For Baron and many others Leonardo Bruni 1369–1444 was regarded to be the paragon of Italian civic humanism Hankins 1995 327 Witt 2003 392–442 the exemplar of the synthesis of humanistic study and public engagement he served twice as the Chancellor of Florence and was intermittently employed in administrative posts by the papacy At the same time Bruni was a prodigious author and translator composing a multivolume history of the Florentine people based on his access to primary sources producing Latin versions of works by Aristotle including the Politics and other Greek texts writing biographies of notable Italians for popular consumption among many other literary activities Most significantly for current purposes Bruni used his great erudition to defend and promote the cause of republican government especially as practiced in Florence during his day His Laudatio 1403–1404 1978 are paeans to the city generally for instance in terms of architectural and artistic beauty its cleanliness its locale and its plentiful resources but also specifically to the virtue of its citizens and its institutions Recall a central feature of the “Baron thesis” mentioned above derived from the claim that the Milan crisis of 1402 gave birth to civic humanism in both theory and practice with Bruni as its exemplary exponent Like his contemporaries Bruni believed that Florence had been founded by the Romans during the republican period rendering its citizens characteristically lovers of freedom who stood also opposed to imperial and tyrannical rule This heritage from Rome also yielded the source for Florence’s mild and peaceful relations with other Italian cities and their citizens signaled by its protection of all Italy from the domination threatened by the Milanese Florence was in effect the savior of the Italian people Both the Panegyric and the Laudatio explain the greatness of Florence in terms of its selfgoverning political system The institutions both foster and are fostered by the public virtue of citizens Bruni postulates a triad of fundamental republican principles that Florence draws together liberty libertas equality aequalitas and just law ius The Florentine constitution is so organized that citizens are free because they are equal before the law These qualities bring us to one of Bruni’s favorite concepts in his political theory harmonious cooperation and balance among all groups and classes within the city Other Italian cities he observes are rife with class conflict between the great men and mass of the people The Florentine republic differs because the entire body of its citizens participate as appropriate in the government which because it is checked in its power resists the temptation of tyranny whether by the few or the many Civic humanism at least as understood by Baron and scholars working in a similar vein is perfectly captured in the accounts of Florence in the Panegyric and Laudatio