he Captains of the Parts and the sect of the Guelphs were thus become
powerful; for every one honored them for fear of being admonished; and
most particularly the leaders, who were Piero degli Albizzi, Lapo da
Castiglionchio, and Carlo Strozzi. This insolent mode of proceeding was
offensive to many; but none felt so particularly injured with it as
the Ricci; for they knew themselves to have occasioned it, they saw
it involved the ruin of the republic, and their enemies, the Albizzi,
contrary to their intention, became great in consequence.

On this account Uguccione de' Ricci, being one of the Signory, resolved
to put an end to the evil which he and his friends had originated, and
with a new law provided that to the six Captains of Parts an additional
three should be appointed, of whom two should be chosen from the
companies of minor artificers, and that before any party could be
declared Ghibelline, the declaration of the Capitani must be confirmed
by twenty-four Guelphic citizens, appointed for the purpose. This
provision tempered for a time the power of the Capitani, so that the
admonitions were greatly diminished, if not wholly laid aside. Still the
parties of the Albizzi and the Ricci were continually on the alert to
oppose each other's laws, deliberations, and enterprises, not from a
conviction of their inexpediency, but from a hatred of their promoters.

In such distractions the time passed from 1366 to 1371, when the
Guelphs again regained the ascendant. There was in the family of the
Buondelmonti a gentleman named Benchi, who, as an acknowledgment of his
merit in a war against the Pisans, though one of the nobility, had been
admitted among the people, and thus became eligible to office among the
Signory; but when about to take his seat with them, a law was made that
no nobleman who had become of the popular class should be allowed to
assume that office. This gave great offense to Benchi, who, in union
with Piero degli Albizzi, determined to depress the less powerful of
the popular party with ADMONITIONS, and obtain the government for
themselves. By the interest which Benchi possessed with the ancient
nobility, and that of Piero with most of the influential citizens, the
Guelphic party resumed their ascendancy, and by new reforms among the
PARTS, so remodeled the administration as to be able to dispose of the
offices of the captains and the twenty-four citizens at pleasure. They
then returned to the ADMONITIONS