Fotune is a Woman: The Conception of Virtu

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Niccolo Machiavelli ‘Les Principalipos’

4. 'Fortune is a woman,' says Machiavelli. What does this mean, and what is its significance for Machiavelli's conception of virtù?

Fortune is a woman says Machiavelli. Such a claim has been used to reveal Fortune’s nature. It has allowed us to study her ways, to learn how to interact to her. Fortune is a powerful woman, and requires virtu to resist her. Machiavelli uses this picture to help people understand more simply the nature of Fortune so they might be able to react more appropriately when Fortune comes to its opposition. Machiavelli teaches “…that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, because Fortune is a woman, and if you want to keep her under it is necessary to beat her and force her down. It is clear that she more often allows herself to be won over by impetuous men that by those who proceed coldly. And so, like a woman, Fortune is always the friend of the young man, for they are less cautious, more ferocious, and command her with more audacity (Machiavelli XXV).” Machiavelli teaches us how to control Fortune, or at least the less than half of her that we can. She cannot be controlled completely, but if freewill is used to force and beat her down, she can be controlled to an extent. The upshot seems to be that without Fortune, virtu would not be shaped as it is. That virtu has been molded and fabricated by its sculpture, Fortune. In this manor Fortune being a woman contributes to Machiavelli’s concept of virtu.

Machiavelli’s concept of virtu is not like moral virtue, as some of us might know, but instead a virtu that displays qualities of bravery, pride, strength, and even callousness. Virtu has even been translated in The Prince as valor, which is to have great...

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... of how to win Fortune over, which are to wear the attributes of virtu like armor. Fortune is powerful, and requires virtu to withhold her. A virtu that has valor, and is fearless to use freewill in order to resist her, even by ruthlessness means if need be. The type of virtu that is cunning, and able to anticipate her every move, so that he might act with foresight. So we see that all of the attributes necessary for resisting Fortune, form together into the attribute Machiavelli transcribes to virtu. So in conclusion it can be realized that Fortune has shaped virtu, for without Fortune, virtu might not have the need to strive to such great lengths in resisting her. In the pursuit to force Fortune down, virtu was formed. In this manor the womanly Fortune contributes to virtu. For virtu would not be what it is, if it were not for the Fortune that tried his character.

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