First Sentence

"Shortly after making his public debut as a clerk in 1494, the political fortunes of Niccolo Machiavelli skyrocketed dramatically when he acquired the pompous title "secretary to the chancery of the commune of Florence" The list of people he served as an envoy reads like a 16th-century Who's Who, but his connections were not enough to save him from exile and torture when his infant republic collapsed and the Medici family brought Machiavelli up on conspiracy charges."