Analyzing Ideas, Structure, and Purpose in Machiavelli’s The Prince
Question 8 • ELA 10B - 2023
Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of The Prince.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 trut
Answer
T
The Spartans and the Romans are alike in how they retain possession of newly acquired states.
T
The Spartans and the Romans are alike in their approach to ruling newly acquired states.
O
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.
O
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.
Explanation
Machiavelli contrasts the Spartans, who allowed Athens and Thebes to keep their freedom under oligarchies and later lost them, with the Romans, who dismantled cities and kept control. He concludes that a state accustomed to freedom cannot be safely held unless it is destroyed. Therefore, choice C best expresses the lesson drawn from the examples.
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