Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of The Prince.
There are, for example, the Spartans and the Romans. The Spartans held Athens and Thebes, establishing there an oligarchy: nevertheless they lost them. The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them. They wished to hold Greece as the Spartans held it, making it free and permitting its laws, and did not succeed. So to hold it they were compelled to dismantle many cities in the country, for in truth there is no safe way to retain them otherwise than by ruining them. And he who becomes master of a city accustomed to freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be destroyed by it, for in rebellion it has always the watchword of liberty and its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will ever cause it to forget. And whatever you may do or provide against, they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are disunited or dispersed, but at every chance they immediately rally to them, as Pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by the Florentines.
What idea is stressed in the passage?
the desire for liberty
the establishment of an oligarchy
the dismantling of an acquired state
the tendency toward rebellion
Answers
The Prince. There are, for example, the Spartans and the Romans. The Spartans held Athens … ... The Spartans held Athens and Thebes, establishing there an oligarchy: nevertheless they lost them. The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, dismantled them, and did not lose them.
Answer:
The dismantling of an acquired state.
Explanation:
Machiavelli in his political treatise "The Prince" advocates for a ruthless tactic in acquiring land or kingdoms. Giving ideas on how rulers must do to retain or keep expanding their empires, this piece shocked the European people but also became an influential idea of it's time.
The above provided excerpt is from Chapter 5 of the treatise titled "Concerning the way to Govern Cities or Principalities Which Lived Under their Own Laws Before they were Annexed". The lines stressed the dismantling of an acquired state which is the way for bringing about the oligarchical power. He talks about the Romans and Spartans maneuver of dismantling a place first in acquiring it and the subsequent establishment of power over it.