r/todayilearned • u/Ainsley-Sorsby • 3d ago

TIL Part of N.Machiavelli's diplomatic mission to Cesare Borgia included sending intel back to his government, even down to Borgia's personal habits. He noticed that he had inhuman energy and could go several nights working sleepless but occasionaly would "fall to his bed" and refuse to see anyone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesare_Borgia#Personal_life
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u/guel2500 3d ago

Yeah but he got to be a Duke because of nepotism and who his father was, even if after he did do some very noteworthy deeds. And also psychology is relative to the current times trying to diagnose a historical figure that existed 500 years ago with our knowledge of both history and psychology is futile

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u/starspider 3d ago

This is actually a practice done in medical school--diagnosing people who are long dead. It's considered to be a very worthy mental exercise that practices the process of gathering second hand information about symptoms from a patient struggling to communicate.

In 1996, Dr. Benitez, presented with a case study of a patient at a clinical pathological conference, concluded that the patient's symptoms and the timeline of his illness strongly suggested rabies.

The patient was later revealed to be Edgar Allen Poe.

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u/Mama_Skip 3d ago

No, no. Science too sciency. Big dum dums dont know things. Why not common sense? Smrt people no smrter than I.

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u/but_a_smoky_mirror 2d ago

Stupid science bitches couldn’t make I more smarter!!

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u/SyrupBather 2d ago

Scientists are liars! Sometimes