n of small,
independent states within the walls.

Comparatively little is known of the practice of popular government,
although most of these cities were in the beginning republican and had
popular elections. In the twelfth century freedom was granted, in most
instances, to the peasantry. There were a parliament, a republican
constitution, and a secret council (_credenza_) that assisted the
consuls. There was also a great council called a senate, consisting of
about a hundred representatives of the people. The chief duty of the
senate was to discuss important public measures and refer them to the
parliament for their approval. In this respect it resembled the Greek
senate (_boule_). The secret council superintended the public works
and administered the public finance. These forms of government were
not in universal use, but are as nearly typical as can be found, as the
cities varied much in governmental practice. It is easy to see that
the framework of the government is Roman, while the spirit of the
institutions, especially in the earlier part of their history, is
affected by Teutonic influence. There was a large number of these free
towns in Italy from the close of the twelfth to the beginning of the
fourteenth century. At the close of this period, the republican phase
of their government declined, and each was ruled by a succession of
tyrants, or despots (_podestas_).

In vain did the people attempt to regain their former privileges; they
succeeded only in introducing a new kind of despotism in the captains
of the people. The cities had fallen {334} into the control of the
wealthy families, and it mattered not what was the form of government,
despotism prevailed. In many of the cities the excessive power of the
despots made their reign a prolonged terror. As long as enlightened
absolutism prevailed, government was administered by upright rulers and
judges in the interests of the people; but when the power fell into the
hands of unscrupulous men, the privileges and rights of the people were
lost. It is said that absolutism, descending from father to son, never
improves in the descent; in the case of some of the Italian cities it
produced monsters. As the historian says: "The last Visconti, the last
La Scalas, the last Sforzas, the last Farnesi, the last
Medici--magnificent promoters of the humanities as their ancestors had
been--were the worst specimens of the human race." The situation of
government