beheld in his sleep a crowd of famished and miserable people. On asking who they were he was told: the blessed souls in paradise. Hardly had they vanished from his view than he saw instead a throng of grave-visaged men discussing political matters, and distinguished among them many illustrious philosophers of Greece and Rome. These were the souls condemned to eternal punishment. Being asked in which company he preferred to remain he instantly replied: I would rather be in Hell and converse with great minds upon State questions, than live in Paradise with the rabble I saw just now ... For in the latter he would meet no one but wretched monks and apostles, whereas in Hell he would be in the company of cardinals, popes, princes and kings.
(Strathern pg 409-410; Villari, Machiavelli vol 2 535-537)
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Did Mach write this? What context?
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