I thought that Macchiavelli had written somewhere (possibly in The Prince) that to regain power, a ruler may resort to faking his own death, only to come back later on and retake power.  However, when I tried looking for where this was located, I couldn't really find anything, except for the false rumor that Macchiavelli had faked his own death.  But I am pretty sure that it was hypothetical advice that Macchiavelli gave; can someone point me to where it is?