 Not yet firmly associated with the cities, they simply acted independently, also because they were under pressure from the warriors nominally under their authority to allow them to loot.This unstable situation, which persisted over time, led to the final collapse of the Roman-Italic political-administrative structure, which was almost maintained up to the invasion, so that the same Roman-Italic aristocracy had retained responsibility for civil administration (as exemplified by the likes of Cassiodorus).In Italy, the Lombards then imposed themselves at first as the dominant caste in place of the former lineages, who were subsequently extinguished or exiled.