This course involves the examination of medieval and Early Modern Italian texts that aim to define morals, ethics, or manners. What does it mean to be a good person? What makes for a good community? How should one order one's responsibilities to the self, community, and God? What is justice, and where might it be found? If people desire good things, why do they often find vice more interesting than virtue? Such questions are addressed through analysis of selected writings by Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Machiavelli, Baldassare Castiglione, and Giovanni Della Casa. Taught in English, but students with the equivalent of four semesters of Italian language may elect to do some reading or other coursework in Italian.