[1] Compare the letter, dated June 10, 1514, to Fr. Vettori:
'Starommi dunque così tra i miei cenci, senza trovare uomo che
della mia servitù si ricordi, o che creda che io possa esser
buono a nulla. Ma egli è impossibile che io possa star molto
così, perchè io mi logoro,' etc. Again, Dec. 20, 1514: 'E se la
fortuna avesse voluto che i Medici, o in cosa di Firenze o di
fuora, o in cose loro particolari o in pubbliche, mi avessino
una volta comandato, io sarei contento.'

This letter, invaluable to the student of Machiavelli's works, is
prejudicial to his reputation. It was written only ten months after he
had been imprisoned and tortured by the Medici, just thirteen months
after the republic he had served so long had been enslaved by the
princes before whom he was now cringing. It is true that Machiavelli was
not wealthy; his habits of prodigality made his fortune insufficient for
his needs.[1] It is true that he could ill bear the enforced idleness of
country life, after being engaged for fifteen years in the most
important concerns of the Florentine Republic. But neither his poverty,
which, after all, was but comparative, nor his inactivity, for which he
found relief in study, justifies the tone of the conclusion to this
letter. When we read it, we cannot help remembering the language of
another exile, who while he tells us--

Come sa di sale
Lo pane altrui, e com' è duro calle
Lo scendere e 'l salir per l' altrui scale

--can yet refuse the advances of his factious city thus: 'If Florence
cannot be entered honorably, I will never set foot within her walls. And
what? Shall I not be able from any angle whatsoever of the earth to gaze