One should rely on the passage of time because you never know what it will bring. But, if one acts on his own, he controls his own destiny with the help of his fortuna. On the other hand, Machiavelli uses King Louis of France as an example of what not to do. He shows how the King was weak and did not have good fortuna. The King could have been powerful if he would have followed the basic rules Machiavelli laid out. Louis gave too much power to others and therefore he lost his power. Machiavelli's works are world renowned and still read and practiced by many. The next author to give me an insight on Italy was Dante". .
The book I read by Dante" was called the Inferno. The Inferno is more than just a fictional story about someone traveling through the universe. It is actually more like an autobiographical journey of life through its author, Dante Alighieri's eyes. Written in the early 1300's by a disgruntled Dante living in exile, he literally describes a man who has been trapped, and must find a way to escape. Written originally as a long poem separated into cantos or songs, he basically wrote with the personal purpose of recording where all of the people he came in contact within his life, will go when they die. This could be one of three places Hell, Purgatory, or Heaven. He went on to design specific, fitting punishments or rewards based on the life each person led. Dante then tied this all together and made himself a character that walks the entire length of the conceptualized universe. Due to the fact that Dante poured his heart and soul into his writing there are many symbols that relate to his personal life. Dante's Inferno was a good representation of the times in which he lived and an insight on Dante himself.
Machiavelli readings gave a great view on how politics, war, and monarchies worked before the age of technology that I've grown accustom to. These people were self sufficient and capable of surviving in an atmosphere that I couldn't imagine.
