Abstract EN:

The thesis proposes to study the word and the concept of "virtu" in Machiavelli, and of "vertu" in Montesquieu. It examines the traditional opposition between these two authors. We accept, as major political texts, Ii principe (1515-1516) and the Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito-Livio (1517), the Considerations sur les causes de la grandeur des Romains et de leur decadence (1734) and De l'esprit des lois (1748). In both considered corpus, "virtu" or "vertu" indicate a central political principle, and a selection of steering statements. For each corpus, we proceed in three stages. Initially, "virtu" or "vertu" form, mostly, the subject of a study of the meaning according to their contexts but, in accordance with distinct adapted modes for each of the two authors. This first study is relieved by the one of Machiavelli's argumentation and also by the one of Montesquieu's "tactics" and "strategy". We are in this manner and at last, led to examine the correspondences between political concept and conception of the politics. The "virtu" is, essentially, the principle of the republic and, secondarily, the one of the "princedom". The "vertu" is, fundamentally, the principle of the democracy. In conclusion, we reject the antithesis between Machiavelli and Montesquieu. Both are friends of freedom and what is developing, thanks to them, is a modern conception of the politics and of the political - of the citizen and of the power. In other words, the constitution of the possibility of acceptance of a government seen to have legitimacy.