"And in this manner the old people of Florence
ordered itself; and for more strength of the people, they ordered and
began to build the palace which is behind the Badia,--that is to say,
the one which is of dressed stone, with the tower; for before there was
no palace of the commune in Florence, but the signory abode sometimes
in one part of the town, sometimes in another.
[Footnote 1: We will examine afterwards the heraldry of the trades,
chap, xi., Villani.]
107. "And as the people had now taken state and signory on themselves,
they ordered, for greater strength of the people, that all the towers
of Florence--and there were many 180 feet high [1]--should be cut down
to 75 feet, and no more; and so it was done, and with the stones of
them they walled the city on the other side Arno."
[Footnote: 120 braccia.]
108. That last sentence is a significant one. Here is the central
expression of the true burgess or townsman temper,--resolute
maintenance of fortified peace. These are the walls which modern
republicanism throws down, to make boulevards over their ruins.
109. Such new order being taken, Florence remained quiet for full two
months.
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