Yet no one, whether he depended on the mightiest or the feeblest prelate, could reckon on the tenure of his place beyond the lifetime of his master.

Many reasons, again--among which may be reckoned the hostility of reigning Pontiffs to the creatures of their predecessors or to their old rivals in the conclave--caused the residence of the chief ecclesiastics in Rome to be precarious.

Thus the upper stratum of society was always in a state of flux, its elements shifting according to laws of chronic uncertainty.

Beneath it spread a rabble of inferior and dubious gentlefolk, living in idleness upon the favor of the Court, serving the Cardinals and Bishops in immoral and dishonest offices, selling their wives, their daughters and themselves, all eager to rise by indirect means to places of emolument.[52] Lower down, existed the _bourgeoisie_ of artists, bankers, builders, shopkeepers, and artisans; and at the bottom of the scale came hordes of beggars.

Rome, like all Holy Cities, entertained multitudes of eleemosynary paupers.