Key Arguments

• Enumerates three retention methods explicitly: destruction, residence, or controlled autonomy under tribute with a local governing few.
• A government created by the new prince will recognize its dependence on his protection and therefore act to maintain him.
• Free cities, if preserved at all, are more easily controlled through their own citizens than otherwise.
• Historical examples indicate the third method was attempted by the Spartans (creating oligarchies in Athens and Thebes) but ultimately failed.

Source Quotes

When a newly acquired State has been accustomed, as I have said, to live under its own laws and in freedom, there are three methods whereby it may be held. The first is to destroy it; the second, to go and reside there in person; the third, to suffer it to live on under its own laws, subjecting it to a tribute, and entrusting its government to a few of the inhabitants who will keep the rest your friends. Such a Government, since it is the creature of the new Prince, will see that it cannot stand without his protection and support, and must therefore do all it can to maintain him; and a city accustomed to live in freedom, if it is to be preserved at all, is more easily controlled through its own citizens than in any other way.

The first is to destroy it; the second, to go and reside there in person; the third, to suffer it to live on under its own laws, subjecting it to a tribute, and entrusting its government to a few of the inhabitants who will keep the rest your friends. Such a Government, since it is the creature of the new Prince, will see that it cannot stand without his protection and support, and must therefore do all it can to maintain him; and a city accustomed to live in freedom, if it is to be preserved at all, is more easily controlled through its own citizens than in any other way. We have examples of all these methods in the histories of the Spartans and the Romans.

We have examples of all these methods in the histories of the Spartans and the Romans. The Spartans held Athens and Thebes by creating oligarchies in these cities, yet lost them in the end. The Romans, to retain Capua, Carthage, and Numantia, destroyed them and never lost them.

Key Concepts

• there are three methods whereby it may be held. The first is to destroy it; the second, to go and reside there in person; the third, to suffer it to live on under its own laws, subjecting it to a tribute, and entrusting its government to a few of the inhabitants who will keep the rest your friends.
• Such a Government, since it is the creature of the new Prince, will see that it cannot stand without his protection and support, and must therefore do all it can to maintain him;
• a city accustomed to live in freedom, if it is to be preserved at all, is more easily controlled through its own citizens than in any other way.
• The Spartans held Athens and Thebes by creating oligarchies in these cities, yet lost them in the end.

Context

Chapter 5 opens by specifying governance options for newly acquired free cities or provinces, framing later historical comparisons (Sparta and Rome) to evaluate their reliability.