The importance of Virtue according to Machiavelli and Michelangelo.

While studying Machiavelli and Michelangelo, I was able to get an understanding of their ideas of Virtue. Machiavelli was a little bit clearer on his ideas whereas you had to read into Michelangelo’s artwork to understand his meaning. From my understanding though, I believe Machiavelli and Michelangelo had their own different thoughts about virtue.

In The Prince, Machiavelli is giving Lorenzo de’ Medici advice on being a prince. In this, he discusses the qualities one would need to rule without being hated. Machiavelli states, “The prince should try to avoid anything which makes him hateful or contemptible” (pg. 49). Machiavelli’s point here is that whether you are choosing virtue or vice, it must help your state and it must not make them hate you. Machiavelli’s idea of what virtue is, is something that receives praises from others. So, he is saying that sometimes you must do things as a prince that your state will not like but in the end, they will be grateful to you. His advice though is to avoid the vices that will make your state hate you and that sometimes choosing virtue will bring on hate as well. Machiavelli states, “For if you look at matters carefully, you will see that something resembling virtue, if you follow it, may be your ruin, while something else resembling vice will lead, if you follow it, to your security and well-being” (pg. 43).  This shows Machiavelli’s belief that sometimes it is better to choose vice instead of virtue. He hints that a man cannot always be perfectly virtuous and that sometimes he must act on some bad characteristics for the good of his state. His comments lead you to believe that vices are only bad when they endanger the state but when they are helping the state they are fine. What I get from Machiavelli’s The Prince is that a prince must be concerned with the end and not the means. Machiavelli points out that a prince must be manly. He must be courageous and tough and not worry about being giving and compassionate. For if he is too kind it will allow the people to walk all over him. I understand that Machiavelli isn’t too concerned with the idea of virtue. He believes that a prince should not worry about receiving praise but rather about protecting his people. This shows that he believes the essence of being a man is about doing what you need to do to protect and stay in charge whether it is frowned upon or not.

On the other hand, Michelangelo has a very peaceful and calm feel in his artwork. Michelangelo shows that the essence of being a man is being created in God’s image and likeness. His artwork is all about praising the creator of man and showing the beauty of man. Pope John Paul II stated, “With great daring he even transferred this visible and corporal beauty to the Creator himself.” The word corporal means of the body, so this is saying that Michelangelo’s art is in dedication to God and that man’s corporal beauty is only due to God. Michelangelo’s art centers very closely around corporal beauty and around God. This leads me to believe that Michelangelo’s idea of virtue is to be true to what God gave us. This view is unlike Machaivelli because Michelangelo does value giving and compassion as you can see in The Creation of Adam which shows God giving Adam life. You can also see it in The Sistine Chapel where some of the artwork depicts Christ giving His life. Finally, you can see in Michelangelo’s David statue that Michelangelo believes in caring for the people on a more personal level and that he cares more about the means than the end. You see this due to the symbolic meaning of David, which is the ideal Renaissance man- a speaker of words, doer of deeds, a king, shepherd, poet, and a lover. Michelangelo isn’t concerned with the idea of being tough or even winning over his people. Michelangelo cares about living the life our Creator would want us to live.

As you can see, Michelangelo and Machiavelli have very different understandings of virtue and the essence of man. While Machiavelli believes virtue is just something that receives praise from others and isn’t as important as being tough and in control of your state, Michelangelo believes virtue is about praising our Creator for our corporal beauty and being giving and caring for those around us. 

Social Issues: Our society compared to the Roman Imperial period

There are many parallels in Rome’s Imperial period and society in the United States today. Below are five social issues that affect both. I will discuss equal education, gender identity, abortion, mental health, and immigration.

The matter of equal education is found in Satire 3 where it says, “here let the spruce son of an auctioneer clap his hands, with the smart sons of a gladiator on one side of him and the young gentlemen of a trainer on the other”. This shows that in Rome there were different levels of intelligence among the children of fathers with different jobs and levels of authority. This is like current times because parents that are wealthier can afford to send their children to fancier schools even if they are further away or if they are expensive private or charter schools. Whereas parents that don’t have as much money are stuck sending their children to whatever local school there is, even if it is in a poorer part of town and might not have the highest quality teachers or nice supplies. Satire 3 states, "It is no easy matter, anywhere, for a man to rise when poverty stands in the way of his merits: but nowhere is the effort harder than in Rome”. This is true in our society as well. Statistics show that if you are raised poor you are more likely to be poor as an adult than a person raised wealthier. This leads to the fact that if you go to a poorer school growing up then your children will too and you will have similar educations which is not equal to that of wealthier citizens.

Gender Identity is a large social issue in today’s society. Many children will call other children gay, or other forms of the word, when that child doesn’t act as boyish as society thinks they should. Or if a girl doesn’t like pink and frills, she will be thought of as a tom-boy. Society says that men and women have to act certain ways to be considered a man or a woman. This causes a lot of people that don’t act exactly in line with gender standards to then question themselves and their identity. In Rome, it seems they had similar expectations. Satire 3 states, “compare the scraggy neck of some weakling to the brawny throat of Hercules when holding up Antaeus high above the earth”. Here they are comparing a weak boy to the ideal strong Hercules type man. This is a common comparison in today’s society as well as Rome’s.

Abortion is a large social issue that plagues today’s society as well as Rome’s. Satire 2 states, “how often does a gilded bed contain a woman that is lying in? So great is the skill, so powerful the drugs, of the abortionist, paid to murder mankind within the womb.” In Rome, they would say that abortion was still killing mankind and today’s society is largely at debate on whether it is considered mankind when it is still within the mother’s womb. Both societies struggled with abortion though and both societies had citizens that were very much against it.

“For what good man, what man worthy of the mystic torch, and such as the priest of Ceres would wish him to be, believes that any human woes concern him not? It is this that separates us from the dumb herd…”. This is from Satire 15 and it shows that even in ancient Rome mental health was an issue that was made to seem a smaller problem than it really was. This section makes it seem that this good and worthy man struggles from no mental health issues and that people that do struggle are part of this ‘dumb herd’ that does not affect him. Our society struggles with these views as well. Statistics show that mental health plagues 1 in 5 adults. It seems that most people stigmatize mental illness as something that is bad and makes people seem ‘dumb’ when in fact it is quite normal and common.

Finally, immigration is a social issue in today’s society as well as ancient Rome’s. Satire 3 said, “No: there is no room for any Roman here, where some Protogenes, or Diphilus, or Hermarchus rules the roast--one who by a defect of his race never shares a friend, but keeps him all to himself.” Everyone struggles with people that aren’t born in that location then entering and taking their jobs and such. There is a belief that immigrants aren’t allowed because they won’t respect your culture or they will again take your jobs. This can be true but it can also be false, it also depends on your political beliefs. However, it seems this was a worry in Rome as well as the U.S.

The Genuineness of Greek Gods: Sophocles Views

Greek Gods

Sophocles

In Euripides' Ion, Ion asks, “Is the god genuine or his oracles a fraud?” This was a common question at that time, one that many Greek authors would have had opinions about. Sophocles wrote his opinion on this topic in his play Oedipus Rex in several round about ways. In the play, the main character Oedipus, leaves his family. He does this because a prophet told him that he would one day marry his mother and kill his father. This causes Oedipus to leave in the hopes of avoiding this fate. Oedipus doing this shows that he doesn’t trust the gods. This can cause the reader to believe that Sophocles would believe that the god’s oracles are a fraud. We must keep reading to discover more.

Oedipus Rex

Later a prophet tells Oedipus that he is the one that killed his wife’s husband and instead of believing him, Oedipus gets mad at him. This shows that Oedipus doesn’t believe the prophet which is sharing what the gods have told him. This leads the readers to believe that both Oedipus and Sophocles would believe the gods oracles are a fraud yet again.

Then Oedipus goes on to solve the Sphinx’s riddle about humans. Then Oedipus tells Tiresius (the prophet), “How riddling and foolish is all you say!” (Sophocles Oedipus Rex pg. 26) Oedipus is making it clear that he believes he is smarter than the gods. This shows that Oedipus thinks that humans can think on their own by rationalizing and problem solving meaning that he doesn’t need the gods help, especially if he could solve the Sphinx’s riddle. From this part of the play you can infer that Sophocles is hinting that intellectualism is helpful but that it can make us prideful and blind to the world around us. We get this from that story because the play goes on to prove that the prophecy came true! Even though Oedipus ran from his family it ended up that they were only his adoptive family and he ran right into the arms of his mother, married her, and killed his father. By disbelieving the prophet, Oedipus helped his fate come to be. One can read into this that Sophocles believes that you cannot escape fate. At the beginning of the play Oedipus chooses to not trust the god’s oracles but in the end it hurts Oedipus that he didn’t trust them. 

In the beginning of the play we are tricked into thinking that Sophocles doesn’t trust the gods but then it proves this thought of ours incorrect by showing us that the oracles of the gods came to pass. I believe that Sophocles would answer the question in Euripides' Ion when Ion asks, “Is the god genuine or his oracles a fraud?” by saying that indeed the gods are genuine and his oracles are not a fraud.

Epithets - A bit about Me!

Silly Sister 

I am one of 8 children. The 4 in the picture above are my whole siblings (with my parents and some spouses thrown in the mix) but I also have 3 half brothers that aren't pictured. However to me I have 7 wonderful and equal siblings!! I have 5 brothers, 2 sisters, 3 sister-in-laws, and 2 brother-in-laws from my side of the family (not including my husband's family). I am the second youngest and have always been the silliest. Since I was the youngest girl in my family I was always lovingly teased and so I learned at a young age to tease back. I love being silly and having funny conversations with my family. I love making people laugh and therefore I have learned to be a very animated person.

Fashion Inspirer

I love fashion! I love being on campus and seeing everyone's different styles. I have always loved clothes and I love finding cute outfits for friends. I now sell LuLaRoe and absolutely love it since I have always enjoyed helping others find outfits that just made them smile. The only difference is that now I get to be paid for it and that is always a bonus.

Socialization Advisor

I am a sociology major and I work as a Human Service Worker for Wasatch Mental Health. In my major I learn all about socialization and how humans interact with the world and how society alters people's actions. In my work I help children that struggle socially and behaviorally. I teach these kids social norms and I help them learn how to interact more healthily with others. I strive on helping others make friends and be heard and I love learning what makes people do certain things.

Happy Newlywed 

I just got married on February 11, 2017 to my wonderful husband Jason. I love every second of married life, its just a wonderful thing. I love the support that you constantly have from your spouse and I love that I always have someone there to listen, talk, or help out. I love calling myself a newlywed and I plan on calling myself a newlywed for at least several more years. My goal in life is for people to always think my husband and I just got married based on the way we act towards each other!