31.] [Footnote 57: The true history of the Cenci, as written by Bertolotti, throws light upon these points.] Another consequence was that acts of violence were frightfully common.

Men could be hired to commit murders at sums varying from ten to four scudi; and on the death of Paul IV., when anarchy prevailed for a short while in Rome, an eye-witness asserts that several hundred assassinations were committed within the walls in a few days.[58] [Footnote 58: Mocenigo, _op.

cit._ p.

38.] It was not to be expected that a population so corrupt, accustomed for generations to fatten upon the venality and vices of the hierarchy, should welcome those radical reforms which were the best fruits of the Tridentine Council.

They specially disliked the decrees which enforced the residence of prelates and the limitation of benefices held by a single ecclesiastic.