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Matthew Brennan

Dr. Dale A. Hoover

Renaissance Age of Reason (HUM-2235-103)

September 2, 2011

Brunis Panegyric to the City of Florence

Support your claims with lines from the Panegyric. Identify thesection and the page where the line of the text is found.

1. What does Bruni find praiseworthy in Florence?

Bruni finds the ancestry of its people praiseworthy. (Section 2, Page 2,

Paragraph 1)

He claims that since Florence was founded at the height of Roman

eudemonia, it inherited all the rights and privileges of the early Roman

Empire, e.g. ability to wage just war against its neighbors to reclaim the

empire, and to oppose tyranny that might rise up against the Florentine

Republic. (Section 2, Page 2, Paragraph 2)

Bruni finds the complete goodwill and supreme generosity (Section 3,

Page 4, Paragraph 5) of the citys social policies praiseworthy. He claims

that Florence welcomes all and has become a secure asylum for all of

Italy.

Bruni claims there are many examples of Florence coming to the aid of

cities who were oppressed by the conspiracies of neighboring states or

by the violence of domestic tyrants. Florence has never sat on the

sidelines while weaker states faced destruction. Florence has never been

led by a desire for leisure. I think the gist of all this is that Bruni is trying

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to say that Florence has never been stingy with its culture or has tried to

wall itself off from the rest of Italy, (even though it did wall itself off)

(Section 3, Page 4, Paragraph 6)

2. Who is Brunis model for speechwriting?

Per the Introduction, Brunis model for his panegyric comes from Aulius

Aristides Panathenaicus.

3. What makes Florentine citizens so special to Bruni?

Florentine citizens are the descendants of the Romans when the Romans

were at the height of their greatness. Bruni proposes that in the case ofroyal successions there is a custom observed by most peoples, namely,

that the person who is finally declared to be heir to the king must be born

at the time his father possessed the royal dignity. Those offspring who are

born either before or after are not considered to be the sons of a king, nor

are they permitted to have the right of succession to their fathers

kingdom. (Section 2, Page 2, Paragraph 4) Because the city of Florence

was founded during the time of Roman greatness, it inherited the right of

succession from Rome.

4. What ancestry do Florentines claim?

Florentines claim their ancestry derives from the Roman people, the most

renowned, the lords and conquerors of the entire world. (Section 2, Page

2, Paragraph 1)

5. What is Florentine republicanism like?

Its a checks and balances system that is based on a series of individual

councils and an elected group of 9 that come from the 4 districts of

Florence. There is also a group of magistrates that are empowered to

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punish criminals. They serve for 2 months. (Section 4, Page 5, Paragraph

3)

6. How is Florentine government organized?

Per Bruni, the Florentine government is based on a Republican form of

government like ancient Rome was before the Caesars stamped down on

freedom. (Section 2, Page 2, Paragraph 5)

(Section 4, Page 6, Paragraph 3) There are 9 magistrates that mete out

justice. They serve a term of only 2 months.

The city is divided into 4 sections so that each section can never lack its

own representative. From each section, 2 men are elected by popular

vote of the citizens. The leader of this group is chosen on a rotating basis

from each of the sections (Section 4, Page 6, Paragraph 3)

Besides this group of 9 there is also a Council of the People, Council of

the Commune and the Twelve Good Men

Per Brunis description, The Florentine Republic has many built in Checks

and Balances to keep power from amassing with any one person.

7. How does Brunis speech mix secular with religious concerns?

(Section 4, Page 7, Paragraph 7) Bruni doesnt mention religious concerns

until the last paragraph and then its only as an afterthought because he

does not credit God, the Virgin Mother, or John the Baptist as the cause of

any of Florences greatness. All throughout the speech Bruni points back

to Florences Roman heritage and adherence to Roman Republicanism as

the cause for the greatness of Florence and its people. To my eye, Bruni

includes praise for God as the only thing that remains to be done to

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satisfy the Church. From the excerpt read, Bruni is the archetype Italian

Humanist. He pays the Church lip service.