B. Me is your answer to the question.
Hope this help out ^^
He most likely is referring to that one of his family was killed/ as in murdered, suicide, or more! I'm sorry if I couldn't completely answer your question!
Answer:
<em>There are three means of holding a newly acquired state that is accustomed to freedom.</em>
Explanation:
In this excerpt Niccolò Machiavelli is arguing for the prince that no place already accustomed to freedom such as republics and democracies will accept to be ruled by a prince without trying to defeat him, so he tells there are three ways which the prince can conquer it, this is the main idea here.
It's True but I might be wrong so yeah
