The list he furnishes, when tested by modern notions of history, is to say the least a curious one.

It contains Moses, Cyrus, Romulus, and Theseus.
Having mentioned Moses first, Machiavelli proceeds to explain that, though we have to regard him as the mere instrument of God's purpose, yet the principles on which the other founders acted were 'not different from those which Moses derived from so supreme a teacher.' What these men severally owed to fortune was but the occasion for the display of the greatness that was in them.

Moses found the people of Israel enslaved in Egypt.

Romulus was an exile from Alba.

Cyrus had to deal with the Persian people tired of the empire of effeminate Medes.