Which detail best supports the idea that princes who
do not destroy or occupy their principalities will not
keep them?
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.
-The Prince,
Niccolò Machiavelli
"The Spartans held Athens and Thebes,
establishing there an oligarchy."
"The Romans, in order to hold Capua, Carthage,
and Numantia, dismantled them."
"They wished to hold Greece as the Spartans held
it, making it free and permitting its laws."
"He who becomes master of a city accustomed to
freedom and does not destroy it, may expect to be
destroyed by it.