It was by a law of Salvestro de' Medici's in 1378 that the constitution received its final development in the direction of equality.

Yet after all this leveling, and in the vehement efforts made by the proletariat on the occasion of the Ciompi outbreak, the exclusive nature of the Florentine republic was maintained.

The franchise was never extended to more than the burghers, and the matter in debate was always virtually, who shall be allowed to rank as citizen upon the register?
In fact, by using the pregnant words of Machiavelli, we may sum up the history of Florence to this point in one sentence: 'Di Firenze in prima si divisono intra loro i nobili, dipoi i nobili e il popolo, e in ultimo il popolo e la plebe; e molte volte occorse che una di queste parti rimasa superiore, si divise in due.'[10] [1] I will place in an appendix (No.

ii.) translations of Varchi, book iii.

sections 20-22, and Nardi, book i.cap.4, which give complete and clear accounts of the Florentine constitution after 1292.
[2] See Machiavelli, _Ist.