Some time ago a friend sent me these words:

Venuta la sera, mi ritorno in casa et entro nel mio scrittoio; e in su l’uscio mi spoglio quella veste cotidiana, piena di fango e di loto, e mi metto panni reali et curiali; et rivestito concedentemente entro nelle antique corti degli antiqui huomini, dove, da loro ricevuto amorevolmente, mi pasco di quell cibo che solum è mio e che io nacqui per lui; dove io non mi vergogno parlare con loro, e domandarli della ragione delle loro actioni; et quelli per loro humanità mi rispondono; e non sento per quattro hore di tempo alcuna noia: sdimenticho ogni affanno, non temo la povertà, non mi sbigottiscie la morte; tucto mi transferisco in loro.
—Niccolò Macchiavelli, letter to Francesco Vettori, 10 December 1513

[Evening comes, I return home and enter into my study; and up there I change out of that daily attire, full of mud and grime, and I put on refined, dignified clothing; and thus changed I allow myself to enter into the ancient courts of ancient men where, affectionately received by them, I partake of that food that is mine alone and for which I was born; where I am not embarrassed to speak with them, and inquire of them the reasons for their actions; and they, by virtue of their humanity, respond to me; and I don’t feel for four hours of time any boredom: forgetting every anxiety, not fearing poverty, not worrying about death; I am completely transformed through them.]

I've been meaning to do some research of Macchiavelli ever since but I have never managed to remember. We all think we know what "Machiavellian" means. It is a ruthless tactic of survival in a ruthless world of realpolitik. Is this what Machiavelli preached or was it something else altogether? Whatever his true intentions, the far-reaching effects of his novella 'The Prince' is still with us. It's almost as if he invented the notion of the single minded quest to assert one's presence and power. If so, it contradicts severely the gentle humanist scholar depicted above, so happy that he can spend time reading and contemplating the antiquity. Come to think of it, I bought a copy of the book in Italian a while back. I ought to read it if I'm to get anywhere at all.