of his fall. 'As despotisms rise, grow, and are consolidated, so grows
in their midst the hidden element which must produce their dissolution
and ruin.' But the deepest ground of dislike has not been stated;
Florence was then the scene of the richest development of human
individuality, while for the despots no other individuality could be
suffered to live and thrive but their own and that of their nearest
dependents. The control of the individual was rigorously carried out,
even down to the establishment of a system of passports.

The astrological superstitions and the religious unbelief of many of
the tyrants gave, in the minds of their contemporaries, a peculiar
color to this awful and God-forsaken existence. When the last Carrara
could no longer defend the walls and gates of the plague-stricken
Padua, hemmed in on all sides by the Venetians (1405), the soldiers of
the guard heard him cry to the devil 'to come and kill him.'

* * *

The most complete and instructive type of the tyranny of the fourteenth
century is to be found unquestionably among the Visconti of Milan, from
the death of the Archbishop Giovanni onwards (1354). The family
likeness which shows itself between Bernabo and the worst of the Roman
Emperors is unmistakable; the most important public object was the
prince's boar-hunting; whoever interfered with it was put to death with
torture, the terrified people were forced to maintain 5,000 boar
hounds, with strict responsibility for their health and safety. The
taxes were extorted by every conceivable sort of compulsion; seven
daughters of the prince received a dowry of 100,000 gold florins
apiece; and an enormous treasure was collected. On the death of his
wife (1384) an order was issued 'to the subjects' to share his grief,