THE PRINCE
by Nicolo Machiavelli
Translated by W. K. Marriott
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CHAPTER V
Concerning The Way To Govern Cities
Or Principalities Which Lived Under Their Own Laws Before They Were
Annexed
WHENEVER those states which have been
acquired as stated have been accustomed to live under their own laws
and in freedom, there are three courses for those who wish to hold
them: the first is to ruin them, the next is to reside there in
person, the third is to permit them to live under their own laws,
drawing a tribute, and establishing within it an oligarchy which will
keep it friendly to you. Because such a government, being created by
the prince, knows that it cannot stand without his friendship and
interest, and does its utmost to support him; and therefore he who
would keep a city accustomed to freedom will hold it more easily by
the means of its own citizens than in any other way.
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 watch-word of liberty and its ancient
privileges as a rallying point, which neither time nor benefits will
ever cause it to forget. And what ever you may do or provide against,
they never forget that name or their privileges unless they are
disunited or dispersed but at every chance they immediately rally to
them, as Pisa after the hundred years she had been held in bondage by
the Florentines. (Note
1)
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. (Note
2)