During the succeeding two hundred years the tyrannies established on the ruins of the communes were growing stronger, and in many cities powerful dynasties had established themselves, handing the government down from father to son, or to the member of the clan best fitted to conserve the power, priority or legitimacy of birth having little to do with the succession, the possession of _virtu_, the characteristic most necessary for the preservation of self and family, determining the descent. Wherever the legitimate heir was found to be inferior, mentally or physically, to one of the bastards of the family, he was set aside for the latter. The companies of paid soldiers now began to appear in Italy. These bands of mercenaries were captained by the so-called condottieri, and when the war for which they had been engaged was ended they were discharged like other wage-workers. Their leaders were bold and unscrupulous and had no personal interest at stake. This system gave rise to the gravest dangers to the peninsula; it brought into Italy swarms of worthless adventurers, who sold their services to any one able to pay for them and often they turned against their employer. They overran the country, robbing, murdering, debauching. The power of the Popes in Romagna, never very strong, had grown weaker during their absence in Avignon. Bologna had fallen into the grasp of the Pepoli; the Polentani had secured Ravenna; the Manfredi owned Faenza; the Ordelaffi enjoyed Forli; the Malatesta held sway over Rimini; the Varano disposed of the fortunes of Camerino; the Montefeltre of Urbino and Civitavecchia. The Campagna was harassed by bands of brigands led by members of these families, and in Rome complete anarchy obtained, the two great clans of Orsini and Colonna constantly fighting to secure the control. The fifteenth century was filled with the contests of the tyrannies among themselves; the weaker were crushed by the stronger, who absorbed their territories, and thus the great states were formed and their heads became princes. Besides the struggles with outside rivals these princely houses were always at strife with other powerful families within their own domain; conspiracies and intrigue filled the day; the princes became more despotic; rivals, pretenders, disobedient or lukewarm retainers were systematically put to death; cruelty knew no bounds. The people were callous or indifferent to the crimes of the lords because they were committed chiefly against their own rivals--that is, persons of their own rank. The populace had long since lost all hope of ruling, and they were dazzled by the splendour of the Court and the magnificence of the monuments erected by the reigning prince. The return of a modicum of the spoils, in the form of a monument of some sort, a library, or a hospital, to commemorate the name and fame of the brigand has always been found to be the most efficacious way to placate the despoiled rabble.