"Furthermore, human appetites are insatiable, for by nature we are so constituted that there is nothing we cannot long for, but by fortune we are such that of these things we can attain but few. The result is that the human mind is perpetually discontented, and of its possessions it is apt to grow weary. This makes it find fault with the present, praise the past, and long for the future; though for its doing so no rational cause can be assigned." [Preface to Book II]
It is strange this introduction, for his time. Machiavelli lives in a time of Humanists who devoutly worship thinkers of the past, most rarely quote modern writers but simply look to Rome as the perfect culmination humanity, the Golden Age never to be repeated but meant to be emulated etc. There was a great push to have old texts cleaned up and retranslated, the quest for the oldest most accurate Greek bible came as well, rejecting the corrupt Latin Vulgate in quest for a better. Ad nauseam, for everything from medicine, to war, to government, to politics, and Machiavelli commenting on Livy's history is no different really but he does put in a lot of modern examples also.
Anyway he is interesting because the introduction is spent saying that it is foolish to look to the golden age that it is not "perfect" the past is not better. The "Golden Age" is not better but the dingy bits, the not so good, are polished away by historians and even the exploits of defeated enemies are exaggerated to add to the glory of history. It is not so much truth as perspective.
That, like Old Men who look back on their pasts with glory are only looking back upon hope and since they can no longer appreciate the passions they did in their youth they are bitter and disappointed and unable to see that their age is no worse but only their judgement that has made the times seem poor and not the times themselves. Humanity is humanity, times are times, things do not change, but fortune shifts from province to province and it is not easy to see that there is an equal amount of evil and good at all times. It just is dispersed differently though the whims of fortune but the world is the same.
I shall leave you to judge his arguments as you will.
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