Ryan Holiday

I think what he was saying is that, you know, he's French, but when he grew up, Montaigne had this fascinatingly unique education.

His father wanted him to learn Latin.

So no one was allowed to speak anything but Latin at home.

Right.

So he grew up as if he lived in ancient Rome where they still spoke Latin.

Wow.

And so I think he just had this lifelong fascination with Rome.

And I think he asked the pope or, you know, whoever the mayor of Rome was, if he I think he just wanted some sort of honorary certification that he was adopted by the tribe that he so identified with.

Exactly.

That's actually a good point.

Yeah, it's like, hey, I will teach a class if at the end of it you allow me to graduate from said university.

Well, Machiavelli is fascinating because obviously, yeah, he has the reputation for being what we would now call Machiavellian.

You know, he writes The Prince.

So obviously he's about tyranny and power and control.

I mean, he was a literal Republican in that he wanted Florence to be a republic so much so that he was

taken prisoner by the Medici family and tortured for being a radical.

And that's why he dedicates the prince to them as a way to restore himself to their graces.

But it's actually a very subversive work that's sort of in some ways criticizing what a prince is.

is.

None of that has to do with what I talk about him in the book.