Alexander, Caesar, Trajan and Hadrian were so many wanderers, now in the East, now in the West, seldom at home. Marco Polo, Ludovico di Varthema, Pinzón, Cadamosto, Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Vasco da Gama, Drake, Cavendish, Olivier van Noort and Schouten won all their honour through journeys undertaken voluntarily.

But you say that such men travel voluntarily, whereas we are compelled to leave as wrongdoers. Yet know that Plato’s saying is true: “The stranger is the particular concern of God the avenger.” God takes special care of strangers; when a man lacks friends and allies, he will deserve better and find greater favour with God and people. Besides the pleasure of travel, the variety of things to see will compensate for exile. So many distinguished men have been banished—Cicero, Aristides, Themistocles, Theseus, Codrus and others—that they will lend it sufficient honour. Read Pietro Alcionio’s two books on this subject.