The following observations are hardly more than a footnote, but a footnote to one of the most discussed questions of Machiavelli's thought, to his concept of virtù. When scholars became aware of the central importance of this term in Machiavelli's thought, they also realized that virtù was a most elusive term to which it was difficult to assign a precise and definite meaning; the term seemed to contain a great variety of meanings. In recent times, almost each new interpretation of Machiavelli's thought has implied a new intepretation of his virtù-concept, or, at least, has stressed the decisive significance of one particular factor among the various elements which went into the making of this concept.