The sack of Lodi gave Cosimo’s opponents an opportunity to interfere in home politics. Their first step in June 1454, on the pretext that war was over, was to abolish the Balìa, which they imagined was the mainstay of his authority. This, of course, was useless as long as the Scrutiny made by the Balìa and the Accopiatori appointed by them were still in office. In November, therefore, a new Scrutiny was made, and in January 1455 the new Signory ordered that in six months’ time the power of the Accopiatori should cease, and the Gonfalonier and the Priors be once more chosen by lot. The measure was a popular one, and it worked, not against Cosimo, but against Luca Pitti, Diotisalvi Neroni, and Agnolo Acciaiuoli, as it put an end to their power of manipulating the appointments to office. The disturbed condition of Italy after the death of Pope Nicholas the peace-lover, and the discharge by the Venetians of Jacopo Piccinino, whose standard became the rallying-point for all discontented and dissatisfied men, reacted upon Florence. A feeling of unrest was abroad. Many citizens considered the Government weak and vacillating, and were only waiting for the election of a Signory who shared their views to make an attempt to “reform” the city. But without the consent of Neri Capponi this was impossible. So things remained as they were until his death in 1457 left Cosimo with a free hand. The re-assessment of the _catasto_ early in 1458 was a heavy blow to his opponents, the new register of property entailing upon them considerable loss. In their dismay they turned to Cosimo, and suggested the creation of a new Balìa, a new Scrutiny, and fresh Accopiatori, but he refused to listen to any proposal for the renewal of the Balìa save in the usual way through the Colleges and the Councils. When Luca Pitti became Gonfalonier of Justice in 1458 he tried in vain to induce the Council to appoint a new Balìa, and Girolamo Machiavelli, a hot-headed republican who declared against all Balìe as inimical to the freedom of the citizens, was arrested and tortured with others who shared his views. Luca Pitti made the most of this so-called conspiracy, and tried to set his authority against that of Cosimo. Losing patience, Cosimo said to him: “You strive towards the indefinite, I towards the definite. You plant your ladder in the air, I place mine on the earth so that I may not climb so high as to fall. It seems to me but just and natural that I should desire the honour and reputation of my house to surpass yours. Let us therefore do like two big dogs which sniff one at the other when they meet, and then, both having teeth, separate and go their ways; you to attend to your concerns, I to look after mine own.” Cosimo then summoned a parliament. His position can be gauged by the advice given to Duke Sforza by his Ambassador to Florence: “When you would have one thing done rather than another, write your opinion or your