Abstract

The author claims: 1) in Spinoza a classical idea of toleration, if traceable, has a marginal role: no logic of concession, the one that allows the prince to resign to the different cults just like one may resign to the human vices and sins; and no toleration as an intermediate claim, in view of a fuller acknowledgement of the individual rights ; 2) in Spinoza there is a clear idea of an underlying “patience”, which lays under political power; a kind of “continuous low”, with variations that become decisive within the raising of the «imperium»: a most peculiar and original thesis that originates from the core of Spinoza’s political thought, and that reverses the traditional roles of “tolerant” and “tolerated”, of one and many, of governor and multitudo.