In time, however, their insolence became insufferable.

The populace rebelled, deposed the _Nove_, and invested with supreme authority twelve other families of mixed origin.
The _Monte de' Dodici_, created after this fashion, ran nearly the same course as their predecessors, except that they appear to have administered the city equitably.

Getting tired of this form of government, the people next superseded them by sixteen men, chosen from the dregs of the plebeians, who assumed the title of _Riformatori_.

This new _Monte de' Sedici_ or _de' Riformatori_ showed much integrity in their management of affairs, but, as is the wont of red republicans, they were not averse to bloodshed.

Their cruelty caused the people, with the help of the surviving patrician houses, together with the _Nove_ and the _Dodici_, to rise and shake them off.