Men of letters were at the same time also prominent in public affairs.

When, for instance, the exiles of 1529 sued Duke Alessandro before Charles V.at Naples, Jacopo Nardi drew up their pleas, and Francesco Guicciardini rebutted them in the interest of his master.

Machiavelli learned his philosophy at the Courts of France and Germany and in the camp of Cesare Borgia.

Segni shared the anxieties of Nicolo Capponi, when the Gonfalonier was impeached for high treason to the state of Florence.

This list might be extended almost indefinitely, with the object of proving the intimate connection which subsisted at Florence between the thinkers and the actors.