Bruni, Cicero, and their Manifesto for Republicanism

Abstract

Was Cicero a worthy man of state? With the rise of the humanist movement in the fourteenth century, the vicissitudes of Cicero’s political career became a prominent topic of debate.1 Scholars either expressed fascination for Cicero as a role model for Republican ideologies, or refused to accept this new, realistic image by which the Roman orator unavoidably became liable to criticism. This paper will examine the biography of Cicero written by the Florentine chancellor and historian Leonardo Bruni. The Cicero nouus (1413)2 is an attempt to compose an adequate translation of Plutarch’s Cicero as well as to rewrite Cicero’s political life. On the one hand, Bruni wished to restore Cicero’s status as a literary model; according to him, an earlier translation of the Cicero into Latin, published around 1401 by Jacopo Angeli da Scarperia, was inadequate.3 On the other hand, Bruni wrote the biography in response to contemporary Florentine politics, particularly the ideology of a free Republic: Cicero’s life offered a framework to set out Republican ideals. The biography should therefore not be read merely as a piece of antiquarian scholarship. Rather, as several modern scholars have already pointed out, it is an important historical document by reason of its political celebration of (Florentine) republicanism.4 Although the political nature of the Cicero nouus has been illustrated quite well, one important theme in the biography is generally overlooked: the interaction between Cicero and Caesar. I will argue here that Bruni is able to put a new spin on the merits of Cicero’s political life by analysing the conflict between these two men. A large part of the Cicero nouus is dedicated to Caesar’s rise to