Which option best states the main idea of the
passage?
Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of The Prince,
But when cities or countries are accustomed to live
under a prince, and his family is exterminated, they.
being on the one hand accustomed to obey and on
the other hand not having the old prince, cannot
agree in making one from amongst themselves, and
they do not know how to govern themselves. For
this reason they are very slow to take up arms, and
a prince can gain them to himself and secure them
much more easily. But in republics there is more
vitality, greater hatred, and more desire for
vengeance, which will never permit them to allow
the memory of their former liberty to rest; so that the
safest way is to destroy them or to reside there
O Former republics are more difficult to rule than
hereditary states, and they will rebel if they are
not tightly controlled.
O The strategies for controlling hereditary states
and former republics are the same.
o Hereditary states come with a history that must
be deeply understood if a new prince is to control
them easily
O Hereditary states never forget their former
loyalties, so they are hard to control.