Read this passage from chapter 5 of The Prince.
What is Machiavelli's primary purpose in writing this
passage?
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
to inform readers about the history of Rome and Sparta
and how they built their empires
to inform readers about the fates of the cities conquered
by the Spartans and the Romans
to persuade readers that a conquering prince must
destroy a former republic if he hopes to hold it
to persuade readers that a republic will remember
freedom and someday rebel against a conqueror