it is said to have reached the high figure of 140,000.
These calculations are based upon the reports of the Venetian ambassadors, and can be considered as impartial, although they may not be statistically exact.[54] What rendered Roman society rotten to the core was universal pecuniary corruption.

In Rome nothing could be had without payment; but men with money in their purse obtained whatever they desired.

The office of the Datatario alone brought from ten to fourteen thousand crowns a month into the Papal treasury in 1560.[55] This large sum accrued from the composition of benefices and the sale of vacant offices.

The Camera Apostolica, or Chamber of Justice, was no less venal.

A price was set on every crime, for which its punishment could be commuted into cash-payment.