The history of political theory in the later Renaissance offers a striking exemplification of Hegel's dictum to the effect that the owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk. As we have seen, the century following the Peace of Lodi in 1454 witnessed the final triumph of princely forms of government almost everywhere in Italy. And yet it was during the same period, in the twilight of the city republics, that incomparably the most original and important contributions were made to republican political thought.

THE CENTRES OF REPUBLICANISM

Of the various centres in which republican ideas continued to be discussed and celebrated throughout the later Renaissance, the one with the most enduring commitment to the traditional values of independence and self-government was Venice. While the rest of Italy succumbed to the rule of the signori, the Venetians never relinquished their traditional liberties. They continued to operate the constitution they had originally set up in 1297, which consisted of three main elements: the Consiglio Grande, the body responsible for appointing most of the city's officials; the Senate, which controlled foreign and financial affairs; and the Doge, who served with his council as the elected head of the government. It is true that when this rigidly oligarchic system was first imposed, the immediate effect was to generate a series of popular uprisings led by the disenfranchised.