Abstract
What are the virtues of a good citizen? This article argues that Machiavelli takes a skeptical view of the Roman social virtues, and especially certain aspects of fides, in light of their strong association with clientelism. Attentive to how these “virtues” have been used by elites to amass significant extralegal powers, Machiavelli urges his readers to condemn them as the political vices they actually are. As part of this effort, he re-examines a classic exemplum of Roman virtue, Manlius Torquatus, both to expose how personal loyalties can endanger republican liberty and to develop a new portrait of good citizenship in which “unsociable” traits assume a central place.
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