His tenure as a senior administrator in the Florentine Republic saw many more failures than successes; he was bounced into prison and then exile after the Medici returned to power; when he finally got back into their favor, he was commissioned to write a great history of the city, only to see the family booted once again and die himself a couple of months later. “That hallmark of his work, Fortune, shined upon him only posthumously.” – History Today