s, so that in the course of
each year thirty-six of the citizens were elected to this magistracy.
The outgoing priors, associated with twelve of the leading citizens, two
from each of the _sestieri_ or wards of the city, chose their
successors. Neither continuity nor steady vigor of policy was possible
with an administration so shifting and of such varied composition, which
by its very constitution was exposed at all times to intrigue and to
attack. It was no wonder that Florence lay open to the reproach that her
counsels were such that what she spun in October did not reach to
mid-November ('Purgatory', vi. 142-144). His election to the priorate
was the most important event in Dante's public life. "All my ills and
all my troubles," he declared, "had occasion and beginning from my
misfortunate election to the priorate, of which, though I was not worthy
in respect of wisdom, yet I was not unworthy in fidelity and in age."[2]

The year 1300 was disastrous not only for Dante but for Florence. She
was, at the end of the thirteenth century, by far the most flourishing
and powerful city of Tuscany, full of vitality and energy, and beautiful
as she was strong. She was not free from civil discord, but the
predominance of the Guelf party was so complete within her walls that
she suffered little from the strife between Guelf and Ghibelline, which
for almost a century had divided Italy into two hostile camps. In the
main the Guelf party was that of the common people and the industrious
classes, and in general it afforded support to the Papacy as against the
Empire, while it received, in return, support from the popes. The
Ghibellines, on the other hand, were mainly of the noble class, and
maintainers of the Empire. The growth of the industry and commerce of
Florence in the last half of the century had resulted in the
establishment of the popular power, and in the suppression of the
Ghibelline interest. But a bitter quarrel broke out in one of the great
families in the neighboring Guelf city of Pistoia, a quarrel which raged
so furiously that Florence feared that it would result in the gain of
power by the Ghibellines, and she adopted the fatal policy of compelling
the heads of the contending factions to take up their residence within
her walls. The result was that she herself became the seat of discord.
Each of the two factions found ardent adherents, and, adopting the names
by which they had been distinguished in Pistoia, Florence