POL200Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Cesare Borgia, Proverb, Cardinal Virtues
Document Summary
Virtue = intrinsically good; a quality of the soul. It"s not about making decisions that are good", but about making decisions that are useful (can maintain your power and stability as a ruler) Don"t use word good" for machiavellihe doesn"t care nor believe in good". Moses, cyrus, theseus, romulus: chapter 7: cesare borgia. Is this the climax of the piece (bc. of its length?). 21, m says that a good prince must depend on his self-reliance (virtu) M admires cesare as one of the most celebrated modern princesso why isn"t he also included among the 4 great princes (moses, cyrus, romulus, theseus) Because cesare"s kingdom started and ended with fortune (he inherited the land from his father, alexander vi) M acknowledges that cesare made mistakes, esp. 27 saying how cesare also has some of the same traits like the great princes. This is a puzzle: a contradictory picture is painted of cesare: chapter 8: wickedness.
