7-8 page long research paper on Visible and Invisible cities (political theory, Renaissance literature)

The  Book  of  the  Family  by  the  Florentine   intellectual  Leon  Battista  Alberti  (1404-­‐72)— seen  left  in  a  famous  self-­‐portrait—is  a  key   work  of  social  and  intellectual  history.  Written   as  a  dialogue,  it  offers  prescriptions  for   “economics”  in  the  ancient  Greek  sense—i.e.  the   orderly  management  of  the  oikos  or  elite   household.  Alberti  was  one  of  the  first   generation  of  Western  intellectuals  after  the  fall   of  the  Roman  Empire  to  read  Greek  fluently  and   he  was  well  aware  of  Greek  writings  on   household  management  attributed  to  Aristotle   and  Xenophon,  but  he  combines  this  classical   learning  with  sharp  and  sometimes  ironic   observation  of  contemporary  reality,  so  that  The   Family  serves  as  one  of  the  best  guides  we  have   to  Renaissance  social  values  and  customs,   specifically  among  the  elites  of  the  great   merchant  republics  like  Florence  and  Venice.    

  The  passages  we  are  reading  come  from  Books  1  and  3  of  the  dialogue.  The  passage   from  Book  I  concerns  the  upbringing  of  children  (or  more  specifically  boys).    What   you  need  to  read  here  is  from  Lionardo’s  long  speech  at  p.  59  (“Personally,  I  think  a   watchful  father  …”)  onwards.  You  can  skim  the  first  few  pages;  then  read  more   carefully  from  p.  62  (“It  is  my  beluefe  that  it  definitely  shows  a  good  mind.”)  It  may   be  useful  to  know  that  the  speaker  Lionardo  is  an  unmarried  and  childless   intellectual  who  has  gained  his  knowledge  of  child-­‐rearing  from  books  and   observation,  while  Adovardo  has  children  himself.  Both  are  members  of  the  same   family  as  the  author  of  the  dialogue,  the  Alberti.       The  passage  from  Book  3  concerns  the  relationship  of  husband  and  wife.  You  should   read  from  the  beginning  of  Lionardo’s  speech  on  p.  207  (“I  agree,  for  you  are   precisley  of  the  opinion  of  the  ancients.”)  The  speakers  are  Lionardo,  whom  we  met   in  Book  1,  and  an  older,  rather  garrulous  family  member,  Giannozzo  Alberti.