sehepunkte 26 (2026), Nr. 10

Stefano U. Baldassarri / James Hankins / GuangXian Tang (a cura di): Francesco Patrizi da Siena (1413-1494): Come gestire un incarico pubblico

Contained in the few pages of this attractive booklet is the first-ever publication in print of the Sienese humanist Francesco Patrizi's earliest political treatise (1447), De gerendo magistratu (How to Conduct Oneself in Public Office, hereafter DGM). Here one will find a semi-critical edition of the Latin text (based on four of the eight surviving manuscript witnesses) accompanied by a facing-page Italian translation and preceded by a pithy preface by Mario Ascheri and a brief but informative introduction by James Hankins. An English translation of DGM concludes the volume. Published immediately in advance of the conference "Francesco Patrizi of Siena and Renaissance Virtue Politics," convened in Siena in May 2026, this edition/translation gives readers excellent access to this short political treatise. One now looks forward to the projected publication of the completed critical edition, which, the editors tell us, is "in corso."

In a recent monograph, Hankins has made a case for Patrizi having been "the most substantial and influential voice of Italian humanist political thought" between Petrarch and Machiavelli, and, indeed, a "more authentic representative of Renaissance political thought" than the latter.[1] Judging from Hankins's extensive summary and analysis of Patrizi's two major works of political thought, De institutione reipublicae (c. 1471) and De regno et regis institutione (1481-84), this is a defensible claim, especially if one accepts his contention that the humanists' defining project was "virtue politics", that is, an educational program of studia humanitatis designed to reform "the political culture of their times, which for them meant improving the moral quality of their cities' princes and institutions using ancient models."[2]

Likely Patrizi's political thought benefited greatly from his advanced education under the tutelage of the great humanist Latin poet and scholar of classical Greek, Francesco Filelfo, and from his extensive direct involvement, from 1440, in both Sienese and (after 1458) ecclesiastical politics. Patrizi's first foray into political treatise-writing should, however, also be regarded as a product of his teaching experience and commitment to pedagogy, given his role, from 1441 to 1446, as professor of rhetoric in his city's university. It was during these same years that he tutored the recipient of DGM, Achille, a scion of the wealthy and powerful Petrucci family, to whom the Patrizi were closely allied.

The composition of DGM was occasioned by Achille's election to the priorate, the highest political office of the city-republic. Reading DGM, one gets the sense that Patrizi was not entirely comfortable with this development, despite his having "raised [Achille] in the pursuit of learning and the liberal arts to a level of acclaim equal to my own" (23). The problem, to be blunt, was that Achille was only nineteen years of age and had held no other public office, meaning not only that he was young and inexperienced, but that he had entirely bypassed the accustomed cursus honorum of office-holding. Patrizi's concern was strong enough to compel him to compose the DGM in the form of an epistolary mirror for the prince, while on a (unsuccessful) diplomatic mission to L'Aquila to repatriate the remains of the recently deceased Bernardino of Siena. His earnest hope was that Achille's humanist education had instilled in him a character sufficiently virtuous that, fortified by the good counsel contained in his former teacher's letter-treatise, he would now be equipped to discharge his duties responsibly and prudently. Unfortunately, Achille did not live up to Patrizi's expectations either as prior or, later, in 1462, as podestà of Foligno, an office to which Patrizi had appointed him during his own tenure as papal governor there.

So much for the direct efficacy of Patrizi's efforts. What of DGM as a text of political advice and as a representative of Renaissance humanist "virtue politics"? As a composition, DGM is a model of efficiency, expressing in a few choice words "numerous themes in ovo that would later be deepened and elaborated in his great works of political philosophy."[3] The treatise's overarching theme is that the welfare of the republic rests on the leadership of men whose liberal education has endowed them with the moral and social virtues. The most important of the virtues is justice, in the sense both of upholding and executing the laws fairly and of offering equal access to petitioners. Also key is the matter of counsel. The treatise itself is an instance of wise and good counsel. One must be able prudently to discern between good and bad counsel and councillors (guard especially against flatterers!), and to keep one's own counsel or the secrets of the state, when required.

Closely related to the theme of counsel is that of speech. On the one hand, speech must be regulated: "speak quietly and calmly," avoid "ill-considered or rash remarks," and "Be neither verbose nor taciturn" (28). On the other, eloquence is the distinguishing mark of those "best men" (optimates) destined for leadership roles, and indeed one must guard against giving too many "new men" (novi homines) access to power (presumably because they are unlikely to have benefited from a humanist education?).

Moreover, the most important thing a magistrate can do is to maintain peace and concord in the republic. Thus war should be avoided, unless absolutely necessary, "For in time of war, all things totter and are subject to fortune." A tight lid should also be kept on public expenditures, since "once public funds are exhausted and revenues scraped bare" those in charge have to resort to taxation, and "Nothing can make those who rule the state more odious than this."

Finally, there is the matter of political economy. The city's grain supply must be protected, since "nothing is more dangerous or savage than a starving populace"; trade with other nations should be facilitated, "so that the entire multitude may be abundantly sustained"; and citizens should be encouraged to engage in useful crafts and services, "For idle men are always engineering seditions and civil discord" (29). Throughout the treatise, Patrizi enlists classical authorities, dominated by Cicero, Curtius Rufus, and Valerius Maximus, to give further weight to his advice.

Judging from the publication history of Patrizi's two major political treatises, the sixteenth century appears to have been the heyday of their popularity and influence. Although DGM did not enjoy the same early modern fortunes, this edition/translation gives us a clear view of the early formative phase of Patrizi's political thought. Having had this clear view, however, I must push back gently but firmly on Hankins's claims for the originality of Patrizi's contributions to political thought, at least in so far as DGM is concerned. What I see here looks more like an old wine, whose vintage blends elements of earlier, "medieval" political thought formulated in the universities and the Italian communes of the thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, put in a new bottle adorned with Patrizi's Petrarchan humanistic erudition and neo-Latin elegance.

Notes:

[1] James Hankins: Political Meritocracy in Renaissance Italy: The Virtuous Republic of Francesco Patrizi of Siena, Cambridge, MA 2023, 1.

[2] James Hankins: Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy, Cambridge, MA 2019, 230.

[3] Hankins: Political Meritocracy, 27.