Lehal Library

the prince destroy you. Rebelling, its people will always rally to the cry of freedom and the inspiration of their old institutions. It doesn’t matter how long they’ve been occupied or how benevo- lent the occupation, these things will never be forgotten. Whatever you do, whatever measures you take, if the popu- lation hasn’t been routed and dispersed so that its freedoms and traditions are quite forgotten, they will rise up to fight for those principles at the first opportunity; just as the Pisans did after a hundred years of Florentine dominion. But when a people has been accustomed to living under a ruler and the ruler’s family has been eliminated, then, since they’re used to obeying but now have no one to follow, they won’t be able to choose a new leader from among themselves nor to live in freedom without one, so they’ll be slower to rebel and an invader can win them over and gain their loyalty more easily. Republics, on the other hand, have more life in them, more hatred and a greater thirst for revenge. Their memory of old freedoms lingers on and won’t let them rest. In these cases, your only options are to reduce the place to rubble or go and live there yourself.