Machiavelli had two different but interrelated objectives. His personal objective was to return to his active duty in the state. His second objective arose from rejection of the past. According to Machiavelli, the Italian city states, including Florence, often had instability for that reason and they obviously tended to decline. As a result, they were dominated by external powers such as Spain, France or the Papacy. Machiavelli’s second objective was of political: to ensure stability and to free entire Italy from any kind of secular or religious external control.