ment, which, in
697 A.D., elected a doge for life. The doges possessed most of the
attributes of kings, became despotic and arbitrary, and finally ruled
with absolute sway, so that the destinies of the republic were
subjected to the rule of one man. Aristocracy established itself, and
the first families struggled for supremacy.

Venice was the oldest republic of modern times, and continued the
longest. "It was older by 700 years than the Lombard republics, and it
survived them for three centuries. It witnessed the fall of the Roman
Empire; it saw Italy occupied by Odoacer, by Charlemagne, and by
Napoleon." Its material prosperity was very great, and great buildings
remain to this day as monuments of an art and architecture the
foundations of which were mostly laid before the despots were at the
height of their power.

_Government of Florence_.--There was a resemblance between Florence and
Athens. Indeed, the former has been called the {336} Athens of the
West, for in it the old Greek idea was first revived; in it the love
for the artistic survived. Both cities were devoted to the
accumulating of wealth, and both were interested in the struggles over
freedom and general politics. Situated in the valley of the Arno,
under the shadow of the Apennines, Florence lacked the charm of Venice,
situated on the sea. It was early conquered by Sulla and made into a
military city of the Romans, and by a truce the Roman government and
the Roman spirit prevailed in the city. It was destroyed by the Goths
and rebuilt by the Franks, but still retained the Roman spirit. It was
then a city of considerable importance, surrounded by a wall six miles
in circumference, having seventy towers.

After it was rebuilt, the city was governed by a senate, but finally
the first families predominated. Then there arose, in 1215, the great
struggle between the papal and the imperial parties, the Ghibellines
and the Guelphs--internal dissensions which were not quieted until
these two opposing factions were driven out and a popular government
established, with twelve _seignors_, or rulers, as the chief officers.
Soon after this the art guilds obtained considerable power. They
elected _priors_ of trades every two months. At first there were seven
guilds that held control in Florence; they were the lawyers, who were
excluded from all offices, the physicians, the bankers, the mercers,
the woollen-drapers, the dealers in foreign cloths, and th