All the same, what was missing from Roman law, and even from Cicero, was the idea that living in freedom was a universal human value transcending all local traditions and historical contexts. It was precisely this sense of freedom as an essential part of human nature and potentiality that the Florentines had discovered in Aristotle and passed on to subsequent generations. The conclusion was clear: to be human was to desire to be free. Being free in turn meant living under a constitution in which men “rule and are ruled in turn” and by choosing their own leaders, chose their own collective
...more
