was thoroughly hated by the great, as the destroyer of their power,
while the opulent among the people envied him, for they thought he
possessed too great authority. This became very evident upon the first
occasion that presented itself.

It happened that a man from the class of the people was killed in a
riot, in which several of the nobility had taken a part, and among the
rest Corso Donati, to whom, as the most forward of the party, the death
was attributed. He was, therefore, taken by the captain of the people,
and whether he was really innocent of the crime or the Capitano was
afraid of condemning him, he was acquitted. This acquittal displeased
the people so much, that, seizing their arms, they ran to the house of
Giano della Bella, to beg that he would compel the execution of those
laws which he had himself made. Giano, who wished Corso to be punished,
did not insist upon their laying down their arms, as many were of
opinion he ought to have done, but advised them to go to the
Signory, complain of the fact, and beg that they would take it into
consideration. The people, full of wrath, thinking themselves insulted
by the Capitano and abandoned by Giano della Bella, instead of going
to the Signory went to the palace of the Capitano, of which they made
themselves masters, and plundered it.

This outrage displeased the whole city, and those who wished the ruin of
Giano laid the entire blame upon him; and as in the succeeding Signory
there was an enemy of his, he was accused to the Capitano as the
originator of the riot. While the case was being tried, the people took
arms, and, proceeding to his house, offered to defend him against the
Signory and his enemies. Giano, however, did not wish to put this burst
of popular favor to the proof, or trust his life to the magistrates, for
he feared the malignity of the latter and the instability of the former;