upending virtue

"Everyone sees who you appear to be, few sense who you really are." Machiavelli The Prince

I invested almost 30 years in the Church promoting virtue…mostly in the form of the Biblical fruit of the spirit…love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness , faithfulness, kindness , selfcontrol…components of moral goodness that most of us would embrace as virtue.

Cicero articulates virtu as consisting "especially of always acting honorably and morally."It is clear that Machiavelli’s "virtu" is nothing equivalent to these conventional ideas of virtue…though it may insidiously and falsely present the appearance of goodness.  Machiavellian virtue is not practiced for the simple sake of virtue but is the presence of personal qualities that a prince would find necessary to acquire in order to maintain his state and achieve great things. 

Where I would tag a virtuous person as one comfortable with moral goodness and one I would count on to embrace that morality consistently, Machiavelli has a kind of chameleon-like virtu that changes with circumstance to promote results that favor the unity of the state. "The prince, above all must acquire a 'flexible disposition'....capable of varying his conduct from good to evil and back again as 'fortune and circumstance dictate.'"

Machiavelli's strategy for this flexiblity is found in the two categories of virtue: primary and secondary. The secondary virtues are used to form the impression of the primary. Primary virtues are intangible and are exemplified in virtues such as compassion, faith, sincerity, and prudence. These are paired with secondary or tangible virtues to create an appropriate persona. I will give an example to make this tactic clear.

If I want to make others think I am religious--an intangible virtue--I will reinforce with a public declaration of my generosity. Maybe I will give a large sum to a missionary outreach or to the poor...letting my left hand (and all who will hear) know what my right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3).

It is important to Machiavelli that a leader be willing to do evil by force or cunning when the circumstances seem to warrant while at the same time maintaining the guise of morality. It all sounds quite diabolical until we begin to see how these ideas play out practically in our politics. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be an example.