Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of The Prince.
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
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
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