ABSTRACT
Stefano U. Baldassarri
Hard Times, Great Expectations, and our Mutual Friend Cicero. The Loschi – Salutati controversy
The 1390–1402 war between Florence and Milan was fought on paper no less than on the battlefield. The chanceries of both cities constantly strove to debunk their enemy’s claim to be fighting for justice against tyranny. Within this context, the two Latin texts discussed in this essay stood out as remarkable works of propaganda. In 1397 the Milanese secretary Antonio Loschi penned a brief yet vitriolic invective against Florence. The Florentine chancellor Coluccio Salutati replied with a lengthy text confuting all of Loschi’s accusations. This essay discusses how both humanists tried to defeat one another by showing superior mastery not only of political and historic knowledge but of Ciceronian rhetoric as well.
