We shall now make a brief examination of the Ragusan constitution, which by this time had assumed the form which, with certain alterations, it preserved down to the fall of the Republic. Even the fact that in 1358 the Venetian counts were superseded by native Rectors did not change the internal constitution of the State to any considerable extent. The constitution since the early days of the city’s existence had undergone much the same transformation as that of Venice, and tended to become even more aristocratic. The _laudo populi_ was still maintained,[132] but it was resorted to less and less frequently as years went by; and after having been an empty formality for some time, at the end of the period of Venetian suzerainty it had ceased to exist. The _Liber Statutorum_ was confirmed “per populum Rhacusinum more solito (_i.e._ to the sound of a bell) congregatum,” but by that time all power was invested in the aristocracy. Only nobles might aspire to any but the humblest offices of the State, and every noble had a voice at least in the Grand Council. As at Venice there was the Golden Book, at Ragusa there was the _Specchio_, containing the names of all the noble families. These were as a rule the descendants of the original Latin colonists from Epidaurus and Salona, or, in a few cases, of those early Slave refugees who were nobles in their own country. The names themselves have an Italian sound, although most of them are unlike any real Italian names.[133] There was a fairly large part of the population of Slavonic origin, but the official, and to a great extent the popular, language was Italian. The laws and deliberations and official documents[134] are all either in Latin or Italian, and the general character of the community was prevalently Italian, modified to some extent by Slavonic influences. The latter tended to increase, especially after the end of Venetian suzerainty, and by the middle of the sixteenth century the bulk of the lower classes spoke the Servian language. The head of the State, as we have seen, was the Count, who represented Venetian authority, summoned the councils, and signed all public acts. No act was valid without his approval, but, on the other hand, he could not make decrees without the assistance and consent of the councils. Of these there were three—namely, the _Consilium Minus_, the _Consilium Majus_, and the _Rogati_ or _Pregadi_.