But the first order of business, a brief introduction. Below please find a forwarded email that lays out the mission statement of The Machiavelli Minute, from its illustrious founder, my grandfather, Niccoló Machiavelli.
To: Lorenzo
From: Niccolo
Date: 6/22/1513
To the Magnificent Lorenzo Di Piero De' Medici:
It is customary for those who wish to gain favor of a Prince to endeavor to do so by offering him gifts of those things which they hold most precious or in which they know him to take especial delight. With the utmost diligence I have long pondered and scrutinized the actions of the great, and now I offer the results to your Highness within the compass of a small volume. I have not sought to adorn my work with long phrases or high-sounding words, or any of those superficial attractions and ornaments with which many writers seek to embellish their material…For in the same way that landscape painters station themselves in the valleys in order to draw mountains or high ground, or ascend and eminence in order to get a good view of the plains, so it is necessary to be a Prince, to know thoroughly the nature of the people, and one of the populace to know the nature of princes. May I trust that your Highness will accept this little gift in the spirit in which it is offered; you will recognize in it my ardent desire that you attain to that grandeur for which fortune and your own merits have destined you.
ttyl,
Nic
