The last governing body formed in this diabolical five-part fugue of crazy statecraft received the name of _Monte del Popolo_, because it included all who were then eligible to the Great Council of the State.

Yet the factions of the elder _Monti_ still survived; and to what extent they had absorbed the population may be gathered from the fact that, on the defeat of the _Riformatori_, 4,500 of the Sienese were exiled.

It must be borne in mind that with the creation of each new _Monte_ a new party formed itself in the city, and the traditions of these parties were handed down from generation to generation.

At last, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, Pandolfo Petrucci, who belonged to the _Monte de' Nove_, made himself in reality, if not in name, the master of Siena, and the Duke of Florence, later on in the same century extended his dominion over the republic.[3] There is something almost grotesque in the bare recital of these successive factions; yet we must remember that beneath their dry names they conceal all elements of class and party discord.
[1] Machiavelli, in spite of his love of freedom, says (_St.Fior._ lib.vii.

1): 'Coloro che sperano che una repubblica possa essere unita assai di questa speranza s'ingannano.' [2] Vol.i.pp.