In Praise Of Florence : The Panegyric Of The City Of Florence, And An Introduction To Leonardo Bruni's Civil Humanism

The beginning of the Renaissance is marked in this translation of Leonardo Bruni's first work, the Laudatio Florentinae Urbis (Panegyric of the City of Florence). Written around 1400, this treatise introduces many of the ideas that became central to the Italian Renaissance—republican liberty, free competition, and the balance of power—and influenced many later thinkers of the Renaissance, including Machiavelli. With the ideas outlined in this work, Bruni decisively influenced all later European and American thought about republican and democratic government. In addition to the translation, this edition offers an introduction to Bruni's life and philosophy in the context of the political situation of the early Florentine republic.