Read this paragraph from chapter 5 of the prince. 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. which option best states the main idea of the passage? former republics are more difficult to rule than hereditary states, and they will rebel if they are not tightly controlled. the strategies for controlling hereditary states and former republics are the same. hereditary states come with a history that must be deeply understood if a new prince is to control them easily. hereditary states never forget their former loyalties, so they are hard to control. answer is a

The correct answer is: Former republics are more difficut to rule than hereditary states, and they will rebel if they are not tighly controlled.

This is the only sentence that is completely related to the passage, it summarises the things mentioned in it.

First it states "Former republics are more difficult to rule than hereditary states", Machiavelli describes how in an hereditary  state under the rule of a prince, the people is used to being told what to do, to see things as permanent, they are not accustomed to changes. Imagine that before the prince ruled, a great number of his ancestors did, for the people it has become something natural. So they are in some way afraid of freedom, it is easy for them to follow instructions without questioning anything.

In the other hand in a republic, things change as people is used to have a more direct participation in the decisions taken. They are not used to just accept the rules but to help create them.  "...they will rebel if they are not tighly controlled." The author's suggestion is to destroy them as they won't accept the rule in an easy way, they will question everything and conspire against domination.

Here we can see that the strategies for the control of each type of state is different.

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