<em>Virtú</em> and <em>Fortuna</em> in Machiavelli’s political thought

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the most important Machiavelli’s work The Prince- written in 1513 and first published in 1531 - the idea of the State configuration, specially connected with the governor’s (prince’s) configuration and with their historical influences; yet the modern foundation of the Political Science as scientific knowledge. The historical context where Machiavelli lived, specially Florence his town, is indispensable for the understanding of his political thoughts, mainly of virtú and fortuna. The importance of the theme may be easily showed by both direct and indirect unfluence, which he exerted on subsequent political science, and other adverse reactions. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 - 1527), a great political philosopher of Renaissance, is considered the great founder of the Modern State Theory. His writings have the founders’ character and should not be neglected for being such a classic of the political knowledge. Thus, his thougts connection with the other areas should be public. Besides searching for understanding Machiavelli’s thought, we can also explain the great Political and Philosophical themes such as State and Government, specially observed in the political history scenary of Renaissance in Italy.