its dictates, that is, tried to stamp it out. Thence the victorious
communes came to be surrounded by conquered communes, which they dared
not trust with any degree of power; and which, instead of being so many
allies in case of invasion, were merely focuses of revolt, or at best
inert impediments. Similarly, when the communes enlarged, and found it
indispensable to delegate special men, who could attend to political
matters more thoroughly than the other citizens, they were constantly
falling under the tyranny of their _captains of the people_, of their
_gonfalonieri_, and of all other heads of the State; or else, as in
Florence, they were frightened by this continual danger into a system of
perpetual interference with the executive, which was thus rendered
well-nigh helpless. To this rule Venice forms the only exception, on
account of her exceptional position and history: the earliest burghers
turning into an intensely conservative and civic aristocracy, while
everywhere else the feudal nobles turned into petty burghers, entirely
subversive of communal interests. Venice had the yet greater safeguard
of being protected both from her victorious enemies and her own
victorious generals; who, however powerful on the mainland, could not
seriously endanger the city itself, which thus remained a centre of
reorganization in time of disaster. In this Venice was entirely unique,
as she was unique in the duration of her institutions and independence.
In the other towns of Italy, where there existed no naturally governing
family or class, where every citizen had an equal share in government,
and there existed no distinction save that of wealth and influence,
there was a constant tendency to the illegitimate preponderance of every
man or every family that rose above the average; and in a democratic,
mercantile State, not a day passed without some such elevation. In a
systematic, consolidated State, where the power is in the hands of a
hereditary sovereign or aristocracy, a rich merchant remains a rich
merchant, a victorious general remains a victorious general, an eloquent
orator remains an eloquent orator; but in a shapeless, flunctuating
democracy like those of Italy, the man who has influence over his
fellow-citizens, whether by his money, his soldiers, or his eloquence,
necessarily becomes the head of the State; everything is free and
unoccupied, only a little superior strength is required to push into it.
Cosimo de' Medici has