IL “BUONGOVERNO”, I BUONI GOVERNI E IL “LEVIATANO INCATENATO”. UNA RICONSIDERAZIONE DEL “BENE COMUNE” IN CHIAVE PLURARCHICA

This paper seeks to relate a fundamental notion of political theory, “good government”, to a hypothetical form of governance: the outcome of a competing process of an indefinite number of good governments. This is the “Chained Leviathan” which draws on the tradition of the pre-humanist Italian municipal movement. Divided into four parts, each examines a particular aspect of the possible political reading of Lorenzetti’s well-known cycle: “Municipal life in Siena”, with its institutional framework; “The allegory of good government”, reread in the light of a pre-humanist republican interpretation that sees self-government as the common good itself; “The effects of good government”, showing how “Security”, guided by “Justice”, triggered by the cardinal virtues and protected by the theological virtues, is the basis of freedom and civil prosperity; “The ‘Red Queen’ and the effects of bad government”, underlining how “Tyranny”, triggered by vices and “vainglory”, is the main enemy of the human species and leads to war and generalised misery.