' A
citizen who, when abroad in Venice, had spoken ill of Borso in public,
was informed against on his return home, and condemned to banishment
and the confiscation of his goods; a loyal subject was with difficulty
restrained from cutting him down before the tribunal itself, and with a
rope round his neck the offender went to the duke and begged for a full
pardon. The government was well provided with spies, and the duke
inspected personally the daily list of travellers which the innkeepers
were strictly ordered to present. Under Borso, who was anxious to leave
no distinguished stranger unhonored, this regulation served a
hospitable purpose; Ercole I used it simply as a measure of precaution.
In Bologna, too, it was then the rule, under Giovanni II Bentivoglio,
that every passing traveller who entered at one gate must obtain a
ticket in order to go out at another. An unfailing means of popularity
was the sudden dismissal of oppressive officials. When Borso arrested
in person his chief and confidential counsellors, when Ercole I removed
and disgraced a tax-gatherer who for years had been sucking the blood
of the people, bonfires were lighted and the bells were pealed in their
honour. With one of his servants, however, Ercole let things go too
far. The director of the police, or by whatever name we should choose
to call him (Capitano di Giustizia), was Gregorio Zampante of Lucca, a
native being unsuited for an office of this kind.
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