In a famous letter to his friend Francesco Vettori, Machiavelli describes reading books as having a conversation with the great minds of the past. He says that they speak with him, and he asks them reasons for their words and actions, and they answer him.
What kind of conversation would Machiavelli have with one of the philosophers we studied previously (Plato, Xenophon, Augustine, Al-Kindi)? How would they question or criticize Machiavelli, or vice-versa.
Feel free to have fun with this… maybe Machiavelli is visited by a ghost, or perhaps he hits his head and is hallucinating or dreaming. It is up to you, but be sure to get to the philosophy pretty quickly, don’t spend too much time setting up the scenario.