On Exile

On Exile, in Latin Commentationes Florentinae de exilo, is a 1440 work of political philosophy by Francesco Filelfo, written to examine the problem of exile and how to cope with a demonized and defamed public image. It depicts a group of Florentine noblemen and humanists driven from their city by Cosimo de' Medici, discussing the sufferings imposed by exile, such as poverty and loss of reputation, and the best way to endure and even profit from them, against the backdrop of the Medici family's seizure of control of the government from the aristocrats and oligarchs who had governed the Republic of Florence for two centuries. The dialogue, set in Florence prior to the departure of the exiled aristocrats Palla Strozzi and Rinaldo degli Albizzi, is composed of three books interspersed with brief comic interludes, and includes a discussion of the nature of the happy life and the philosophy of Epicurus.