Question

therefore, one who becomes a prince through the favour of the people ought to keep them friendly, and this he can easily do seeing they only ask not to be oppressed by him.... nabis, prince of the spartans, sustained the attack of all greece, and of a victorious roman army, and against them he defended his country and his government; and for the overcoming of this peril it was only necessary for him to make himself secure against a few, but this would not have been sufficient had the people been hostile. —the prince, niccolò machiavelli which statement explains the reasoning and evidence used to support the claim that a principality created by the people is easier to rule? the argument uses deductive reasoning and logical evidence in the form of a historical example to support the claim. the argument relies on logical evidence in the form of a historical example to draw a general conclusion that supports the claim. the argument uses both deductive and inductive reasoning that relies on anecdotal evidence to support the claim. the argument presents empirical evidence in the form of statistics to form deductive reasoning and support the claim.

Explanation:

The text first states a general claim (a prince made by the people should keep them friendly, as they only ask not to be oppressed) then uses the historical example of Nabis of Sparta to support it: Nabis defended his realm because he only needed to secure himself against a few, which would have failed if the people were hostile. This is deductive reasoning (starting with a general principle, then using a specific historical example as logical evidence to back the claim). The other options are incorrect: the reasoning is not inductive (it does not draw a general conclusion from the example, but uses the example to support an existing general claim), there is no anecdotal/statistical empirical evidence.

Answer:

A. The argument uses deductive reasoning and logical evidence in the form of a historical example to support the claim.