Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes why the two concepts are defined alike, but by no means appear to be of a similar nature. It then argues that the real difference lies not in the formulations of the two concepts, but rather in the very meaning, use, and ultimate goals of virtue in the context of an individual's life and his personal values. The argument follows that, in the core of the differences between the two concepts, will be the value given by two authors to morality and justice, which, in turn, comes down to two clashing views on the attributes of virtuousness: being successful versus being good.

From the Paper:

"Having set out to discern the distinctions between two concepts, of which one is Plato's idea of virtue in the The Republic and another is the notion of virtu presented by Machiavelli in The Prince, one would not expect to face any difficulties, for few concepts seem to be at more extreme opposites of each other at the first glance. Indeed, while Plato in his dialogues sees virtue as a means of creating an ideal, happy state that will in turn yield happy individuals within it, Machiavelli's use of virtue (or virtu) seems to be vastly different, if not polarly opposite. The ruler's primary use of virtue in Machiavelli's view is in some instances to create, and in most to maintain power over the state acquired by various means, which would not always be considered virtuous by Plato. It is noticeable that happiness and well-being of individuals in the state possessed by a prince is a low priority for Machiavelli; rather than being the goal, as it is in the case of Plato's Republic, happiness of the citizens is merely a means of maintaining stability of the state and ensuring the prince's control over it. One can easily see, therefore, that the aim of Plato's virtue is happiness, while that of Machiavelli's virtu is power, mostly by means of fear and domination. With that being clear, what difficulty can one possibly expect in contrasting the two notions of virtue? Looking more scrupulously at the definitions formulated by both authors, however, one might be faced with a surprising paradox: on the level of words and definitions both concepts appear to be close to each other and involve similar qualities of their possessors."

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