In this paper, I would like to presente the hierarchy of goods, supported by Aristotle in his ethical treaties and in Politics, as the solution to the impasse between two conceptions of virtue that come into open conflict in some of the main Platonic dialogues: virtue as sovereignity and self-sufficiency of the wise, such as that which opposes the insufficiency of addiction, and virtue as capacity ans achievement, as that which opposes to incapacity and to debility. I intend to show (...) that Aristotle “saves” the aristocratic conception of virtue in the same extent that he defends pratical truth Against logical rigorismo, without, however, failing to incorporate the Platonic objection to an instrumental conception of virtue that sees it as a means for obtaining wealth and power. (shrink)