Resumo. Italian Renaissance Humanism expressed a strong influence from classical texts, both Roman and Greek. However, the intricacies of this appropriation of classical thought did not occur in a uniform or systematic way; the Christian-medieval tradition, especially that of the Augustinian school, provided diverse perspectives for interpretation, but also doctrinal obstacles. It is necessary to define the terms that, based on these influences, became central to the original constructions of important political thinkers in order to understand the problem of the republic during this period. We will highlight the figures of Coluccio Salutati and Niccolò Machiavelli, both central thinkers in the process of building a republican tradition in modernity. We will demonstrate how Salutati expresses Augustinian and Ciceronian influences in his main works; as a counterpoint, we will present in Machiavelli's thought an explicit opposition to the theoretical influence of these same authors. To qualify our presentation with greater specificity, we will take as central points the constitution of laws and the formation of the people from the legislative aspect.