There is a tradition of attempting to solve outstanding problems in the interpretation of Machiavelli by studying the context (historical and linguistic) of his works, with a particular focus on Machiavellis use of such «keywords» as stato and virtù. What is often neglected is the extent to which Machiavelli intentionally diverged from the meaning and usage of his contemporaries precisely when it came to using such important terms. Since Machiavelli was trying to break free of his «context» contextual readings need to take care not to flatten his meaning. An examination of Machiavellis use of stato in combination with words denoting acquisition and conquest shows that it was Machiavelli who introduced the modern notion not of a centralized state, but of a state whose «end» or telos consists in unbounded growth, rather than the virtue or salvation of its citizens.