ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the opposition nature–artifice as a key to understanding the cultural legitimation of the vernaculars on a larger, European scale. Imitating the style of Cicero, but also revising the interpretation of some Aristotelian passages, Bruni's versions of Aristotle generated one of the most famous controversies of the time, namely the debate with the Spanish priest Alfonso de Cartagena, a strong supporter of the previous Latin translations of Aristotle, which constituted the core of university curricula across Europe. The vernacular, that is the language that we acquire "by imitating our nurses", deserves both our fullest appreciation and the commitment to enhance its beauty. The usual narrative about the establishment of the vernacular as a language suitable for literary purposes identifies Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio as those who, along with Dante, laid the foundations for the legitimation of the vulgar tongue.
