Nepotism, however, still left its scars upon the body politic, shown in the progressive decay of agriculture in the Campagna, causing Rome to starve in the midst of fertile but untilled nepotistic latifundia.
The fundamental motive for his proceedings at that period was not nepotistic tendencies - which doubtless played their part, but only a secondary one - but his.
Thus by 1700 nepotistic plunder had practically ceased, and with the exception of the magnificent peculations of Cardinal Coscia under Benedict (1724-1730), the central administration of finance has been usually considered honest.