On Leaders and Tyrants

Poggio Bracciolini author David Rundle author Guarino of Verona author Pietro del Monte author Keith Sidwell editor Hester Schadee editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Harvard University Press

Published:27th Sep '24

Should be back in stock very soon

On Leaders and Tyrants cover

The first complete English translation of a controversial Renaissance debate centering moral questions on power and leadership.

Poggio Bracciolini was a prominent scholar-official of the early Renaissance and a leading representative of Florentine humanism. He was employed as a secretary to seven popes and ended his career as Chancellor of the Republic of Florence. On Leaders and Tyrants contains texts, the majority by Poggio, relating to a controversy on the relative merits of the lives and deeds of Scipio Africanus and Julius Caesar. The debate addressed the nature of tyranny and military glory, as well as the qualities necessary for republican leaders, such as Stoic virtue, lawfulness, and good citizenship. Poggio’s primary opponent was the educator Guarino of Verona, a humanist in the service of the duke of Ferrara. The psychology of power, the demands placed on public servants, and the dividing line between leadership and tyranny are as topical today as they were when Poggio wrote. This volume contains a fresh edition of the Latin texts and the first complete translation of the controversy into English.

ISBN: 9780674297128

Dimensions: 203mm x 133mm x 25mm

Weight: 702g

624 pages