It is the straightforward, logical narrative, which always holds the interest of the reader that is the greatest charm of the _History_.

Of the other works of Machiavelli we may mention here his comedies the _Mandragola_ and _Clizia_, and his novel _Belfagor_.
After the downfall of the Republic and Machiavelli's release from prison in 1513, fortune seems never again to have favoured him.

It is true that in 1520 Giuliano de' Medici commissioned him to write his _History of Florence_, and he afterwards held a number of offices, yet these latter were entirely beneath his merits.

He had been married in 1502 to Marietta Corsini, who bore him four sons and a daughter.

He died on June 22, 1527, leaving his family in the greatest poverty, a sterling tribute to his honesty, when one considers the many opportunities he doubtless had to enrich himself.