Jealousy and intolerance of the pretensions of Heraclia to a paramount
voice in the policy of the community may be securely assigned as the
principal and permanent source of friction and disagreement; but the
predominance of that township seems to have resisted every effort of the
others to supplant its central authority and wide sphere of influence;
and during centuries it preserved its power, through its ostensible
choice as the residence of the most capable and influential citizens.
The scandalous and destructive outrages attendant on the rule of the
tribunes had become a vast constitutional evil. They sapped the general
prosperity; they obstructed trade and industries; they made havoc on
public and private property; they banished safety and repose, and they
impoverished and scandalized the Church.
The depredations of the Lombards, which grew in the course of time
bolder and more systematic in their character, certainly indicated great
weakness on the part of the government. Yet it was equally certain that
the weakness proceeded less from the want than from the division of
strength.
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