henry frowde oxford university press warehouse amen corner, ec

38 INTRODUCTION.
Machiavelli himself had seriously suggested any such thing,
though he may not have been unwilling to quiet obtrusive
questioners with an answer which would enable them to pacify
their own consciences, and would dispense them from the
necessity of troubling him further about the purpose of his
book. Machiavelli was a consummate literary artist, and no
doubt felt that those to whom his work did not explain itself
when seriously studied hardly deserved a better answer than
that which, as we may perhaps assume, he gave them. Pole's
evidence is supported by Giovanni Matteo