Machiavelli's Knowledge Of The Actions Of Great Men

Machiavelli claims to possess the knowledge of the “actions of great men”. What Machiavelli really means by this is that he knows much of how leaders of great nations handle their power. However, he also knows much of how these great leaders should handle their power, which is essentially what he is trying to explain to Lorenzo de Medici throughout the text. Through a large number of examples involving past leaders and their successes and failures, as well as a large amount of knowledge on the topic of political affairs accumulated over many years of study, Machiavelli explains to Lorenzo de Medici how he should go about attaining the greatness Machiavelli knows he can attain. This “greatness” that Machiavelli refers to is Lorenzo de Medici’s