that they had to contribute like the rest; and that if this law had
then been in force they would not have gone to war with King Ladislaus,
or the Duke Filippo, both which enterprises had been not through
necessity, but to impoverish the citizens. The excitement was appeased
by Giovanni de' Medici, who said, "It is not well to go into things so
long past, unless to learn something for our present guidance; and if in
former times the taxation has been unjust, we ought to be thankful, that
we have now discovered a method of making it equitable, and hope that
this will be the means of uniting the citizens, not of dividing them;
which would certainly be the case were they to attempt the recovery of
taxes for the past, and make them equal to the present; and that he who
is content with a moderate victory is always most successful; for those
who would more than conquer, commonly lose." With such words as these
he calmed the disturbance, and this retrospective equalization was no
longer contemplated.

The war with the duke still continued; but peace was at length restored
by means of a legate of the pope. The duke, however, from the first
disregarded the conditions, so that the league again took arms, and
meeting the enemy's forces at Maclovio routed them. After this defeat
the duke again made proposals for peace, to which the Florentines
and Venetians both agreed; the former from jealousy of the Venetians,
thinking they had spent quite enough money in the aggrandizement of
others; the latter, because they found Carmignuola, after the defeat of
the duke, proceed but coldly in their cause; so that they thought it no
longer safe to trust him. A treaty was therefore concluded in 1428, by
which the Florentines recovered the places they had lost in Romagna;
and the Venetians kept Brescia, to which the duke added Bergamo and the
country around it. In this war the Florentines expended three millions
and a half of ducats, extended the territory and power of the Venetians,
and brought poverty and disunion upon themselves.

Being at peace with their neighbors, domestic troubles recommenced. The
great citizens could not endure the Catasto, and not knowing how to
set it aside, they endeavored to raise up more numerous enemies to
the measure, and thus provide themselves with allies to assist them in
annulling it. They therefore instructed the officers appointed to levy
the tax, that the law required them to extend the Catasto over the
pr