Read this passage from chapter 5 of The Prince.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.
The passage compares how the Spartans and Romans tried to control conquered cities and contrasts their results. The Spartans established oligarchies or allowed Greek cities to remain free, but they lost control; the Romans dismantled cities and kept them. This makes the main structure compare and contrast.
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