Leonardo Bruni essays

Leonardo Bruni essays Leonardo Bruni was born circa 1369-70 in Arezzo, Italy, which was the same place Petrach was born years before. Sometimes referred to as Aretino because of the city in which he was born, Leonardo went on to become almost as much a figure in the humanistic movement as Petrarch. Griffiths states that part of the reason that Bruni was so successful is because of his duel focus in scholarship of the mastery of classical literature and the study of the classical languages (9). Griffiths uses a term civic humanism (15) to describe a part of Bruni. This is the side of Bruni that was dedicated to public service. In 1405, he became the Apostolic secretary of Pope Innocent VII, and he held this position through two more Popes (Gregory XII and Alexander V). In 1410 he was elected Chancellor of the Republic of Florence, but found he preferred his secretarial duties. So he resigned and reclaimed his old position under yet another Pope, John XXIII. In 1415 Bruni returned to Florence for good. He was re-elected Chancellor in 1427 and held the position until his death (Harvard). It was during this stay that Leonardo wrote the work he is now most famous for: Historiariaum Florentinarum Populi Libri XII (Twelve books of Histories of the Florentine People). This book is a history of Florence and is written in Latin. Bruni was also the author of biographies of Dante and Petrarch, written in Italian, and Cicero and Aristotle, written in Latin (New Advent). Part of the reason that Bruni is famous today is that he was a great translator. Due to his studies, Leonardo was subjected to a great deal of writings in the classical language. He realized that not all people were so fortunate, and so decided to translate them: Plato, Plutarch, Xenophon, and others. Bruni developed the current style of translation called ad sententiam, according to the sense (Griffiths 10). This is not word-for-word translation, rather...