All that we have so far related serves to show with increasing clearness that two quite distinct classes of citizens already existed in Florence--namely, that of the people or trades (_arti_), and that of the worthies (_grandi_). Had the new government been evolved from the trades alone, it would have assumed a form constituted on the basis of a trade guild. Had it issued from the _grandi_ alone, it would have given rise to a regional and local constitution, corresponding with the _sestieri_ of the city over which their abodes were scattered. In all Italian communes this double tendency is to be found. In Rome the constitution by districts, or _rioni_, prevailed; while at Florence, after a time, the constitution by guilds obtained in consequence of the enormous prosperity of commerce and industry in that city. Meanwhile, however, the moral predominance of the _grandi_ and the pressing exigencies of war favoured a division of the city in _sestieri_, whereby the first assembling and organising of the army was greatly facilitated. It was for this reason that the Consuls were elected by their respective _sestieri_.[128] That the _grandi_ were already organised in "Societies of the Towers" there is written evidence to prove. A document of 1165 alludes to these societies as having been in existence for some time,[129] and the parchments of the Florence Archives comprise actual fragments of their statutes dated only a few years later on.[130] The "Tower" was possessed in common by the partners or associates, and no share in it could be bequeathed to any one outside the society, or to any member elected by less than all votes save one. Women were naturally excluded. The expense of maintaining and fortifying the Tower, which always communicated with the houses of neighbouring members, and served for their common defence, was divided among them all. Three or more rectors, also sometimes called Consuls, managed the society, settled disputes, and named their own successors. These rectors and their companions are the men we now find at the head of the government; and there is clear documentary evidence that the Consuls of the Commune were almost invariably chosen from families belonging to the Societies of the Towers. When, too, we observe that some of them were occasionally nominated Consuls of the guilds,[131] as Cavalcanti, for example, and several others, we gain an undoubted proof of the friendly terms preserved, as we have previously noted, between these nobles and the people. The societies were organised somewhat after the fashion of the guilds, by which they may have been originally inspired, and were not on a strictly feudal basis.[132]