Chi sono gli amici del principe? : l’amicizia in quattro specula principum del 15. secolo

By claiming that a good prince must not rely on friendship, Machiavelli marked a breaking point within the humanistic tradition of specu-la principum.This essay takes into account four handbook for prince written in XV century: De institutione regiminis dignitatum by Giovanni Tinto Vicini from Fabriano, De principe by Giovanni Pontano, De Principe by Bartolomeo Platina, and De regno by Francesco Patrizi from Siena. These humanists showed why a good prince needs friends. As Petrarch in De republica adminsitranda they used the Aristotelian and Ciceronian language of friendship in order to describe who can help a good ruler to get in and exert power: the friends of the prince are his advisers, secretaries, supporters, and followers. In humanistic specula principum the choice of government élite went under the name of friendship. Since men devoted to studia humanitatis were the best friends of the best prince, the personal dimension of power came to light along with the idea that power is justified when combined with knowledge.