Dwarkesh Patel

He does not do that.

He stays in the country and he rots and he continues writing letters home saying, I will serve you or nothing.

Bring me home to serve my country.

That is a weird thing to do, right?

And not normal for the many other Florentine intellectuals who experienced similar banishments in the same period.

I mean, the answer is you read his personal letters and you read the way he talks about love of his country and you read the way he talks to his friends.

You read the letters he wrote when he discusses writing The Prince and you read the comments he exchanges with the other friends that he shared it with.

You know, his other works, his comic play, which was a big hit, his history of Florence, which was well known at the time.

Those he published and circulated.

The prints he kept in very close private circles, circulating it only with trusted, intimate friends, and then the copy that he sends in to Florence.

And yes, it's a job application.

Please bring me back.

I will work for you.

I will be loyal.

I support my city more than any particular iteration of my city.

I support my country more than any particular regime or country.

group that might be in power.

Whatever is in power in my city, I will be faithful to it.

You see him expressing that in lots of different ways.

And when in the prince he says you can do and should do all of these different ruthless things to keep power, we have to remember that the end justifies the means when the end is the survival of your country.