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The humanist project of applying classical ideals and models to contemporary political realities was particularly problematic in fifteenth-century Rome. The popes, especially Nicholas V, liberally supported classically inspired art, literature, philosophy, and rhetoric. Despite this sympathetic patronage, imitation risks anachronism. The writings of Roman humanists are no exception, as they reveal tensions not only between pagan and Christian cultures, as we would expect, but also between republican and imperial political ideals. These tensions are evident in four humanist literary works in Latin about the conspiracy of Stefano Porcari against Pope Nicholas V in 1453: Leon Battista Alberti's letter, Pietro de Godi's dialogue, Giuseppe Bripio's poem, and Orazio Romano's bizarre epic, the Porcaria. These are the only extant humanist literary works dedicated to the conspiracy, and, with the exception of Alberti, they have received little scholarly attention. Whereas most scholars have been primarily concerned with what actually happened in the conspiracy (and have thus, for example, eschewed poetry), this article explores how humanists fashioned these events using classical forms and concepts.1 These four humanist works were inspired by the actual events and written in the immediate aftermath of the conspiracythose of Godi and Orazio-start with a description of the rotting corpses of the conspirators dangling from the ramparts of Castel Sant'Angelo. Although they were designed to flatter the pope and support papal claims to temporal power, these works often promote arguments, use images, and adopt rhetorical strategies that are decidedly republican and not, as one would expect, imperial in origin. These contradictions reveal some of the cultural and political problems that confronted humanist promoters of papal rule in this unstable time of the early Renaissance papacy.2
THE CONSPIRACY
Stefano Porcari had worked for two years (1427-28) as the capitano del popolo in Florence, where he befriended Leonardo Bruni, Matteo Palmieri, and other civic humanists.1 His speeches from this period are full of praise for Florence's republican government and the ideals of civic humanism; he called Florence a "sanctuary of the sweetest liberty."4 These orations survive in numerous fifteenth-century manuscripts.5 Porcari read about the glories of the ancient Roman republic in Livy and Sallust, and conversed with the Florentine humanists about their longing to revive ancient virtue. When he returned to Rome, his enthusiasm for the ancient...