Fortuna & Virtù

Half is chance; the other half is what you do with chance.

Machiavelli's central dichotomy. Fortuna — fortune, chance, the river that floods — is half of human affairs. Virtù — not Christian virtue but vigorous, decisive capability — is what the prince brings to her. She favors the bold. She, in his famous misogynist image, is a woman who must be mastered.