The artifice was this: The old and new nobles in equal numbers filled the public offices, and, the latter being the more numerous class, the individuals of it held the highest office less frequently than the individuals of the old nobility. The rule was distasteful for many reasons: it was not made in a lawful way, but imposed by the authority of Andrea Doria, when many of the nobles themselves (says Doge Lercaro) were opposed to the measure; and it was contrary to the wishes of the vast majority that a few patricians should have almost exclusive claims upon the Dogate. The people were little pleased that they were now totally excluded from that office, to which formerly they alone were eligible, while the plebeians[53] fretted at the insolence of the patricians and Spanish gentlemen among us. There were new conspiracies. The spies of the emperor learned that a Fra Clemente of the order of St. Francis had brought back from France some schemes for a revolution and Suarez communicated the information to the Senate. The friar was arrested at Ceva and, having been tortured, he declared that De Fornari was intriguing with the king of France to promote a revolution in Genoa. De Fornari, the same who had been elected Doge against the wish of the old nobles, and who was therefore very obnoxious to that party and idolized by the people, was captured and confined in Antwerp. Such movements led the Senate to distrust the people more than ever and to deprive them of the right to bear arms. In fact, when Agostino Pinelli was Doge, Italian troops were no longer trusted with the custody of the ducal palace; but the Republic enlisted Swiss, German and Trentine mercenaries. Giocante Della Casa Bianca who had commanded the guard for twenty-five years, gave up his sword to a German adventurer and accepted a subordinate position. Besides, though the plebeians did not revolt or renew the conspiracies of Fieschi and Cybo, the Senate endeavoured to ruin all those who were pronounced friends of the ancient popular system. Oberto Foglietta having published in Rome, where he resided (1556), two books on the Genoese Republic, in which he exalted the popular citizens over the patricians, declaring that the first had served the country with greater fidelity than the second, the government declared him guilty of felony and punished him with banishment and confiscation of goods. Many years after, Giovanni Andrea Doria, to whom he dedicated his eulogies of illustrious Ligurians, procured the revocation of the sentence. While the Senate banished Foglietta, it praised to the skies the ignoble treatise of Pellegro Grimaldi, who, though a Republican, taught us to beg the favour of princes, and the logic of Lovenzo Capelloni, who, adhering consistently to the party of the victors, declared that the Holy See owed its fame to the house of Borgia.