Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of The Prince.

Which statement best summarizes the central idea of the
paragraph?

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 held in bondage by the Florentines.

1. The Spartans and the Romans are alike in how they
retain possession of newly acquired states.

2. The Spartans and the Romans are alike in their
approach to ruling newly acquired states.

3. Observing what happened to the Spartans and the
Romans shows that it is best to destroy a newly
acquired state that is accustomed to freedom.

4. Observing what happened to the Spartans and the
Romans shows that it is best to establish an oligarchy
in a newly acquired state that is accustomed to
freedom.