In one place there is a Doge appointed for life; in another the government is put into commission among officers elected for a period of months.

Here we find a Patrician, a Senator, a Tribune; there Consuls, Rectors, Priors, Ancients, Buonuomini, Conservatori.

At one period and in one city the Podesta seems paramount; across the border a Captain of the People or a Gonfaloniere di Giustizia is supreme.

Vicars of the Empire, Exarchs, Catapans, Rectors for the Church, Legates, Commissaries, succeed each other with dazzling rapidity.

Councils are multiplied and called by names that have their origin and meaning buried in the dust of archaeology.