Leonardo Bruni and biography: The Vita Aristotelis

Abstract

This article presents the "Vita Aristotelis" (1429) as an extension of Bruni's campaign to win acceptance for his new view of Aristotle as an independently valid guide to the secular life. The dynamics and structure of the "Vita" are traced to Bruni's attempt to counter the impact of the imminent publication of the "Lives" of Diogenes Laertius in a Latin translation by Ambrogio Traversari. In refuting the negative aspects of the portrait offered by Diogenes, Bruni developed and defended a selective, rhetorically based approach to biography that was novel in relation to classical and medieval interpretations of the genre.