And for the space of four hours I feel no boredom, I forget every pain, I do not fear poverty, death does not frighten me. There I am not ashamed to speak with them and to ask them the reason for their actions and they in their humanity reply to me. At the door I take off my clothes of the day, covered with mud and mire, and I put on my regal and courtly garments and decently reclothed, I enter the ancient courts of ancient men, where, received by them lovingly, I feed on the food that alone is mine and that I was born for. When evening has come, I return to my house and go into my study. In this December 1513 letter to Francesco Vettori, a friend of Machiavelli’s and the then Florentine ambassador in Rome, Machiavelli introduces us to his enthusiasm for reading. Unbeknownst to most people, however, Machiavelli also had a softer side. Based on force and ruthlessness, Machiavelli offered advice on how to get and keep power. Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) offered ruthless advice in his timeless classic The Prince, which was inspired on Xenophon’s Cyrus The Great: The Arts of Leadership and War.
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