The Italian Renaissance was the home of modern ideas about republican freedom, democracy, balance of power, and free competition. But the period in which these ideas originated, the 14th and 15th century, is still relatively unknown, in spite of the fact that this time displays a remarkable similarity with our own.

Leonardo Bruni was the first to formulate these new ideas. His impact on the later thinkers of the Renaissance has been enormous. Therefore indirectly he put his mark on the development of the political thought of the whole western world. A good reason for an English translation of this early work of the Florentine humanist. It contains the germs of the thoughts elaborated in later works such as the History of the Florentine People and the Funeral Speech for Nanni de' Strozzi.