The Ghibelline heard Italy calling upon him to build a citadel that should be guarded by the lance and shield of chivalry, where the hierarchies of feudalism, ranged beneath the dais of the Empire, might dispense culture and civil order in due measure to the people.

The Guelf believed that she was bidding him to multiply arts and guilds within the burgh, beneath the mantle of the Pope, who stood for Christ, the preacher of equality and peace for all mankind, in order that the beehive of industry should in course of time evolve a civil order and a culture representative of its own freely acting forces.
[1] It is enough to refer to the importance of the _Parte Guelfa_ in the history of Florence.
During the stress and storm of the fierce warfare carried on by Guelfs and Ghibellines, the Podesta fell into the second rank.

He had been created to meet an emergency; but now the discord was too vehement for arbitration.

A new functionary appears, with the title of _Captain of the People_.

Chosen when one or other of the factions gains supreme power in the burgh, he represents the victorious party, takes the lead in proscribing their opponents, and ratifies on his responsibility the changes introduced into the constitution.