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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 watchword of liberty and

its ancient privileges as a rallying point, which neither time

nor benefits will ever cause it to forget.