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What if the true heir of the Roman Empire was not Rome, but Florence? Over the course of his life and career as a scholar and politician, the great humanist Leonardo Bruni made this argument multiple times, and in a variety of ways. In doing so, he gave novel accounts of liberty and virtue, and eventually moved away from an appeal to Florence's Roman roots and appealed instead to her Etruscan roots. In doing so, he laid the groundwork for the preeminent Italian political thinker commonly associated with the birth of modernity: Niccolò Machiavelli.

New Humanists episode on Leonardo Bruni's letter to Battista Malatesta: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1791279/episodes/14460440-mediocrity-versus-glory-in-the-renaissance-episode-lxii

James Hankins's Virtue Politics: https://amzn.to/3UiQpp3

Leonardo Bruni's History of the Florentine People: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674005068

C.S. Lewis's The Weight of Glory: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060653200

Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781107612235

Donatello's Saint George: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_George_(Donatello)

Roberto Valturio's De re militari: https://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=315

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

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The Iliad was more popular than the Odyssey beginning in ancient times, and continued to be all the way up to World War One. Then, something changed. Now the Odyssey leaves the Iliad in the dust in terms of which poem gets assigned more frequently in school, in book sales, and simply in the stated preference of readers. What happened? Ryan and Jonathan read Edward Luttwak's essay, Homer Inc., about the thriving industry of Homer translations, the ancient redactors of Homer, the historicity of the Trojan War, and one of the perennial questions any humanist must answer - and to which Luttwak gives his own idiosyncratic response: Why does Homer matter?

Edward Luttwak's Homer Inc.: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v34/n04/edward-luttwak/homer-inc

NH episode on Melanchthon and Homer: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/13181921-return-of-the-old-gods-in-germany-episode-lii

NH episode on Weil and Homer: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/10429309-the-iliad-or-the-poem-of-force-episode-xxi

NH episode on Nietzsche and Homer: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/13949908-nietzsche-homer-and-cruelty-episode-lvi

Stephen Mitchell's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781439163382

Robert Fagles's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140275360

Emily Wilson's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781324001805

Richmond Lattimore's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780226470498

Peter Green's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780520281431

Robert Fitzgerald's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780374529055

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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For the first time, a collection of Irving Babbitt's and Paul Elmer More's correspondence has been published. Eric Adler, the editor of the collection (titled "Humanistic Letters") joins the show to discuss the collection, New Humanism, and the question that caused more controversy between Babbitt and More than anything else: Do humanists need to believe in God? 

Eric Adler's Humanistic Letters: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780826222909

Eric Adler's The Battle of the Classics: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780197680810

Irving Babbitt's Literature and the American College: https://amzn.to/3YIP0Ml

New Humanists episode Can Humanism Replace Christianity? https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/12494774-can-humanism-replace-christianity-episode-xliv

Justin Garrison and Ryan Holston's The Historical Mind: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781438478432

Ryan Holston's Irving Babbitt and Christianity: A Response to T.S. Eliot: https://www.academia.edu/43227260/Irving_Babbitt_and_Christianity_A_Response_to_T_S_Eliot

C.S. Lewis's The Abolition of Man: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652944

Norman Foerster's Humanism and America: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.88302/page/n5/mode/2up

Luke Sheahan's The Intellectual Kinship of Irving Babbitt and C.S.Lewis: https://www.pdcnet.org/humanitas/content/humanitas_2016_0029_0001_0005_0042

C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780060652920

Paul Elmer More's The Greek Tradition: https://amzn.to/4dxbXGQ

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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Love for Cicero, attention to rhetorical form, use of pagan wisdom for political thought - these are all hallmarks of the Renaissance humanists. But not their invention. In fact, you find the same things among some medieval thinkers. Jonathan and Ryan read and discuss selections from the Policraticus and the Metalogicon, two works by the 12th century bishop of Chartres, John of Salisbury, who was an exemplar of this medieval brand of humanism.

Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

Homer's Iliad: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780374529055

Homer's Odyssey: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780374525743

Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674991743

New Humanists episode on Leonardo Bruni: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/14460440-mediocrity-versus-glory-in-the-renaissance-episode-lxii

S.A. Dance's Authentic Grammar in Classical Schools: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/05/authentic-grammar-in-classical-schools

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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Thomas Aquinas is also known as the "Angelic Doctor," but he was quite capable of coming down from the heavens and getting practical. In two selections from his work included in Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition, we find some of Thomas' advice and outlook for students and teachers, including a discussion of whether teaching is an inherently contemplative or active pursuit.

Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

New Humanists episode Education that Makes Aquinas Look Modern, feat. John Peterson: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/12698279-education-that-makes-aquinas-look-modern-feat-john-peterson-episode-xlvi

Pope Leo XIII's Aeterni Patris: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_l-xiii_enc_04081879_aeterni-patris.html

Augustine's De Magistro (The Teacher): https://amzn.to/4cUbVZ4

A.G. Sertillanges's The Intellectual Life: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780813206462

Homer Camp: https://ancientlanguage.com/homer-camp/

Bible Camp: https://ancientlanguage.com/bible-camp/

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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The things of God belong to a heavenly kingdom. But politics is taken up with what is earthly. Surely, therefore, Christians should keep politics at a distance as much as possible. Right? Even while defending the life of contemplation and retreat from the earthly, Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Bocaccio laud Christian involvement in public life. Petrarch goes so far as to dream of a Julius Caesar reborn in medieval Europe and baptized a Christian, who goes on to conquer Egypt from the Muslims and present her as a gift - this time not to Cleopatra - but to Christ.

James Hankins's Virtue Politics: https://amzn.to/3UiQpp3

Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199535699

C.S. Lewis's The Four Loves: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780062565396

Calvert Watkins's How to Kill a Dragon: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780195144130

New Humanists episode on Leonardo Bruni: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/14460440-mediocrity-versus-glory-in-the-renaissance-episode-lxii

Sallust's Catilinarian Conspiracy: https://amzn.to/4chKY1C

Henry David Thoreau's Walden: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780460876353

Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780385486804

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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Imagine that you are the leading figure in a movement to renew the study and appreciation of classical literature, but you have come to the end of your life and not only has the educational and political situation not improved - it has gotten worse. Such was the vista spread out before Petrarch in his twilight. Jonathan and Ryan read and discuss some of Petrarch's correspondence, recording the meditations of the great humanist as he wrestled with civilizational decline, the possibility of rebirth, and the awareness of how little time he had left.

Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674991743

Tim Griffith's The Case for Classical Languages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UquUv7wzAgQ

Ryan Hammill's Saints Versus Statesmen: https://americanreformer.org/2024/04/saints-versus-statesmen/

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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Are the liberal arts for everyone? We tend to think that the liberal arts can be helpful and edifying for anyone. But even amidst the humanist enthusiasm for the study of letters, the Renaissance writer Pier Paolo Vergerio denied that the liberal arts could improve a corrupt soul. In his mind, the liberal arts are proper only for those born free from the demands of moneymaking and furthermore, possessing a liberal temper. What is a liberal temper? And what are the liberal arts anyways? Jonathan and Ryan discuss Vergerio's treatise "The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth" which, even before the printing press, was a sensation in Europe, and was copied and re-copied many times.

Richard M. Gamble's The Great Tradition: https://amzn.to/3Q4lRnO

I Tatti Renaissance Library's Humanist Educational Treatises (containing Pier Paolo Vergerio's entire treatise, The Character and Studies Befitting a Free-Born Youth, in Latin and English): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674007598

Sallust's Catilinarian Conspiracy: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674996847

Cicero's Pro Archia Poeta: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674991743

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

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We think we know what a "republic" is, but what did the Romans mean with their phrase "res publica"? What about the Italian humanists? And how did they distinguish a republic from a tyranny? We take a look at two more chapters from James Hankins's book, Virtue Politics, a groundbreaking examination of Renaissance political theory. These chapters focus on the question of legitimacy: What makes a government legitimate? What makes it illegitimate?

James Hankins's Virtue Politics: https://amzn.to/3UiQpp3

Francesco Petrarch's Invectives: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780674011540

New Humanists episode on Nietzsche and slavery: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/14044549-compassion-versus-classical-antiquity-episode-lvii

Cicero's De Officiis: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780199540716

Robert Harris's Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780743498661

Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar: Life of a Colossus: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780300126891

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

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A pandemic. A changing climate. A hopelessly divided country. Christianity threatened by Islam. Universities completely out of touch with normal people. Late medieval Italy was a basket case. All the while, a small group of men was dreaming of the Roman Empire - maybe emulating Rome was the way to save Italy? In his book Virtue Politics, James Hankins elucidates the neglected political thought of the humanists of the Italian Renaissance, which he names "virtue politics." Jonathan and Ryan outline Hankins's arguments.

James Hankins's Virtue Politics: https://amzn.to/3UiQpp3

N.T. Wright's The New Testament and the People of God: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780800626815

Augustine's City of God: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780140448948

Thomas Aquinas' De Regno: https://isidore.co/aquinas/DeRegno.htm

Dante's De Monarchia: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9781502885555

Desiderius Erasmus' The Praise of Folly: https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780691165646

New Humanists episode on T.S. Eliot's Praise for Privilege: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/9884564-t-s-eliot-s-praise-for-privilege-episode-xvi

New Humanists is brought to you by the Ancient Language Institute: https://ancientlanguage.com/

Links may have referral codes, which earn us a commission at no additional cost to you. We encourage you, when possible, to use Bookshop.org for your book purchases, an online bookstore which supports local bookstores.

Music: Save Us Now by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com