Note 128 — CABINET CYCLOPÆDIA. (continued 6)

Critics have given themselves the trouble to imagine and explain a mysterious meaning here, and to suppose that Machiavelli's wood is an allegory of the political labyrinth: but there is no foundation for this idea. Machiavelli never recurred to allegory to express his political opinions; and we have twenty letters of his to Vettori, discussing the intentions and enterprises of the various European princes, without any attempt at mystery or covert allusion. At the same time we have also twenty letters full of anecdotes as insignificant as those of the wood. He was fond of minute details, and lively, though trifling, stories concerning himself and his friends.