In describing the fall of the Colonna, I speak only of the family of Stephen the elder, who is often confounded by the P. du Cerceau with his son. That family was extinguished, but the house has been perpetuated in the collateral branches, of which I have not a very accurate knowledge.
Circumspice (says Petrarch) familiae tuae statum, Columniensium domos: solito pauciores habeat columnas. Quid ad rem? modo fundamentum stabile, solidumque permaneat.