ABSTRACT
Accordin g to Aristotle , a republican constitutio n was one i n whic h citizens governed and were governed i n tur n for the common interest, a system that ensured libert y and equality by frequentl y changing its
office-holders . Italia n communes were republican in that government was exercised by a series of very short-term and constantly changing magistracies draw n by lot fro m those approved as suitable by elected scrutineers - about 10 per cent of the total population . Leonardo Bruni' s analysis of the Florentin e constitutio n in his Laudatio (c. 1402-04) makes thi s clear. Liberty , he says, was represented by the fact that citizens held government office for only tw o (or at most four ) month s at a time, whereas equality was ensured by the fact that all citizens were equally subject to the same laws, and by the imposi - tio n of larger fines and penalties on high nobles wh o broke the laws than on the commoners - in thi s way compensating the commoners for their otherwis e lower status than the nobles [13 pp. 169-74]. The extent to whic h he identifie d Florence wit h Greek republic s was made even clearer in 1439, when he attempted to explain Florence's constitutio n to the Greeks attendin g the Counci l . It was, he said, 'neither completely an aristocracy nor completely popula r but a mixtur e of both ' - in other words , i t was lik e Aristotle' s polity , the best practical typ e of republican government [Doc. 14].
