and his people, with whatever belonged to him,
should quit the city in safety; that he should renounce all claim, of
whatever kind, upon Florence, and that upon his arrival in the Casentino
he should ratify his renunciation. On the sixth of August he set out,
accompanied by many citizens, and having arrived at the Casentino he
ratified the agreement, although unwillingly, and would not have kept
his word if Count Simon had not threatened to take him back to Florence.
This duke, as his proceedings testified, was cruel and avaricious,
difficult to speak with, and haughty in reply. He desired the service of
men, not the cultivation of their better feelings, and strove rather
to inspire them with fear than love. Nor was his person less despicable
than his manners; he was short, his complexion was black, and he had a
long, thin beard. He was thus in every respect contemptible; and at the
end of ten months, his misconduct deprived him of the sovereignty which
the evil counsel of others had given him.

CHAPTER IX

Many cities and territories, subject to the Florentines, rebel--Prudent
conduct adopted upon this occasion--The city is divided into
quarters--Disputes between the nobility and the people--The bishop
endeavors to reconcile them, but does not succeed--The government
reformed by the people--Riot of Andrea Strozzi--Serious disagreements
between the nobility and the people--They come to arms, and the nobility
are subdued--The plague in Florence of which Boccaccio speaks.

These events taking place in the city, induced all the dependencies
of the Florentine state to throw off their yoke; so that Arezzo,
Castiglione, Pistoia, Volterra, Colle, and San Gemigniano rebelled. Thus
Florence found herself deprived of both her tyrant and her dominions at
the same moment, and in recovering her liberty, taught her subjects
how they might become free. The duke being expelled and the territories
lost, the fourteen citizens and the bishop thought it would be better to
act kindly toward their subjects in peace, than to make them enemies by
war, and to show a desire that their subjects should be free as well as
themselves. They therefore sent ambassadors to the people of Arezzo, to
renounce all dominion over that city, and to enter into a treaty with
them; to the end that as they could not retain them as subjects, they
might make use of them as friends. They also, in the best manner they
were able, agreed with the other places that