The Concept of “Fortuna” in Machiavelli’s “The Prince”

Abstract

The concept of “Fortuna” has attracted many historians dealing with political ideas. A major role in this respect belongs to the way in which Machiavelli analysed it and, as much, to the place occupied by this concept in The Prince, the famous work which consacrated the “Great Florentine” as one of the founders of the modern political sciences. This paper presents the manner in which Machiavelli defined this concept, both as a result of the contemporary vision on it and of the political and national objectives of his capital work.