banishment of
citizens; to which must be added, as scarcely less pernicious, the
frequent new laws and regulations which were made for defense of the
government, all of which were put in execution to the injury of those
opposed to their faction. They appointed forty-six persons, who,
with the Signory, were to purge the republic of all suspected by the
government. They admonished thirty-nine citizens, ennobled many of the
people, and degraded many nobles to the popular rank. To strengthen
themselves against external foes, they took into their pay John
Hawkwood, an Englishman of great military reputation, who had long
served the pope and others in Italy. Their fears from without were
increased by a report that several bodies of men were being assembled
by Charles of Durazzo for the conquest of Naples, and many Florentine
emigrants were said to have joined him. Against these dangers, in
addition to the forces which had been raised, large sums of money were
provided; and Charles, having arrived at Arezzo, obtained from the
Florentines 40,000 ducats, and promised he would not molest them. His
enterprise was immediately prosecuted, and having occupied the kingdom
of Naples, he sent Queen Giovanna a prisoner into Hungary. This victory
renewed the fears of those who managed the affairs of Florence, for
they could not persuade themselves that their money would have a greater
influence on the king's mind than the friendship which his house had
long retained for the Guelphs, whom they so grievously oppressed.

This suspicion increasing, multiplied oppressions; which again, instead
of diminishing the suspicion, augmented it; so that most men lived
in the utmost discontent. To this the insolence of Giorgio Scali
and Tommaso Strozzi (who by their popular influence overawed the
magistrates) also contributed, for the rulers were apprehensive that by
the power these men possessed with the plebeians they could set them at
defiance; and hence it is evident that not only to good men, but even to
the seditious, this government appeared tyrannical and violent. To put a
period to the outrageous conduct of Giorgio, it happened that a servant
of his accused Giovanni di Cambio of practices against the state, but
the Capitano declared him innocent. Upon this, the judge determined to
punish the accuser with the same penalties that the accused would have
incurred had he been guilty, but Giorgio Scali, unable to save him
either by his authority or