#Fernando Machiavelli

[skitskatdacat63]

Guys what do you think he's listening to?

[peoplesprincessgeorge]

F1 drivers favourite philosopher

(if they cared to philosophize)

charles - kirkegaard - twink4twink, catholic guilt4protestant guilt. the way he believes in ferrari is giving leap of faith.

fernando - nietzsche - obvious pick, the man believes in power and making yourself and being better than others.

alex - Buddha - no other choice, the man is a buddhist and i believe Buddha is a philosopher as much as a prophet so.

george - de beauvoir - i'm not saying this man is a feminist icon, however, i am saying he would deeply relate to making yourself into what the world needs and expects from you. "one isn't born a mercedes nmr 1 driver, but rather becomes one."

pierre - camus - aside from the song about suicide on his playlist, he get's that the world is absurd, and being at alpine is truly being sisyphus trying to be happy.

yuki - diogenes - the meaning of life being pleasure and pissing people off? yeah, yuki gets it.

carlos - aristotles - being unnecessarily detailed and stickler for rules? need i say more. (also i think i should be on top because i'm the best)

logan - smith - old school freedom, easy and straightforward, everything adds up with smith.

kevin - hegel - i don't understand either of them but there is a lot of chaos going on, maybe greatness if it could be translated in a way that makes sense for anyone else.

zhou - confucius - love and respect for china and the way of things.

lewis - sartre - we are so free it's a burden. keeps telling poor kids they could do anything they want if they just believed in themselves.

nico - kant - everything will be ok if you find and believe in your inner morale u know? also german.

bottas - rousseau - i can see bottas being a believer in humans being good, and nature being where we should be. the noble savage gives very finnish man vibes.

oscar - descartes - gotta cover the basics before you can progress. oscar sure thinks and sure is. also think he would really vibe with his interpretation of free will.

lando - machiavelli - the struggles of being a nepo baby is hard. but also he would like his humoristic and direct approach while tackling the most fundamental questions.

esteban - arendt - he loves superheroes, he would really like the concept of the banality of evil (and the implications that bad guys just need to be beat up)

lance - locke - as nepo baby he would appreciate the idea of the liberal constitutional democracy being fair, as a result of his relationship with his father he would believe in the idea of the tabula rasa.

max - hobbes - max intimately understands and respects the need for a hard, central authority figure. he also understands the underlying violence of human nature.

checo - augustine - checo is a catholic, that is all.

daniel - socrates - going around annoying people and being funny and never shutting up? it's a match.

[formulaocean]

Rereading The Prince for my diss research…you can not tell me that Fernando Alonso doesn’t alternate between Machiavelli and Sun Tzu for his nighttime reads.

[breitzbachbea]

💖🛒🎢

(And I wanna ask more, but this seems like enough for now.)

Ohhh, inch resting ones!

Fanfic Writer Emoji Asks

💖 What made you start writing?

Already answered here!

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

For obvious, be it very personal reasons, grief plays a major role in many of the things I write. Loss of a loved one, but also the mourning of chances not taken, of paths now seemingly blocked. (The latter has a lot of overlap though with me trying to not romanticize Organized Crime, so it's not just 'here is someone grieving for their past self and that is something normal we all go through', but 'Living this life will never make you happy and instead lock you into one of your potential worst selves').

I liked some good eating metaphors, even far before I knew what was going on metatextually, but now it's kicked into hyperdrive. Food, teeth, hunger, all those are things that often find their way into my writing, in minor ways.

I also love a good historical allusion, goddammit. To be fair, I don't know how many I've actually written into my writing, but I very often think about how I could represent characters with elements from myth or history. I adore a historical nickname, even if it is rather for the parent generation. Fernando's nickname being 'El Rey', and thusly Antonio at first being called 'El Principe', before the other senior Spanish mobsters realized he's pursueing a different style of business conduct and so he got stuck with 'El Conquistador'. Salvatore being known as 'Caesar' or 'Dionysius of Palermo'. Haunted houses, HUGE thing. The English office being a former Victorian era factory, Michele's house made to resemble a Roman villa, the O'Connel's house formerly being a house where in Industrial times, dozens of people lived in crammed conditions. Two of the Danish subordinates are directly based on two heroes from the medieval German epic 'Kudrun'. Dolcetto's cat is named Machiavelli and Lovino is the reason.

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

I can't judge this one on subject matter (Though I guess, as far as fucked up shit goes, La Sicilia dell'eterna notte gets disturbing very quick for something with less than 500 words). Therefore, I will go for the writing process. No Rest For The Wicked was written within a week, with no prior planning whatsoever and with a deadline for rarepairweek to meet. That was some topsy turvy shit. And the latter half of Italian Affairs, like the last third I guess, is a rollercoaster ride - both in its creation and within the actual text.

But the award has to go to The Amulet. I still have to have a call with Emi and iron out the last comments, before I print the 70 pages out and proofread them. And then I can finally, FINALLY upload them.

I started writing the first draft of the story on paper in January 2017. The idea of wanting to write something with my Greek and Turkish OCs had been ghosting around my head for a while. But I initially started writing because I was stuck on Italian Affairs and none of the characters would talk to me (e.g. everything I wrote in their voice sounded ooc), so I started writing something else to 'make them jealous'. Absolute pro tip btw, pivoting away from one story when you are stuck with another will do wonders for making you inspired for the first story again. Get out of that rut. Anyways, so I started writing that draft and then continued doing so when I had a free minute at school, until the story was done. I then typed up the draft and did a first round of revisions. I tried to find beta-readers for it, which also worked in 2019. But I still didn't publish it, because the beta never made it to the end. And then it sat and sat in my drafts, while I worked on other projects. My writing improved, my standards raised themselves. And I began to see why the story had always bugged me. I saw that I would have to scrap the whole thing and start from scratch, with extensive research and some soul-searching. And this is what I did - Before I was able to write part 3, I spent weeks hovering up information about the Turkish Republic and the 2014 election and so on. Only for it to vaguely matter for half a page in this 70 page epos. (But worth it, I love learning stuff). I eventually got dear Emi as a beta, who immensely helped to improve this text. Let's all hope that after 6 years of work, it'll finally see the light of day.

[alternity01]

Introduction to Me

Hi,

I am The One True Narrator, but you can call me OTN or The OTN. I've been writing for the better half of the last three years in private, and I believe that it's finally time I show the results of my efforts to the world. I write poems, songs and stories.

I'm interested in many things, so here's what you can expect to find at some point while looking through:

My poems.

Teasers of my stories before release.

Promotion of the stories themselves.

Me talking about my obsessions: Professional Wrestling, Worldbuilding, TV Shows, Animation, Novels, Video Games, Tabletop RPGs and more.

My goals every once in a while.

I'm currently working on Violet Hands & The Vermilion Masks of Pale Men (Shortened to Violet Hands). It is a mafia story set in a world I created known as Kuatoñembe—a place where the supernatural abilities are prominent, and concealment is second nature.

Plot Synopsis: Aidan is not a Machiavelli. He’s lived in their house for the better half of two decades, drank from the same cups, slept in the same beds, and bathed in the same bathtubs, yet he is still a Grimm. They—Aunty Ciseko and Uncle Fernando—make sure he never forgets his parents, so their legacy lives on through him. What legacy they may have had still baffles him at the age of 22, thoughts used up and brain spent. All he knows for sure is that they died working for the Machiavellis, and for that—in spite of their love and care—their legacies will end with Leonardo.

It will be a pleasure to burn them all.

The first chapter is currently out on ArchiveOfOurOwn (https://archiveofourown.org/works/45211666) and Wattpad (https://www.wattpad.com/1317705300-violet-hands-the-vermilion-masks-of-pale-men).

The second chapter is projected to release on 23/03/2023, and new chapters will be releasing approximately every month.

My poems are posted sporadically, but I'll be doing making sure all of them that I've written so far end up here.

I can also be found on other platforms like Twitter (http://twitter.com/TheOTN01) and Instagram (https://instagram.com/theotn01?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=).

That's all for now,

OTN.

[reposted-yura15cbx]

William Shakespeare, - Tutte le opere. Le.pdf William Shakespeare, - Tutte le opere. Tr.pdf William Shakespeare, - Tutte le opere. I drammi storici. Testo inglese a f.pdf William Shakespeare, F. Giacomantonio (editor) - Giulio Cesare. Testo inglese a fronte. Ediz. integrale-Newton Compton Editori (2011).epub William Shakespeare, Luca Fontana (editor) - La tragica storia di Amleto, principe di Danimarca-Il Saggiatore (2011).epub William Shakespeare, Nadia Fusini (editor) - La commedia degli errori. Testo inglese a fronte.pdf William Shakespeare, Northrop Frye, Fernando Cioni (editor) - Commedie romantiche-BUR Biblioteca Univ. Rizzoli (2007).epub Wystan Hugh Auden, Arthur Kirsch (editor) - Lezioni su Shakespeare-Adelphi (2006).epub Yves Bonnefoy - L'esitazione di Amleto. Scritti su William Shakespeare-Il Saggiatore (2023).epub

A. J. P. Smith_ Graham Handley (editor) - Shakespeare_ Henry IV, Part I-Bloomsbury Academic (1991).pdf A. Schmidt (editor) - Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 12 Othello. Macbeth. Cymbelin-De Gruyter (1897).pdf Andre Muller - Shakespeare ohne Geheimnis-Eulenspiegel-Verlag (2006).rar Bill Bryson_ Sigrid Ruschmeier - Shakespeare - Wie ich ihn sehe-Goldmann (Bertelsmann) (2016).epub Charles William Wallace - The evolution of English drama up to Shakespeare with a history of the first Blackfriars theatre.pdf Dr. Maria Salditt (auth.) - Hegels Shakespeare- Interpretation-Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg (1927).pdf DS Mayfield - Rhetoric and Contingency_ Aristotle, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Blumenberg-De Gruyter (2020).epub Ernst Stadler - Wielands Shakespeare-De Gruyter (1910).pdf Gerhard Muller-Schwefe - William Shakespeare_ Welt - Werk - Wirkung-De Gruyter (1978).pdf Grundzuge und Haupttypen der englischen Literaturgeschichte_ Teil II Von Shakespeare bis zur Gegenwart-De Gruyter (1914).pdf Gunter Reichert - Die Entwicklung und die Funktion der Nebenhandlung in der Tragodie vor Shakespeare-Max Niemeyer Verlag (1966).pdf Henry R. D. Anders - Shakespeare's books_ A dissertation on Shakespeare's reading and the immediate sources of his works-(1904).pdf Holmes, Barbara Ware - Charlotte Shakespeare-anrich verlag GmbH (1993_1990).epub Horst Oppel (auth.) - Stand und Aufgaben der Deutschen Shakespeare-Forschung 1952–1957-J.B. Metzler, Stuttgart (1960).pdf James Boyd (auth.) - Goethe und Shakespeare-VS Verlag fur Sozialwissenschaften (1962).pdf John D. Jump (editor) - Shakespeare_ Hamlet-Bloomsbury Academic (1968).pdf John Russell Brown - Shakespeare-Bloomsbury Academic (1991).pdf John Wain (editor) - Shakespeare_ Macbeth-Bloomsbury Academic (1994).pdf John Wain (editor) - Shakespeare_ Othello-Bloomsbury Academic (1994).pdf K. Elze - Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 6 Hamlet, Prinz von Danmark-De Gruyter (1869).pdf Otto Ludwig, Moritz Heydrich - Shakespeare-Studien-Hermann Gesenius (1901).djvu Rudolph Genee (editor)_ Adolf Menzel (editor) - William Shakespeare in seinem Werden und Wesen-De Gruyter (1905).pdf Sabin, Stefana_Shakespeare, William - Shakespeare auf 100 Seiten Reclams Universal-Bibliothek-Reclam Verlag (2014).epub Shakespeare William. - Romeo und Julia.pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 1 Konig Johann. Konig Richard der Zweite. Konig Heinrich der Vierte, erster Theil-De Gruyter (1871).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 1 Konig Johann. Konig Richard der Zweite. Konig Heinrich der Vierte, erster Theil-De Gruyter (1891).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 1 Konig Johann. Konig Richard II. Konig Heinrich IV. (1. Teil)-De Gruyter (1897).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 10 Antonius und Cleopatra. Ma? fur Ma?. Timon von Athen-De Gruyter (1891).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 11 Konig Lear. Troilus und Cressida. Ende gut, alles gut-De Gruyter (1897).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 2 Konig Heinrich der Vierte, zweiter Theil. Konig Heinrich der Funfte. Konig Heinrich der Sechste, erster Theil-De Gruyter (1897).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 3 Konig Heinrich der Sechste (2. Theil). Konig Heinrich der Sechste (3. Theil). Konig Heinrich der Dritte-De Gruyter (1891).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 4 Konig Heinrich der Achte. Romeo und Julia. Ein Sommernachtstraum-De Gruyter (1891).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 5 Julius Caesar. Was ihr wollt. Der Sturm-De Gruyter (1897).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 5 Julius Casar. Was ihr wollt. Der Sturm-De Gruyter (1891).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 7 Der Widerspenstigen Zahmung. Viel Larm um Nichts. Die Comodie der Irrungen-De Gruyter (1891).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 8 Coriolanus. Die Komodie der Irrungen. Die beiden Veroneser-De Gruyter (1870).pdf Shakespeare’s dramatische Werke_ Band 9 Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor. Titus Andronicus. Das Wintermarchen-De Gruyter (1891).pdf

[latristereina]

Foreign ambassadors and court observers of the day considered Isabella a beautiful woman. Like her Visigoth ancestors who had invaded Spain from the northern German territories a thousand years earlier, Isabella was a strawberry blonde—coloring especially admired in Castile because of its relative rarity.

Isabella's finely chiseled face and lively expression gave her a "comely aspect" that was not soon forgotten. One courtier even remarked that she was "the handsomest lady I ever beheld." According to her court secretary and historian of her reign, Fernando del Pulgar, Isabella was of medium height, "well formed in her person and the proportion of her limbs...very fair and blond: her eyes between green and blue, her look gracious and honest...her well-shaped face...beautiful and happy."

While such accolades sound like court flattery, all commentators agree that Isabella was "the most gracious in her manners." Whether beautiful or not, Isabella's youthful vitality, gentleness, and personal charisma made her extremely attractive to all who beheld her.

- Nancy Rubin Stuart, Isabella of Castile: The First Renaissance Queen

By then, Isabel had shown herself decisive, indeed resolute to the point of intransigence, and very serious, if with a gift for irony; she gave her trust sparingly but when she did, wholeheartedly.

- Peggy K. Liss, Isabel the Queen: Life and Times

Subsequent descriptions of Ferdinand verify that the prince was a vigorous and charming young man, who, if not exactly handsome by twentieth-century standards, was nevertheless quite attractive. An anonymous court historian later noted that Ferdinand had "marvelously beautiful, large slightly slanted eyes, thin eyebrows, a sharp nose that fit the shape and size of his face," a slightly full, sensual mouth and lips that were "often laughing." Although Ferdinand seems to have had a slight cast in his left eye, he had an attractive face framed by a high forehead. His well-shaped legs and an average height body were "most appropriate to elegant suits and the finest clothes." Ferdinand was also an athlete, "a great rider of the bridle and the jennet, and a great lance thrower and other activities which he performed with a great skill and a grace." The future king, Pulgar later observed, was also an excellent horseman who "jousted with ease and with so much skill that no one in his kingdom did it better...an avid sportsman and a man of good effort and much activity in war."

Ferdinand, like Isabella, was a compassionate individual who "felt sympathy for miserable people in unfortunate situations." Naturally affable and gregarious, he had a "singular grace, to wit, that all who spoke with him at once loved him and wished to serve him." Yet, despite his charm, Ferdinand was seemingly unflappable, a man in whom "neither anger nor pleasure could alter...very much." His personal habits were similarly conservative and he exercised "moderation in food and drink."

If little else, the quarrel enabled Isabella to discover a new side to her husband, a willful streak Ferdinand would subsequently hide from the world under a veneer of congeniality. But at seventeen Ferdinand was still a brash and unformed youth, who "wore the joy of his heart on his face." Although the prince had been "educated in the school of dissimulation" by his father Juan, he had not yet acquired the self-control that would subsequently enable him to "sacrifice his passions, and sometimes, indeed his principles, to his interests." Only gradually would Ferdinand develop the diplomatic skills that Machiavelli later used as a model for his depiction of the shrewdly opportunistic Renaissance prince.

- Nancy Rubin Stuart, Isabella of Castile: The First Renaissance Queen

[anghraine]

I had a very vivid dream of Jyn and Cassian being SPIES in 1500s Vatican while the Borgias schemes go on in the background, and all that proves is that I've been reading too much of your fanfic while off work with the flu (also bless you for writing so much fanfic)

Jyn and Cassian as Renaissance spies is the actual greatest, though!!!

And thank you very much, anon :)

[metvmorqhoses]

What are some of your favourite books? Sorry if you’ve already posted a list like this somewhere. Thank you very much!

the list is growing by day, so it’s nice to publicly update it now and then, dear. just note that the books which are following are just the ones off the top of my head.

the picture of dorian gray - oscar wilde

salomé - oscar wilde

de profundis - oscar wilde

the importance of being earnest - oscar wilde

the tragedy of macbeth - william shakespeare

the tragedy of hamlet, prince of denmark - william shakespeare

antony and cleopatra - william shakespeare

a midsummer night’s dream - william shakespeare

the tempest - william shakespeare

wuthering heights - emily brontë

jane eyre - charlotte brontë

the secret history - donna tartt

the goldfinch - donna tartt

remembrance of things past - marcel proust

faust - johann wolfgang von goethe

the tragical history of life and death of doctor faustus - christopher marlowe

paradise lost - john milton

la comedìa - dante alighieri

the prince - niccolò machiavelli

the letters of abelard and héloïse

the spanish tragedy - thomas kyd

the sorrows of young werther - johann wolfgang von goethe

blindness - josé saramago

the master and margarita - mikhail bulgakov 

thus spoke zarathustra - friedrich nietzsche

the birth of tragedy - friedrich nietzsche

the antichrist - friedrich nietzsche

the metamorphoses - ovid

the bacchae - euripides

iphigenia in aulis - euripides

the greek knowledge - giorgio colli

the marriage of cadmus and armonia - roberto calasso

the renaissance - walter pater

the invisible cities - italo calvino

the book of disquiet - fernando pessoa

the unbearable lightness of being - milan kundera

mrs dalloway - virginia woolf

the waves - virginia woolf

orlando - virginia woolf

lolita - vladimir nabokov

the great gatsby - francis scott fitzgerald 

the elegance of the hedgehog - mauriel barbery

the name of the rose - umberto eco

dracula - bram stocker

the phantom of the opera - gaston leroux

the count of montecristo - alexander dumas

the three musketeers - alexander dumas

the lord of the rings - j.r.r. tolkien

his dark materials - philip pullman

kushiel’s legacy - jacqueline carey

[thehippygipsy]

La superiorità del sognatore sta nel fatto che sognare è molto più pratico che vivere e che il sognatore estrae dalla vita un piacere molto più grande e molto più variato dell'uomo d'azione. Per dirlo meglio e più direttamente, è il sognatore l'uomo d'azione. Poiché la vita è essenzialmente uno stato mentale, dipende da noi valutare tutto quello che facciamo o pensiamo come valido per noi nella proporzione in cui lo riteniamo valido. Il sognatore è un emissario di banconote e le banconote che emette circolano nella città del suo spirito come quelle della realtà. Che mi importa se la cartamoneta della mia anima non sarà mai convertibile in oro, se non c'è mai oro nell'alchimia fittizia della vita? Dopo di noi viene il diluvio, ma è soltanto dopo tutti noi. Sono migliori e più felici coloro che, riconoscendo la finzione di tutto, fanno il romanzo prima che venga loro fatto e, come Machiavelli, indossano gli abiti di corte per scrivere tranquillamente in segreto.

Fernando Pessoa, Il libro dell'inquietudine di Bernardo Soares

[leer-reading-lire]

My favorite was Ética para Amador by Fernando Savater and my least favorite was The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.

They were actually required readings for Ethics and Philosophy class respectively. Ironically, our Literature teacher wouldn't tell us to read any book, just some kind of synopsis or textbook. 🙁

I’m curious! What were your favorite and least favorite books you had to read for English/Literature class in high school?

My favorite was 1984 by George Orwell and my least favorite was Moby Dick by he-who-shall-not-be-named (Melville, it’s Melville).

[skitskatdacat63]

How about 2 + 70 Vettonso?

Royal AU x Locked in a Room

Keke I'm assuming you're asking for boy king au? 🤭🤭 I feel like they often get locked in rooms together because everyone is so done with their bickering. Like oh noooo we lost the key, you guys are gonna have to wait in there. Together. Alone. Unfortunately the locksmith lives across Vienna. Btw he’s scared of horse carriages. Oh no.  Don’t worry, Mark makes sure to lock them in a room with a notable lack of sharp objects. I think when they’re away from everyone else, away from their situation, they feel a lot more comfortable with each other. They’re stuck in a room for the foreseeable future with no one else watching, what is the real point of putting up a front anymore in this situation; this is the man they’re going to be stuck with forever after all, just not in the confines of this specific room. They are both a very specific breed of ultra competitive and devoted, so even though they’re having a perfectly “normal” conversation about literature they enjoyed(Fernando: Machiavelli’s The Prince, he says it's a very good, relatable and interesting guide. Seb: Don Quixote, he told Fernando it reminds him of a certain someone), to everyone outside, it’s like “oh god what is that muffled yelling, are they scuffling???” When they’re not being scrutinized by the rest of the palace and court, I think they can have very calm constructive conversations about running the kingdom(no matter how seemingly competitive they sound.)  Also even if Seb cares less about image than Fernando, I think he still definitely puts up a front, it’s just a lot less negative than Fernando; so this situation gives them a situation where they can be their most free and open selves. Yeah yeah they spend time alone together often, like in their bedchamber, but that still has a notable time limit most of the time, and technically one of them could just dip at any moment. So everytime they get conveniently stuck in a room, they come out of it a lot closer and a lot more aligned, and a lot more fond of each other. I say “come out of the room” but more often than not, they’re found passed out, cuddled together on some surface, the furniture and their clothes in disaray. I’ll leave it up to your imagination how they ended up there, and what their state of undress is 🤭

[alternity01]

Violet Hands and the Vermilion Masks of Pale Men

Chapter I. “Auf Wiedersehen, mein Freund.”

Word Count: 1469

Blurb: Aidan Grimm has spent almost his whole life with the Ngela-Machiavelli family. They've eaten together, drunk together, bathed together, and they've even killed together. That's a bond not many can have—a bond not many deserve—but they're not family. And sure there's more than the Machiavellis, more than Leo and Aunty Ciseko and Uncle Fernando. There's Silenzio: Ayesha, Natasha, Giuseppe and Brianna. All great in their own right, all people he's grown with, but they were never his family.

His family is no more. A mission from his dear Aunty and Uncle led to them being snuffed out like the indigo flame from his indigo lighter and his home to burn. It is for that very reason that they must be extinguished alongside his best friend, his companion, his… Leo.

⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻⸻

The buzz of Aidan’s phone kicks him out of his restless rest. As his eyes welcome the new day, he turns his attention to his nightstand. Sunlight crept onto it as he slept for its own break, finding his phone comfortable enough, causing the screen’s brightness to match. With this almost divine call to action, he reads:

X: Do not disappoint me.

He doesn’t bother to open the chat itself and respond. He knows what he must do. Having sat up to sleep, his tail drags behind him on his way to their shared bathroom—a crescent at the back rightmost corner of the house. There—hanging in a plastic sleeve off of the towel warmer—is a dress. The dress in fact. Woven from darkness only found under the coldest of beds, one paired with gloves covering an area from his paws to halfway up his biceps. Acknowledging it with an expressionless nod, he runs himself a bath Leonardo-Nawa would consider scalding.

‘How can I say goodbye?’ he thinks, sitting from the edge of the bathtub. As if he didn’t spend the past couple of years contemplating and organising it all.

Aidan's hand dances within the water during his thoughts, guiding his whole body into the depths of the clear liquid. As if to cleanse himself of his vices one last time, he glides the gel against the skin of his chest and face and the wine–red fur of his limbs with strength and vigour. All while laying down in a way that mimics those experiencing eternal slumber. Whether it's Leo’s parents or his own parents he's mimicking more is unknown even to him. 

It’s not long before he finds his way back into the dress, a snug fit. Sliding his paws into flats, he fixes what he’s been told resembles a smile onto his face, and walks through Leonardo-Nawa’s bedroom door.

“You live, you laugh

Your time won’t pass

Today’s your day

(It is your day)

Only your day

(Only your day)

So we are here to say Happy Birthday,” Aidan sings softly to the sleeping kiweli, his voice moulding to add Aunty Ciseko and Uncle Fernando’s in perfect harmony.

Leonardo-Nawa dances around to the sombrely sung tune. It is only after it is done that he hugs him.

“I thank you with all my heart, darling. You understand this time has been hard for me,” utters Leonardo-Nawa in a loving whisper. “Might I add, you look absolutely stunning. As stunning as the day we met.”

“We met when we were barely able to speak,” he comments.

“Details, details. I… cared for you all the same. As you have cared for me. Thank you dearly.” He guides him into a miniature waltz.

“It’s nothing.” He keeps his steps.

Hand in hand, he spins him out despite his shorter build—an act that never fails to impress Aidan. He reverses it in a way that Leo finds himself into his open chest.

“With you, I’ll celebrate every moment as if it’s my last.” Leonardo-Nawa raises his head from his chest. “Till death do us part.”

Aidan found himself in the play pit nestled in the centre of the Ncana Institute for Education and Extracurricular Experience’s kindergarten section. His pale skin had already grown purple from the fall. Specifically, his chest—one he’d rather have torn out than receive anymore pain in that moment. And his arms—with his fur torn out in patches. At that point, what’s now a phantom of a memory stood above him, readying to deliver more punishment. That is until Leonardo-Nawa pounced on them, causing cuts to form.

“Who’s next?” he roared to the stunned crowd. His paintbrush-esque tail decorated the air around him with its rapid movements.

Aidan looked up at Leo in awe. His—at the time—short chocolate curls flowed in the wind. His stance was like the icons of legend, turning his unimpressive figure statue-esque in his eyes.

He turned to him and nodded to himself as he asked “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he whispered in response, bruised and aching.

“Listen up! I’m sick and tired of the way you guys treat, Aido.” Leo proclaimed, stepping on the chest of one of his attackers. “Quit messing with my love, or I’ll keep messing with you. Nothing can get between us. Till death do us part.”

It was then that he pressed his lips against his cheek in what the young one thought was nothing more than the cementing of the friendly gesture at the time. A far more naive Aidan felt himself grow rosy, having held onto Leo’s waist in a warm embrace.

A smile pops onto his face.

“Now, darling. How long must I wait for your surprises?”

“It’ll all be over soon.” Words he nearly chokes out.

“Are you alright?”

“Clearing my throat.”

“Go drink some water, darling. I’ll be waiting in here.”

“Freshening up?”

“Naturally.” He kisses him on the cheek.

Aidan slinks away, his expression flattening before he’s able to even open the door he came in from. His strides are wide, never spending longer in there than he needs to. Turning around, he tests his lock. The door shakes and scratches and fails to move. Perfect. He squats down by his bed, his primary exit already closed. Under it rests a duffle bag so dark it would be safe to assume his dress and it were woven from the same fabrics. Within it are hemp gloves, hiding the skeleton of a flash drive and a palm-sized remote. Aidan’s wallet, Aidan’s phone, Aidan’s bedroom keys. The ones for the bathroom follow once his gloves are on.

Once out of the room, halfway down a corridor he could’ve sworn was a quarter of its current length last night, he hears “Aidan, darling?”

“Yes?” He neglects to turn around.

“I miss you already.”

His heart stretches the skin of his chest forward with every beat. He tastes iron. He turns his head to face the ceiling.

Keeping his eyes to the sky, Aidan responds “I’ll miss you too.”

Finally, past their rooms and past their home gym, he exits the hallway. Air returns to his lungs. He turns right. The spiral marble stairway awaits him below, so he borrows the movement of an accomplished gymnast to carry him down. Nary a breath nor movement goes to waste.

Now off of the stairs, an incessant bitter fog clings to the back of his throat, diffusing into him. Forbidding himself any water, he makes his way across the polished wooden floor towards a seldom visited elevator tucked behind the folds of plain sight. Not a sound as he goes down, and not a sound as he comes out.

Doors sparsely litter the suffocating, outwardly unfinished hallway. Aidan never understood how a place so beautiful could house something so ugly. The room itself, its back wall lined from top to bottom by a giant monitor, is quite modern. In the middle of it is a decagonal table, and while he isn't the tallest—nor is he the shortest—member of Silenzio, it reaches his knee. Squatting, he inserts the corpse of the usb into the primary tower. That's all it really takes. Eleven days. An entire week of thirty two hours each gone like the memories of an ageing patient. Cyber security the likes of which both Ayesha and Giuseppe would show their disappointment with. Back into his glove it goes.

Having left the room without a trace, he takes a moment in the elevator to recognise that the air doesn’t taste the same anymore. However, he doubts he'll ever be able to tell what it is, nor does he think he wants to. Aidan takes his last steps into the foyer, ready to breach the threshold between now and the rest of his life.

By the door is a picture of them all. One taken too long ago for him to remember, but he does recognise it. He only looks at it for a second, yet he can feel Leo’s violet eyes stare through him all the same. This is not the time to be plagued with tears. One step with the force of a million.

Despite the heat, the wind nibbles on his skin. Awaiting him is what can only be described as an armoured family minivan. Aidan enters. Whereas his mind scratches and claws at him, his body alone leads the drive out of the estate, proving to him the husk he’s become. Faster than Leo’s suspicions, but slow enough to ensure they don't creep up on him. The house is now a mere smudge within his rear view mirror, and the remote finds itself in his rigid hand.

“I'm sorry, I loved you,” he whispers, finger flicking the switch.

If only Bri could see the fireworks, because at least in her ignorance she could enjoy the show.

[ihtimallertukendi]

Kendi elimle aylarca uğraşıp birçoğunu tek tek araştırıp özetlerine falan bakıp bir bölümünü farklı ufak listeleri alıp düzenleyip hazırladığım kitap listem <3

1. Schopenhauer - Say yayınları dizisi 2. Schopenhauer - İsteme ve Tasarım olarak dünya 3. Schopenhauer - Aşkın metafiziği   4. Rudiger Safranski - Felsefenin yaban yılları( Schopenhauer biyografisi) 5. Nietzsche - Böyle buyurdu zerdüşt  √ 6, Nietzsche - Putların Alacakaranlığında 7. Nietzsche - İyinin ve kötünün ötesinde 8. Nietzsche - Ecce homo 9. Nietzsche - Trajedyanın doğuşu 10. Soren Kierkegaard - Korku ve Titreme 11. Soren Kierkegaard - kahkara benden yana 12. Soren Kierkegaard - Ölümcül hastalık umutsuzluk 12. Dostoyevski - Karamazov Kardeşler 13. Dostoyevski - Ecinniler 14. Dostoyevski - Yeraltından notlar 15. Albert Camus - Mutlu ölüm 16. Albert Camus - Yabancı 17. Albert Camus - Defterler 18. Jean Paul Sartre - Bulantı 19. Jean Paul Sartre - Yaşanmayan zaman 20. Jean Paul Sartre - Sözcükler 21. Jean Paul Sartre - Varlık ve hiçlik 22. Irvin Yalom - Nietzsche Ağladığında 23. Irvin Yalom - Bugünü Yaşama arzusu 24. Platon - Sokrates’in savunması ( uzun versiyonunu öneririm) √ 25. Platon - Devlet 26. Aristoteles - Poetika 27. Cicero - Yaşlılık üzerine 28. Cicero - Ölüm üzerine 29. Seneca - Teselliler 30. Augustinus - İtiraflar 31. Boethius - Felsefenin tesellisi 32. Epiktetos - Düşünceler ve Sohbetler 33. Fernando Pessoa - Huzursuzluğun kitabı 34. Cesare Pavese - Yaşama Uğraşı 35. L. Ferdinand Celine - Gecenin sonuna yolculuk 36. Baruch Spinoza - Ethika 37. David Hume - İnsanın doğası üzerine inceleme 38. David Hume -  Din üzerine 39. Voltaire - Candide 40. J. J. Rousseau - Toplum sözleşmesi 41. J. J. Rousseau - Yalnız gezerin düşleri 42. J. J. Rousseau - Emile 43. J. J. Rousseau -İnsanlar arasında eşitsizliğin kaynağı 44. Sigmund Freud - Psikanaliz üzerine 45. Sigmund Freud - Mutlu olma ihtimalimiz 46. Ludwig Wittgenstein - Felsefi Soruşturmalar 47. Bertrand Russell - Sorgulayan denemeler 48. Peter Singer - Hayvan Özgürleşmesi 49. George Orwell - 1984 50. George Orwell - Hayvan Çiftliği 51. Hermann Hesse - Bozkırkurdu 52. Hermann Hesse - Demian 53. Hermann Hesse - Siddharta 54. Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar - Saatleri ayarlama enstitüsü 55. Lermontov - Zamanımızın bir kahramanı 56. Aldous Huxley - Cesur yeni dünya 57. Anatole France - Kırmızı zambak 58. Cemil Meriç - Sosyoloji notları 59. Cemil Meriç - Bu ülke 60. Charles Bukowski - Kadınlar 61. Charles Bukowski - Ekmek arası 62. Charles Bukowski - Pis Moruğun Notları 63. Chuch Palahniuk - Dövüs kulübü 64. Chuck Palahniuk - Gösteri peygamberı 65. Jack Kerouac - Yolda 66. Tolstoy - İtiraflarım 67. Tolstoy - Anna Karenina 68. Tolstoy - Savaş ve Barış 69. Tolstoy - İnsan ne ile yaşar 70. Edgar Allen Poe - Seçme şiirler 71. Edgar Allen Poe - Seçme öyküler 72. Eduardo Galeano - Biz hayır diyoruz 73. Eduardo Galeano - Aynalar 74. Elias Canetti - Körleşme 75. Jose Ortega y Gasset - Sevgi üzerine 76. Max Horkheimer - Akıl tutulması 77. George Bernard Shaw - Gülen düşünceler 78. Sabahattin Ali - Kürk mantolu madonna 79. Sabahattin Ali - İçimizdeki şeytan 80. Herakleitos - Fragmanlar 81. Ralph Waldo Emerson - İnsanın görkemi 82. Richard Dawkins - Tanrı yanılgısı 83. Richard Dawkins - Kör saatçi 84. Richard Dawkins - Gen bencildir 85. Richard Dawkins - Ataların hikayesi, hil yayınları 86. Richard Dawkins - Yeryüzündeki en büyük gösteri 87. Jack London - Martin Eden 88. Marcel Proust - Kayıp Zamanın İzinde (2 cilt) 89. Vladimir Jankelevitch - Ölümü düşünmek 90. Slavoj Zizek - Acı çeken tanrı 91. Marquis de Sade - Yatak odasında felsefe 92. Simone de Beauvoir - Denemeler 93. Simone de Beauvoir - Kadın (serisi) 94. Virginia Woolf - Kendime ait bir oda 95. Virginia Woolf - Mrs. Dalloway 96. Michel Foucault - Cinselliğin tarihi 97. Erasmus - Deliliğe övgü 98. Paul Lafargue - Tembellik hakkı 99. Milan Kundera - Varolmanın dayanılmaz hafifliği 100. Franz Kafka - Milena’ya mektuplar √ 101. Franz Kafka - Dava 102. Franz Kafka - Aforizmalar 103. Oscar Wilde - Dorian Gray’in portresi 104. Sadık Hidayet - Kör baykuş 105. Carl Sagan - Cosmos (evrenin sırları)√ 106. Carl Sagan - Kozmik Bağlantı 107. Carl Sagan - Cennetin Ejderleri 108. Carl Sagan - Milyarlarca ve milyarlarca 109. Alfred Adler - İnsanı tanıma sanatı 110. Walter Sinnott Armstrong - Tanrısız ahlak 111. Orhan Hançerlioğlu - Düşünce Tarihi 112. Nigel Warburton - Felsefenin kısa tarihi √ 113. Alain de Botton - Felsefenin Tesellisi 114. Peter Watson - Fikirler Tarihi 115. Emil Michel Cioran - Doğmuş olmanın sakıncası üzerine 116. Emil Michel Cioran - Çürümenin kitabı 117. Ivan Goncarov - Oblomov 118. Mark Daniels - Dünya mitolojisi 119. Gündüz Vassaf - Cehenneme Övgü 120. Victor E. Frankl - İnsanın anlam arayışı 121. Montaigne - Denemeler √ 122. Wilhem Reich - Dinle Küçük 123. Karl Marx - Das kapital 124. Karl Marx - Komünist manifesto 125. Stephen Hawking - Büyük tasarım √ 126. Stephen Hawking - Ceviz kabuğunda ki evren 127. Stephen Hawking - Zaman ve uzayın doğası 128. Dante Aligiheri - İlahi komedya 129. Charles Darwin - Türlerin kökeni 130. Charles Darwin - İnsanın Türeyişi 131. Andreas Vesailus - İnsan vücudu üzerine 7 kitap 132. Claude Levstrauss - Hüzünlü dönenceler 133. Thomas more - Ütopya 134. Dave Goldberg - Evren kullanma kılavuzu 135. John Fardon - Astronomi bilmeniz gereken herşey 136. William Golding - Sineklerin tanrısı 137. Sun Tzu - Savaş sanatı 138. Edward O. Wilson - Doğanın gizli bahçesi 139. Neil Shubin - İçimizdeki Evren 140. E. Segal - İnsan nasıl insan oldu 141. Steven Weinberg - İlk üç dakika 142. John Gribbin - Derin basitlik 143. Lester R. Brown - Yer kürenin en güzel tarihi 144. Stephen Jay Gould - Pandanın baş parmağı 145. Douglas Adams - Otostopçunun galaksi rehberi 146. Frank Ashall - Olağanüstü buluşlar 147. Lawrance M. Krauss - Hiç yoktan bir evren 148. Eugenie C. Scott - Evrim mi? Yaratılışçılıkmı? 149. Brian Greene - Evrenin dokusu 150. Brian Greene - Evrenin Zarafeti 151. Micheal Shermer - Bilimin sınır bölgeleri 152. Micheal Shermer - İnanan beyin 153. Pico Della Mirandola - İnsanın onuru üzerine 154. Giovanni Boccacio - Decameron 155. Lorenzo Valla - Zevk üzerine 156. Botticelli - Venüs'ün doğuşu 157. Bill Bryson - Hemen herşeyin kısa tarihi 158. Peter Macinnis - 100 keşifler tarihteki en büyük buluşlar 159. Kenneth  W. Ford - Göremediğimiz dünya hakkında bilmemiz gereken herşey 160. Goethe - Faust 161. Gogol - Ölü canlar 162. Daniel Coleman - Sosyal zeka 163. Jose R. Dos Santos - Tarının formülü 164. Pierre Bourdieu - Bilim toplumsal kullanımları 165. Pierre Bourdieu - Seçilmiş metinler 166.Richard P Feynman - Fizik yasaları üzerine 167. Machiavelli - Prens 168. Rudolf Steiner - Gizli bilim 169. Champbell, Reece - Biyoloji 170. Ernest Mayr - Biyoloji budur 171. Ormiston Walker - 100 Fen ve teknoloji deneyi 172. Steve Parker - 100 Adımda bilim 173. Peter V. Brett - Göreliliğin anlamı 174. Pascal Acot - Bilim tarihi 175. Jared Diamond - Tüfek, mikrop ve çelik 176. Eddi Anter - Ben benim 177. Emile Zola - Germinal 178. Evrim - Douglas J. ,Palme yayınları 179. Evrimsel Analiz - Scott Freeman, Jon C. Herron, Palme Yayınları 180. Evrim Kuramı - John Maynard Smith, Evrim Yayınları 181. Evrim Atlası - Çağlar Sunay, Peter Barrett, Douglas Palmer, Muzaffer Özgüleş, İş Bankası Yayınları 182. Herkes İçin Evrim, Darwin’in Teorisi Hayata Bakış Açımızı Nasıl Değiştirir? -  David Sloan Wilson, Metiş Yay. 183. Charles Darwin: Evrim Devrimi -  Rebecca Stefoff, TÜBİTAK 184. Darwin Ne Yaptı? - Öner Ünalan, Papirüs Yay. 185. Dünü ve Bugünüyle Evrim Teorisi -  Evrensel Yay. 186. Türlerin Kökeni (Resimli Uyarlama) -  Michael Keller, Versus Kit. 187. İçimizdeki Balık - Neil Shubin, NTV Yay. 188. Maymundan mı Geldik? - Kolektif - Bilim ve Ütopya Kitaplığı 189. 50 Soruda Darwin ve Evrim Kuramı -  Haluk Ertan, Bilim ve Gelecek Kit. 190. 50 Soruda Yaşamın Tarihi - Deniz Şahin, Bilim ve Gelecek Kit. 191. Dersimiz Evrim - İlhan Akalın, Yurt Kitap Yay. 192. Harun Yahya Safsatası ve Evrim Gerçeği - Bilim ve Gelecek Kit. 193. Evrim Bilimi ve Yaratılış Efsanesi: Neyin Gerçek ve Neden Önemli Olduğunu Bilmek - Ardea Skybrek, Yordam Kit. 194. Evrim ve Yaratılışçılık - Michael Shermer, Varlık 195. Evrim Kuramı ve Bağnazlık - Cemal Yıldırım, Bilim ve Gelecek Kit. 196. Bilim ve Yaratılışçılık - Amerikan Ulusal Bilimler Akademisi Görüşü, Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi (TÜBA) 197. Charles Darwin ve Evrim Tartışmaları - Bill Price, Kalkedon Yay. 198. Yüzyılın Davası - Edward J. Larson, İzdüşüm 199. Seksüel Seçme - Charles Darwin, Onur Yay. 200. Sevişen Beyin: Eş bulma süreci insan doğasını nasıl belirledi? - Geoffrey Miller, NTV 201. Kızıl Kraliçe: Cinsellik ve İnsan Doğasının Evrimi - Matt Ridley, Yapı Kredi Yay. 202. İnsanın Türeyişi - Charles Darwin, Gün Yay. / Onur Yay. 203. Neredeyse Bir Balina - Steve Jones, Evrensel Yay. 204. Evrim Serüveni - Sedat Ölçer, Metiş Yay. 205. Dünya'nın En Güzel Tarihi - Hubert Reeves, Joel De Rosnay, Yves Coppens, İş Bankası Yay. 206. Hayvanların En Güzel Tarihi - Pascal Picq, Jean-Pierre Digard, Boris Cyrulnik, Karine Lou Matignon, İş Bankası Yay 207. Bitkilerin En Güzel Tarihi - Jacques Girardon, Jean-Marie Pelt, Marcel Mazover, Teodore Monod, İş Bankası Yay. 208. 50 Soruda Yerin Evrimi - Mehmet Sakınç, Bilim ve Gelecek Kit. 209. Yerkürenin En Güzel Tarihi - Lester R. Brown, Andre Bahic, Paul Tapponier, Jacque Girardon, İş Bankası Yay. 210. Yaşamın Tüm Çeşitliliği - Stephen Jay Gould 211. Hayvan Zihni: Hayvanlarda Akıl Yürütme ve Problem Çözme Becerisi Üzerine - James. L. Gould, Carol Grant Gould, TÜBİTAK 212. Darwin ve Sonrası Doğa Tarihi Üzerine Düşünceler - Stephen Jay Gould, TÜBİTAK 213. Darwin ve Darwincilik - Patrick Tort, Dost Yay. 214. Darwin ve Evrimin Bilimi - Yapı Kredi Yayınları 215. Kalıtım ve Evrim - Ali Demirsoy, Meteksan 216. Evrimin Öyküsü - Vural Yiğit, Evrim Yay. 217. Köken - Vural Yiğit, Evrim Yay. 218. Gen Çeviktir - Matt Ridley, Boğaziçi Üniveritesi Yay. 219. Genom: Bir Türün Yirmi Üç Bölümlük Otobiyografisi - Matt Ridley, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Yay. 220. Türlerin Kökeni - Janet Browne, Versus 221. Pandanın Başparmağı - Stephen Jay Gould, Versus 222. Olağandışı Yaşamlar - James L. Gould, Carol Grant Gould, TÜBİTAK 223. İçimizdeki Maymun: Biz Neden Biziz? - Frans de Wael, Metiş Bilim 224. Çıplak Maymun - Desmond Morris, İnkılap Yay. 225. Çıplak Kadın - Desmond Morris, İnkılap Yay. 226. Çıplak Erkek: Erkek Vücudu Üzerine Bir İnceleme - Desmond Morris, NTV Yay. 227. Charles Darwin’in Özyaşam Öyküsü -  Francis Darwin, Daktylos Yay. 228. Charles Darwin - Katrin Hahnemann, İş Bankası Kültür Yay. 229. Darwin ve Beagle Serüveni - Alan Moorehead, TÜBİTAK 230. Charles Darwin: Bir Doğabilimcinin Evrimi - Richard Milner, Evrim Yay 231. Biyolojik Evrim Kuramının Arkasındaki Yaşam - Charles Robert Darwin, İş Bankası Yay. 232. Charles Darwin - Alan Gibbons, İş Bankası Yay. 233. Charles Darwin Kimdi? - Deborah Hopkinson, Beyaz Balina Yay. 234. Darwin, Galip Ata - Bilim ve Ütopya Kit. 235. Meraklısına Darwin - Pascal Picq, Yapı Kredi Yay. 236. Bilim İnsanlarımız Darwin’i Selamlarken - Alper Dizdar, Yazılama Yay. 237. Darwin Sizi Seviyor: Doğal Seçilim ve Dünyanın Yeniden Büyülenmesi - George Levine, Metiş Bilim 238. Darwin ve Beagle Gemisi’yle Yolculuğu - Felicia Law, Optimist Yay 239. Üçlü Sarmal: Gen, Organizma ve Çevre - Rihard Lawontin, çev. Ergi Deniz Özsoy, TÜBİTAK 240. Cennetten Akan Irmak: Yaşama Darwinci Bir Bakış - Richard Dawkins, Varlık Yay. 241. Doğanın Gizli Bahçesi - Edward O. Wilson, TÜBİTAK 242. Biyoloji Felsefesi - Elliott Sober, İmge 243. Süreç Kuram ve Kavram Olarak Evrim - Yaman Örs, Kaynak Yay. 244. Biyolojide Diyalektik Yöntem - İ.T. Frolov, Toplumsal Dönüşüm Yay. 245. Darwin Kuramı Seçme Yazılar, Eleştiriler - Charles Darwin, Pan Yay. ve TÜBİTAK 246. Evren ve Evrim - Cihan Türkoğlu, Doruk Yay. 247. Evrim, Bilim ve Eğitim - Üniversite Konseyleri, Nazım Kitaplığı 248. Evrim Adamı - Roy Lewis, Dost 249. Evrim Kuramı Üzerine Sorular -  Charles Devillers, Henri Tintant, İletişim yay. 250. İnsan ve Hayvanlarda Beden Dili - Charles Darwin, Gün Yay. 251. Modern İnsanın Kökeni - Roger Lewin, TÜBİTAK 252. Göl İnsanları - Richard Leakey, Roger Lewin, TÜBİTAK 253. 50 Soruda İnsanın Tarih Öncesi Evrimi -  Prof. Dr. Metin Özbek, Bilim ve Gelecek Kit.

[latristereina]

Nothing makes a prince so famous as great achievements and setting a fine example. We have in our time Ferdinand of Aragon, the present King of Spain. He can almost be called a new prince, because he has risen, by success and glory, from being an insignificant king to be the most famous king in our part of the world. If you examine his deeds, you will find them all great and some of them extraordinary. When he first became king, he attacked Granada, and this was the foundation of his success. He did this quietly at first and without any fear of others standing against him, because he kept the minds of the barons of Castile occupied in thinking of the war and not anticipating any innovations. Thus, they did not perceive that by these means he was acquiring power and authority over them. He was able with the money of the Church and of the people to sustain his armies, and by that long war to lay the foundation for the military skill which has since distinguished him. In addition, always using religion as a justification, in order to undertake greater schemes, he devoted himself with great cruelty to driving out and clearing his kingdom of the Moors. There could not be a more admirable example, nor one more rare. Using this same reason, he attacked Africa, he began fighting in Italy, and he has finally attacked France. Thus his achievements and designs have always been so remarkable that they have kept the minds of his people in admiration and kept them occupied with carrying them out. His actions have arisen in such a way, one out of the other, that people have never been given enough time to work steadily against him.

- Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

Subsequent descriptions of Ferdinand verify that the prince was a vigorous and charming young man, who, if not exactly handsome by twentieth-century standards, was nevertheless quite attractive. An anonymous court historian later noted that Ferdinand had "marvelously beautiful, large slightly slanted eyes, thin eyebrows, a sharp nose that fit the shape and size of his face," a slightly full, sensual mouth and lips that were "often laughing." Although Ferdinand seems to have had a slight cast in his left eye, he had an attractive face framed by a high forehead. His well-shaped legs and an average height body were "most appropriate to elegant suits and the finest clothes." Ferdinand was also an athlete, "a great rider of the bridle and the jennet, and a great lance thrower and other activities which he performed with a great skill and a grace." The future king, Pulgar later observed, was also an excellent horseman who "jousted with ease and with so much skill that no one in his kingdom did it better ... an avid sportsman and a man of good effort and much activity in war." Ferdinand, like Isabella, was a compassionate individual who "felt sympathy for miserable people in unfortunate situations." Naturally affable and gregarious, he had a "singular grace, to wit, that all who spoke with him at once loved him and wished to serve him." Yet, despite his charm, Ferdinand was seemingly unflappable, a man in whom "neither anger nor pleasure could alter very much." His personal habits were similarly conservative and he exercised "moderation in food and drink."

Eventually she and Ferdinand came to believe that the contract they signed before their wedding naming Carrillo their most trusted counselor was a mistake. Advice, Ferdinand would later observe, did not constitute ultimate authority. He would not be ruled by any counselor. If little else, the quarrel enabled Isabella to discover a new side to her husband, a willful streak Ferdinand would subsequently hide from the world under a veneer of congeniality. But at seventeen Ferdinand was still a brash and unformed youth, who "wore the joy of his heart on his face." Although the prince had been "educated in the school of dissimulation" by his father Juan, he had not yet acquired the self-control that would subsequently enable him to "sacrifice his passions, and sometimes, indeed his principles, to his interests." Only gradually would Ferdinand develop the diplomatic skills that Machiavelli later used as a model for his depiction of the shrewdly opportunistic Renaissance prince.

- Nancy Rubin Stuart, Isabella of Castile: The First Renaissance Queen

In conclusion, it is not easy to imagine the king himself. Possibly, he was a solitary and tough person, with little time for pleasure, and a lot of dedication to the office of governance. His family life was marked by death or distance of his beloved ones, a shortage of affections that, in the end, seem to have been centered on his grandson, Fernando. His household was relatively simple - there barely are any inventories of his goods - there were a few men whom he trusted completely, and his daily life was subjected to the harshness of an itinerant life, even though he had frequently stayed at the same place for a few weeks or months, at times not in his own palace or residence, but using the one of some magnate. He was almost always short of resources, insecure in his position of Aragonese king who depended on the Castilians, and subjected to the enormous expense of wars. It seems he did not leave treasury unlike former monarchs. And, in short, his personal side seemed to merge with the political one, to the extreme that was uncommon, even among the kings of those times.

- Miguel Ángel Ladero Quesada, Los últimos años de Fernando el Católico 1505-1517

@eyes-painted-with-kohl, @blackvisenya, @catalinaofaragon

[jaimeariansencespedes]

EL DIARIO DE INÉS MUÑOZ - AÑO 1513 - ANTECEDENTES --

1513 - 25 de Septiembre. El Pacífico Mar del Sur. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, conquistador nacido e Jerez de Caballeros, en Extremadura, parte de Santa María, en Panamá, para tratar de encontrar un mar hacia el oeste, por el Darién, ha recibido esta información del cacique de la región Tumaco, quien le informa que al sur de este mar existía un Imperio muy rico y muy poderoso, después de una larga y difícil travesía arriba al otro lado del Istmo llegando al divisar un mar al que denominó Mar del Sur, se ha descubierto para el Mundo el Océano Pacífico.

Vasco Núñez de Balboa, nació en Jerez de los Caballeros, actual provincia de Badajoz en 1475 y falleció en Acla, actual Panamá, 15 de enero de 1519, fue un adelantado, explorador, gobernante y conquistador español. Fue el primer europeo en divisar el océano Pacífico desde un acantilado de su costa oriental y el primer europeo en haber fundado una ciudad estable en solares continentales del Nuevo Mundo.

1513 - 29 de Septiembre. El Descubrimiento. Después de cuatro días de camino, recién los Sesenta y siete hombres de Vasco Nuñez de Balboa pueden tocar el nuevo mar descubierto, en emotiva ceremonia toma posesión del Mar del Sur.

1513. La Florida. El capitán Juan Ponce de León descubre la península de la Florida, recibe esta denominación por haber llegado el día de Pascua Florida.

Juan Ponce de León y Figueroa, nació en Santervás de Campos, el 8 de abril de 1460 y falleció en La Habana, julio de 1521, adelantado, fue un explorador y conquistador español, primer gobernante de Puerto Rico y descubridor de la Florida (actual Estados Unidos).

En la cultura popular se asocia su viaje de descubrimiento a Florida con la búsqueda de la fuente de la eterna juventud, sin embargo no hay datos históricos que corroboren esa versión, que probablemente fue un mito posterior.

De ascendencia noble, fue paje de Fernando el Católico en la corte de Juan II de Aragón. Estuvo en el ejército durante diez años y combatió en la conquista del reino de Granada junto a su tío Rodrigo cuando contaba 32 años. Granada fue tomada el 2 de enero de 1492 y Juan participó en la marcha triunfal de entrada en la ciudad. Otra de las personas que acudió a esa marcha fue Cristóbal Colón, que descubriría el Nuevo Mundo el 12 de octubre de ese mismo año. Ponce de León, si bien al terminar la Reconquista podría haberse desplazado a las tierra de León, para continuar con una vida dentro del sistema feudal, prefirió participar en la empresa española en ultramar.

1513. Esposas Reales. El Inca Huayna Capac llega Huaylas y establece lazos de parentesco con los caciques del lugar, para de esta manera aumentar la seguridad del poder en su Imperio. Toma por esposas a dos ñustas jóvenes y hermosas, primero se casa con la hija de Pomapacha llamada Contarhuacho y luego con la hija de Guacachillac llamada Añas Colque. De la unión con el Inca Contarhuacho tuvo primero un hijo que falleció de niño y luego una hija llamada Quispe Sisa que se convertiría en Inés Huaylas Yupanqui, la primera esposa del conquistador Francisco Pizarro y madre de la famosa mestiza Francisca Pizarro nacida en 1534.

1513. Maquiavelo se retiró a su casa de campo en el Albergaccio, cerca de San Casiano, y fue allí donde a lo largo de todo el año, escribió El Príncipe tomando como modelo a nada menos que a Cesar Borgia. En ese trabajo literario Maquiavelo volcó toda la experiencia que había acumulado en el curso de los quince años en que había servido a la a república, y toda la amargura que le provocó su fracaso político.

Nicolás Maquiavelo, nació en Florencia el 3 de mayo de 1469 y falleció en Ibídem el 21 de junio de 1527, fue un diplomático, funcionario, filósofo político y escritor italiano, considerado padre de la Ciencia Política moderna. ​ Fue así mismo una figura relevante del Renacimiento italiano. En 1513 escribió su tratado de doctrina política titulado El príncipe, póstumamente publicado en Roma en 1531.

Nació en el pequeño pueblo de San Casciano in Val di Pesa, a unos 15 km de Florencia, el 3 de mayo de 1469, hijo de Bernardo Machiavelli, un abogado perteneciente a una empobrecida rama de una antigua familia influyente de Florencia, y de Bartolomea di Stefano Nelli, ambos de familias cultas y de orígenes nobiliarios, pero con pocos recursos a causa de las deudas del padre.

Entre 1494 y 1512 estuvo a cargo de una oficina pública y visitó varias cortes en Francia, Alemania y otras ciudades-estado italianas en misiones diplomáticas.

En 1512 fue encarcelado por un breve periodo en Florencia, y después fue exiliado y despachado a San Casciano. Murió en Florencia en 1527 y fue sepultado en la Santa Cruz.

1513. (1510) Nace en Trujillo, España, Gonzalo Pizarro el menor de los hermanos del conquistador del Perú, Francisco  Pizarro. Gonzalo Pizarro fue un conquistador español, hermano paterno menor de Francisco Pizarro y uno de los principales actores de la Conquista del Perú y de las guerras civiles entre los conquistadores.

Encabezó la Gran Rebelión de Encomenderos de 1544 contra la corona española, en protesta por la dación de las Leyes Nuevas. Fue nombrado Gobernador del Perú (1544-1548). Derrotado por Pedro de la Gasca, en la batalla de Jaquijahuana (9 de abril de 1548), fue apresado, enjuiciado, condenado a muerte y decapitado. El Encuentro de Dos Mundos - jaimeariansen@outlook.com