On September 1, the new Signoria, with Roberto Leoni, the new Gonfaloniere, at their head, entered upon office. From the moment when the Medicean partisans were sure of the victory, the idea awoke within them to render their most distinguished opponents harmless for ever. Piero would not consent to violent measures, but he would have been no Medici if he had despised so-called legal means. Already, on the day after undertaking the office, the Signoria summoned a parliament, at which Luca Pitti and Diotisalvi Neroni appeared. On September 6, they announced their determination by the Balia elected by them: the Signoria should for ten years be appointed not by casting lots, but by nomination, and the heads of the Mountain, with the exception of Luca Pitti, were to go into exile. Niccolò Soderini, it is said, by the advice of Piero, who wished to protect an old adherent and the brother of his best friend from violence, had already retired to his villa, and from thence to Venice; there he was met by the decree which banished him and his son Geri for twenty years to Provence, where his father was born. Agnolo Acciaiuoli had quitted his house, and betaken himself to the Milanese ambassador, with whom he was very intimate, and who offered to intercede with Piero de’ Medici for him. Had he waited for the result, says Vespasiano da Bisticci, referring to Piero’s own words, no harm would have happened to him, for the latter did not bear resentment against him as against the others. But, full of anxiety, he hastened in the night to Certosa, the castle of his ancestors, from whence he went to Barletta, which was assigned him as his place of banishment. The real originator of the plot, Diotisalvi Neroni, was condemned to exile, with all his family; and the Neroni never again attained to power in Florence. The Archbishop left the city voluntarily, and went to Rome. The exiles were to bring their country into further grave troubles before they were forgotten by most, if not by the Medici, in the rapid change of circumstances. Luca Pitti met with a punishment of another kind. He remained in Florence, but seldom has the ostracism of public opinion been more harshly exercised towards a criminal. All turned their backs upon him; if he let himself be seen, he was received with insults and accusations of violence and covetousness. The workmen who were devoted to him in the days of his power, deserted him; his immense buildings, the palace as well as the villa, stood for generations unfinished, till they fell into other hands—the palace to the grand-ducal line of the Medici, the villa to the Usimbardi family, and then to the dukes of Urbino. Presents were demanded back again, as though they had been loans. He died a despised man—when is not known.[134] CHAPTER III. FOREIGN AFFAIRS. FRANCE, VENICE, ROMAGNA. WAR AGAINST COLLEONE.