What text evidence supports Machiavelli’s primary purpose to persuade readers that a conquering prince must destroy a former republic if he hopes to hold it? Select three options.

Machiavelli argues that a former republic remains dangerous because its people remember their liberty and may use it as a rallying cry for rebellion (D). He supports the need to destroy it by explaining that Rome held Capua, Carthage, and Numantia by destroying them (C), while the Florentines failed to keep control of Pisa when they did not destroy it (E). Together, these examples connect the danger of remembered liberty to the consequences of destroying—or sparing—a republic.

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