The most considerable
source of income, however, was the annual sale of public offices, a
usage which was common throughout Italy, and about the working of which
at Ferrara we have more precise information. We read, for example, that
at the new year 1502 the majority of the officials bought their places
at 'prezzi salati' (pungent prices); public servants of the most
various kinds, custom-house officers, bailiffs (massari), notaries,
'podesta,' judges, and even governors of provincial towns are quoted by
name. As one of the 'devourers of the people' who paid dearly for their
places, and who were 'hated worse than the devil,' Tito Strozza let us
hope not the famous Latin poet is mentioned. About the same time every
year the dukes were accustomed to make a round of visits in Ferrara,
the so-called 'andar per ventura,' in which they took presents from, at
any rate, the more wealthy citizens. The gifts, however, did not
consist of money, but of natural products.
It was the pride of the duke for all Italy to know that at Ferrara the
soldiers received their pay and the professors at the University their
salary not a day later than it was due; that the soldiers never dared
lay arbitrary hands on citizen or peasant; that the town was
impregnable to assault; and that vast sums of coined money were stored
up in the citadel.
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