Life of Castruccio Castracani

It is made in the form of a short biographical account of the life of the medieval Tuscan condottiere, Castruccio Castracani, who lived in and ruled Lucca.

This proposal that leaders can overcome the arbiter of all things is a common theme in Machiavelli's better known political works such as The Prince.

In fact Machiavelli opens with a passage that treats prophets as the highest type of secular prince.

...the larger part, of those who in this world have done very great things, and who have been excellent among the men of their era, have in their birth and origin been humble and obscure, or at least have been beyond all measure afflicted by Fortune.

Because all of them either have been exposed to wild beasts or have had fathers so humble that, being ashamed of them, they have made themselves out sons of Jove or some other god.

A view of Serravalle Pistoiese , which is set upon a hill with some sides being quite steep. Machiavelli describes an attack by the Luccan forces of Castracani on the ridge of this town, that successfully caught Florentine forces by surprise.