Corrupt Princes and Virtuous Oligarchs
- Why Virtue Is Incompatible with Court Life
- Who Should Constitute the Political Elite?
- The De Iciarchia and the Regime of Virtuous “House-Princes”
- 14. George of Trebizond on Cosmopolitanism and Liberty
- George’s Attack on Nativism and Defense of Cosmopolitanism
- A Renaissance Libertarian?
- 15. Francesco Filelfo and the Spartan Republic
- Filelfo and the Recovery of the Spartan Tradition
- Filelfo and Humanist Adaptations of the Myth of Sparta
- 16. Greek Constitutional Theory in the Quattrocento
- The “Second Wave” of Greek Constitutional Theory
- Legitimation and the Republican Regime
- Francesco Patrizi on Republican Constitutions
- Delegitimation: Bruni and the Chivalric Ideal
- Substitution: Platonizing Venice’s Constitution
- Mario Salamonio Compares Florence to Athens
- 17. Francesco Patrizi and Humanist Absolutism
- The Recovery of Ancient Greek Monarchical Theory
- Patrizi and His Project in the De Regno
- Virtuous Royal Legitimacy and Humanist Absolutism
- The Argument for Monarchy
- Can Monarchical Power Be Virtuous?
- How the King May Become Virtuous
- 18. Machiavelli: Reviving the Military Republic
- The Calamità d’Italia
- Machiavelli and Humanist Literary Culture
- Machiavelli’s Political Education and The Art of War
- Why Princes and Republics Should Follow the Ancient Way of Warfare
- 19. Machiavelli: From Virtue to Virtù
- Machiavelli’s Prince and Renaissance Conceptions of Tyranny
- The Machiavellian Revolution in Political Thought
- Machiavelli’s Virtù
- 20. Two Cures for Hyperpartisanship: Bruni versus Machiavelli
- Two Competing Narratives of Florentine History
- The Ordinances of Justice
- Walter of Brienne and the Instability of Tyranny
- The Restoration of Popular Institutions in 1343
- Two Cures for Hyperpartisanship
- 21. Conclusion: Ex Oriente Lux
- Appendixes
- A. Petrarch on Political Obligations: De vita solitaria 2.9.19–22 (Chapter 6)
- B. Speech of Rinaldo Gianfigliazzi before the Florentine Priors, 1399, from Leonardo Bruni’s History of the Florentine People, 11.75–78 (Chapter 10)
- C. Renaissance Editions, Translations, and Compendia of Francesco Patrizi of Siena’s Political Works (Chapter 16)
- Notes
- Note on Sources and Translations
- Abbreviations
- Bibliography
- Texts and Translations
- Secondary Literature
- Acknowledgments
- Index of Manuscripts and Archival Documents
- General Index
Virtue Politics
Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy
Product Details
PAPERBACK
$27.95 • £24.95 • €25.95
ISBN 9780674278738
Publication Date: 01/10/2023
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