![]() To describe it, he uses one of his few extended metaphors, making fortune a force of nature, like a river that seems uncontrollable, yet can be tamed and directed by human activity. Machiavelli envisions fortune as a set of constantly changing circumstances in which particular actions can bring about success or failure. To explain this, he proposes that success comes when virtù is suited to the particular situation a prince finds himself in. Yet Machiavelli struggles with the problem of why one person succeeds and another fails, even though they have employed the same methods, or why totally different methods can arrive at the same outcome. Fortune favors the brave in italian free#If free will did not operate, all of a prince's virtù would be for nothing. Rather than taking the fatalistic view that all events are controlled by destiny and that it is useless to work toward a particular outcome, Machiavelli gives fortune control over only half of human actions, letting free will influence the rest. In this chapter, fortune refers more to prevailing circumstances and events, which are still things that the prince cannot directly control. In those chapters, the contrast is between what the prince can control (his own actions) and what he cannot control (the favor of others). In Chapters 7 and 8, Machiavelli contrasts virtù with fortune in the sense of luck or the favor of powerful people. Machiavelli uses fortune ( fortuna) in at least two senses. This chapter is perhaps the most pivotal in The Prince, because Machiavelli discusses the relationship of action and fortune in determining the prince's success. It is better to be bold than timid and cautious, because fortune is a woman, and the man who wants to control her must treat her roughly. ![]() But men are never flexible enough to change, either because their natures will not let them or because they become accustomed to a certain behavior bringing success. If a man is successful by acting one way and the circumstances change, he will fail if he does not change his methods. Two men may use the same method, but only one succeeds and two men may use different methods, but reach the same goal, all because the circumstances do or do not suit their actions. ![]() Princes are successful one day and ruined the next, with no change in their natures. If Italy had such preparations, she would not have suffered so much in the present floods. ![]() But when the weather is good, people can prepare dams and dikes to control the flood. Fortune can be compared to a river that floods, destroying everything in its way. Many people believe that fortune controls everything, so that there is no use in trying to act, but fortune controls only half of one's actions, leaving free will to control the other half. ![]()
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