The Humanist Poets as “New Romans”

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 5 focuses squarely on the humanist project of reviving Rome’s literary legacy and on the revival of ancient Rome through literature. While this literary revival also lends prestige to the authorities who support it, this chapter shifts the focus to the way the humanists define themselves in and through their poetry as “New Romans” by adopting “Rome” as a metaphor for Latin literature. It enters into discussion with scholarship on the nature and definition of Renaissance humanism by showing how the humanist identity is intricately connected with “Rome” and equally open to both narrow and wide definitions. This chapter ultimately suggests that the renewed dominance of Latin literature as propagated by the humanists also sparked a second—artistic—battle for Rome and discusses the implications of this battle on the Questione della linguà (debate concerning the use of Latin or vernacular) and the Paragone delle arti (“comparison of the arts”).