Question

read this passage from chapter 5 of the prince.
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
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.
how does text structure help machiavelli convey his
central idea?
○ machiavelli identifies the problem of the florentines
holding pisa after conquest and offers the solution
of disuniting the city to keep it.
○ machiavelli uses reasoning and an example as
evidence in an argumentative structure to support
his claim that a prince must destroy a city that is
accustomed to freedom if he wants to hold it.
○ machiavelli uses a compare-and-contrast structure
to contrast a city that rebels with one that does not,
thus supporting his central idea that a prince must
destroy a city that is accustomed to freedom.
○ machiavelli identifies freedom as a cause of
rebellion in a conquered city and describes how the
new prince can subdue the rebellion by destroying
the city.

Explanation:

The passage first uses logical reasoning to argue that a prince who conquers a free city without destroying it will face rebellion, then uses the example of Pisa under Florentine rule as evidence. This argumentative structure (reasoning + evidence) supports the central claim about destroying such a city to hold it. The other options are incorrect: the first misframes the Pisa example as a specific problem-solution for Florence, not the general central idea; there is no compare-and-contrast structure in the passage; the fourth option focuses only on rebellion cause and subdual, not the full argumentative structure of reasoning plus evidence.

Answer:

Machiavelli uses reasoning and an example as evidence in an argumentative structure to support his claim that a prince must destroy a city that is accustomed to freedom if he wants to hold it.