Virtù is a concept theorized by

Niccolò Machiavelli Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli ( , , ; 3 May 1469 – 21 June 1527), occasionally rendered in English as Nicholas Machiavel ( , ; see below), was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher and historian who lived during the Renaissance. ...

, centered on the martial spirit and ability of a population or leader, but also encompassing a broader collection of traits necessary for maintenance of the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

and "the achievement of great things." In a secondary development, the same word came to mean an object of art.

Classical and medieval origins

''Virtù'', an Italian word meaning "virtue" or "power", is derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

virtus ''Virtus'' () was a specific virtue in Ancient Rome. It carries connotations of valor, manliness, excellence, courage, character, and worth, perceived as masculine strengths (from Latin ''vir'', "man"). It was thus a frequently stated virtue o ...

'' (lit. "manliness"). It describes the qualities desirable for a man, as opposed to ''vizio'' (vice). In the Italian language, the term virtù is historically related to the Greek concept of ''

arete ''Arete'' (Greek: ) is a concept in ancient Greek thought that, in its most basic sense, refers to 'excellence' of any kind Liddell, H.G. & Scott, R. ''A Greek–English Lexicon'', 9th ed. (Oxford, 1940), s.v.br>—especially a person or thi ...

'', the Latin

, and Medieval Catholic virtues, e.g. the Seven virtues. Thus Machiavelli's use of the term is linked to the concept of

virtue ethics Virtue ethics (also aretaic ethics, from Greek ἀρετή arete_(moral_virtue).html"_;"title="'arete_(moral_virtue)">aretḗ''_is_an_approach_to_ethics_that_treats_the_concept_of_virtue.html" ;"title="arete_(moral_virtue)">aretḗ''.html" ; ...

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

had early raised the question "whether we ought to regard the virtue of a good man and that of a sound citizen as the same virtue";

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas, OP (; it, Tommaso d'Aquino, lit=Thomas of Aquino; 1225 – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican friar and priest who was an influential philosopher, theologian and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism; he is known wit ...

had continued to stress that sometimes "someone is a ''good citizen'' who has not the quality... fa ''good man''". Machiavelli suggests a different set of virtues than

and

, apparently with less focus on beneficence and concord, and with more focus on courage. According to Machiavelli, virtù includes pride, bravery, skill, forcefulness, and an amount of ruthlessness coupled with the willingness to do evil when necessary.

Florentines

Florentine republicans at the turn of the 16th Century like

Francesco Guicciardini Francesco Guicciardini (; 6 March 1483 – 22 May 1540) was an Italian historian and statesman. A friend and critic of Niccolò Machiavelli, he is considered one of the major political writers of the Italian Renaissance. In his masterpiece, ''Th ...

rediscovered the classical concept of the virtue of the active citizen, and looked to it for an answer to the problems of preserving their city-state's independence. Machiavelli extended the study of classical virtue in the sense of skill, valor and leadership, to encompass the individual prince or war-leader as well. Virtù, for Machiavelli, was not equivalent to moral

virtue Virtue ( la, virtus) is moral excellence. A virtue is a trait or quality that is deemed to be morally good and thus is valued as a foundation of principle and good moral being. In other words, it is a behavior that shows high moral standards ...

, but was instead linked to the '' raison d'État''. Indeed, what was good for the prince may be contradictory to that which is morally good in both the classical and Christian sense.

Influence

Both the positive Machiavellian idealisation of the virtues of ancient Roman republicanism, and the negative image of virtù as

realpolitik ''Realpolitik'' (; ) refers to enacting or engaging in diplomatic or political policies based primarily on considerations of given circumstances and factors, rather than strictly binding itself to explicit ideological notions or moral and ethical ...

passed into the wider European consciousness over the centuries that followed.

Artistic value

A secondary English meaning developed in the 18th century was a curio or art-object - as being something of value in itself. Thus Horace Walpole could refer to “my books, my virtus and my other follies”. Following the establishment of the Royal Academy in 1768, one contemporary considered that “the taste for virtu has become universal; persons of all ranks and degrees set up for connoisseurs”.''Fugitive Miscellanies'' 773 quoted in M. Dorothy George, ''Hogarth to Cruikshank'' (London 1967) p. 121

Classical and medieval origins

Florentines

Influence

Artistic value

See also

References

Further reading