CHAPTER XII

FROM THE EARTHQUAKE TO THE NAPOLEONIC WARS (1667-1797)

Of all the Ragusan aristocracy, in whom the whole power of the Republic was vested, only twenty-five adult males survived this terrible calamity, and not all of these were eligible for the highest offices. They organised themselves into a provisional Government, and after some demur decided to ennoble eleven burgher families and receive them into their order. They did not, however, grant them full privileges nor admit them to all the offices, and this exclusion subsequently led to internal difficulties. The question of depopulation was now a serious one. According to Coleti, 600 Orthodox Christian families from the neighbouring districts applied to the Senate for permission to settle in Ragusa to fill up the gaps, and offered to pay 2500 ducats each to the State treasury. But even the earthquake had failed to make the Republic more tolerant of schismatics, and permission was refused.[489]

Very slowly Ragusa rose from her ruins, and the work of rebuilding began. Help came to the stricken city from all parts of Christendom. The church of the patron saint was the first edifice to be repaired, and then the Sponza, the chief source of the Republic’s revenues. But it was a very different Ragusa to that which existed before the earthquake. The merchant navy, save for a few coasting vessels, had now disappeared, and with it the sea-borne trade, while the land trade was also reduced.

On September 29, 1669, after one of the most memorable and heroic sieges in history, lasting twenty-five years, the Venetian garrison at Candia surrendered to the Turks. For this irreparable loss Venice obtained some poor compensation in Dalmatia, viz. Clissa, Novigrad, and a few other towns. The Venetians tried to improve their Dalmatian trade at the expense of Ragusa by inducing the Porte to direct the Bosnian caravans towards Spalato and Castelnuovo instead of to Ragusa and Stagno. The Turks, although their power was on the wane, had become more arrogant than ever after the conquest of Candia. Kara Mustafa, who was Grand Vizier, a fanatical hater of Christians, took it into his head to make an end of Ragusa, and as a pretext blamed the citizens for having resisted the bands of armed marauders from the Herzegovina who had come into the town to plunder after the earthquake, and accused them of having sold goods to the Turks during the late war at famine prices. As a punishment he raised the tribute and demanded in addition 146,000 ducats, threatening to annex the Republic in case of non-compliance. The Ragusans in vain declared themselves too poor to pay owing to the earthquake; but Kara Mustafa remained firm, and even supported the extortionate demands of the Pashas of Bosnia and the Herzegovina. The Senate assembled hurriedly and decided to send two ambassadors to Constantinople and two envoys to Bosnia to try to appease the brutal Turks. But the difficulty was to find the men, for no one relished the idea of this very dangerous mission—the Ragusans well knew the way in which recalcitrant diplomats were treated by the Ottoman when he lost his temper. At last four courageous nobles offered to go for their country’s sake, namely, Marino Caboga and Giorgio Bucchia for the mission to Constantinople, and Niccolò Bona and Marino Gozze for Bosnia. The life of Caboga is so romantic that it deserves some mention. He was born in 1630, and after a youth of riot and dissipation, at the age of twenty-five he was engaged in a law-suit with a relative, whom he accused of having defrauded him. The trial took place before the Senate, and the accused reproached Caboga with his disorderly life and cast doubts on his honour. Stung to the quick, the young man drew his sword and murdered the slanderer. Flight to a sanctuary saved him from capital punishment, but he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment. During his confinement his only book was a Latin Bible, and he covered the walls of his prison with verses expressive of the deepest contrition. When the earthquake occurred he escaped from prison with difficulty; but instead of trying to get away he devoted himself to the work of rescue, and displayed great energy in repelling the attacks of the Morlachs, whom he drove from the city. When some sort of order was re-established and the Council met, he presented himself before the Conscript Fathers. One of them at once declared him disgraced and incapable of sitting, but the majority decided that as a reward for his great services in this time of danger he should be forgiven; he was thereupon readmitted to all his privileges. It was this same man who now offered to risk his life for his city once more. On their departure he and his companions bade farewell to their friends as though they were going to certain death.

Caboga and Bucchia reached Constantinople on August 8, 1667. The former showed so much diplomatic skill in the negotiations that Kara Mustafa had him and his colleague cast into prison on December 13, in a building that served as a lazaret for plague patients. But even then they refused to advise the Republic to consent to the Turkish demands. When asked if he would advise the Senate to agree to annexation by the Porte, Caboga replied that “he was sent to serve, not to betray his country”; and he succeeded in sending a message to the Senate encouraging them to hold out to the last regardless of his own fate, and only showing anxiety that his children should receive a sound religious education. The ambassadors were transferred from one dungeon to another, and threatened with all manner of punishments, but in vain.

Worse befell the envoys to Bosnia. When the Pasha heard that they had not brought the money demanded he threw them into an unhealthy dungeon, and after a few months transferred them to Silistria at the mouth of the Danube, where the Sultan Mohammed IV. was residing, and here they were kept in still severer detention. But they too held firm, and advised the Senate not to give way. In 1678 Bona fell ill, and, being utterly untended, died.

The Republic meanwhile applied to the King of Naples for arms and troops, expecting a Turkish attack, raised a loan for defensive purposes at Genoa,[490] and negotiated with the Emperor Leopold. Kara Mustafa, on being informed of this action, vowed vengeance, determined to capture the city, and only delayed the operation until he should return from the siege of Vienna. But fortunately his armies were defeated by John Sobieski, King of Poland, and this Christian victory saved Europe, shaking the Ottoman power to its very foundations. The ferocious vizir was disgraced and beheaded in consequence, and the projects against Ragusa abandoned. Caboga, Bucchia, and Gozze were then liberated and allowed to return home. “As he (Caboga) approached the city every knoll, villa, and house-top was covered with an admiring, almost adoring, people; every bell in Ragusa rang a merry peal, and the Rector and Senate, in full robes, went out of the city to give a cordial welcome to the wonderful Marino Caboga.”[491] He had indeed deserved well of his country, for never had the Republic been in more imminent danger, from which she was saved by this respite.

In March 1684 a new Holy League was formed between the Emperor Leopold I., the King of Poland, the Pope, and the Venetians, in which Ragusa was forced to join. But the danger from such a proceeding was now less great, for the Turkish power was now broken. As the Austrians had reconquered a large part of Hungary, Ragusa was considered to be under the protection of the Emperor as ruler of that country, and on August 20, 1684, a treaty to that effect was signed at Vienna by Baron von Strattmann, representing Austria, and Raphael Gozze, the Ragusan envoy, under the auspices of the Marquis of Borgamenero, the Spanish ambassador, for Spain still had certain rights over the Republic. The agreement was ratified by the Senate on December 1. It declared that this protection was merely a renewal of the old Hungarian protectorate over Ragusa, “hactenus per vim Turcicam aliquantisper interpolata,” which the citizens requested that they “quasi postliminio gaudere et fieri possint.” The Emperor promised to protect and defend Ragusa, to confirm all the privileges and commercial immunities which the kings of Hungary, his predecessors, had granted her, in exchange for which she was to pay him a sum of 5000 ducats per annum. This payment, however, was only to be made if and when the Austrian armies conquered the Herzegovina. The Empire was successful in the war, and the Turks were steadily driven back out of Hungary, where they now only held a few isolated posts. Venice too displayed an energy and achieved a success remarkable for a decaying State. She conquered the greater part of the Morea, captured Athens and a number of islands, and occupied Castelnuovo and the whole of the shores of the Bocche di Cattaro, as well as several positions in the Herzegovina. The Morlachs in the Venetian service made raids into Turkish territory, and did not spare that of Ragusa. Venetian privateers threatened to destroy what remained of the Republic’s sea-borne trade, while the closing of the land routes practically stopped all intercourse with Turkey. The citizens applied now to their new protector, the Emperor of Austria, who at once sent Herberstein to Ragusa as Imperial Commissary, and he induced the Venetians to desist from their molestations.

As, however, the Austrian armies did not conquer the Herzegovina, Ragusa never paid the tribute to the Emperor, and as soon as there was a prospect of peace on lines contemplating the maintenance of the _status quo_ as regards the hinterland, the Republic hastened to come to an agreement with the Porte, and sent an ambassador to Constantinople with the arrears of tribute since 1684. After some years’ fighting the Tsar Peter’s capture of Azov, the Austrian victory of Zenta, and the Venetian successes in the Adriatic induced the Sultan to sue for peace, and in October 1698 the delegates of the Powers, including England and Holland, met at Carlovitz in southern Hungary. On June 26, 1699, the treaty was signed. The Porte ceded all Hungary save the Banat of Temesvar, Transsilvania, Slavonia, and Croatia as far as the Una, to the Emperor; Poland obtained Podolia, the Ukraine, and Kameniek; to Venice were assigned the Morea, some islands, and several fortresses in Dalmatia. An important article from the Ragusan point of view, which was obtained by bribing the Turkish negotiators, was that two strips of Turkish territory should intervene between the dominions of the Republic of St. Blaize and those of the Republic of St. Mark, viz. the enclaves of Klek, near the Narenta’s mouth, and of Sutorina in the Bocche di Cattaro.[492] Ragusa thus became tributary to the Porte once more, and deliberately preferred to be surrounded by the Turkish dominions rather than by those of the Venetians. This result brought about a partial revival of the land trade.

In 1714 war between Venice and the Turks broke out once more, the Sultan desiring above all to reconquer the Morea; he succeeded in his purpose very quickly, for the Venetians, relying on the peace of Carlovitz, which was to last twenty-five years (the Turks never concluded treaties of perpetual peace), had made no adequate preparations for defence. They allied themselves with the Emperor (April 13, 1716), and Prince Eugene led an army into southern Hungary. The Imperialists defeated the Turks first at Peterwardein, and then at Belgrad, which they captured. In 1718 the representatives of the various Powers met at Passarovitz (Požarovac) in Servia, and on 18th July signed a treaty of peace, by which the Emperor retained all his conquests, but the capture of the Morea by the Turks was confirmed, the Venetians thus losing their last possessions in the Levant save the Ionian Islands. With regard to Ragusa the arrangements of the peace of Carlovitz were reconfirmed, Venice giving up the posts of Popovo, Zarina, and Subzi on the Ragusan border.

For the next few years the Republic was undisturbed by wars and rumours of wars, but its general conditions showed little improvement. The tribute to the Sultan was 12,500 ducats a year, and with gifts and bribes amounted to 16,000; but since the earthquake it had been paid every three years instead of annually. The Ragusans also paid blackmail to the Barbary States, and a tribute at irregular intervals to Austria. Every year a present was sent to the Pope, and twelve _astori_ (falcons) to the King of Naples.[493] The population was now no more than 20,000, and the value of property had so decreased that the incomes of the archbishops and clergy were utterly inadequate. Education was in the hands of the Jesuits, who had established a college. But in the rest of the territory there were no means of instruction or religion. Archbishop Galliani, in a report to the _Propaganda Fide_,[494] complains that the upper classes were beginning to read French books and talk mockingly about fasting, flagellation, and other practices of the Church. When he remonstrated with them he was told that the Index had not been proclaimed at Ragusa, and had therefore no authority. He afterwards had it proclaimed from the pulpits, but the only effect was that the Senate in a fit of zeal ordered the burning of the Jewish Thalmud, a work which can hardly have had many readers, nor shaken the piety of the people. But in spite of their scepticism the Ragusans were as intolerant as ever towards the members of the Orthodox Church. In 1724 a rich Servian, named Sava Vladislavić, who had a house and garden at Ragusa and many friends among the aristocracy, asked permission to build a Greek chapel in his own grounds. But even this modest request, although backed by a letter from the Tsar Peter the Great, was refused.[495] The incident is not without significance; the Catholic Slaves have always been particularly bitter against the Orthodox Christians, while the letter from the Tsar is an early symptom of the interest taken by Russia in the welfare of Orthodox communities outside her own territory, an interest, then as now, essentially political rather than religious. In 1743 Pope Benedict XIV. wrote to the Senate encouraging them in their religious refusal to permit the building of Greek churches and to admit Greek priests into the town.

But another revival in the city’s prosperity seemed to be at hand. Trade, which had been apparently in a hopeless condition, began to show signs of improving. In 1727 Ragusan ships once more extended their voyages beyond the limits of the Adriatic; in that year a vessel went to Smyrna for the first time for many years. The wars between England, France, and Spain in 1739-1750, and in 1755-1763, proved advantageous to Ragusan shipping, and much of the commerce of the Mediterranean passed into their hands as neutrals.

Ragusa had her last dispute with Venice in 1754, when she complained to the Porte that the Venetians had illegally cut down forests on Ragusan territory, and levied exorbitant tolls on Ragusan vessels. The Pasha of Bosnia acted as mediator, and Venice agreed to renounce the dues, but Ragusa was to pay homage to the Most Serene Republic by presenting a silver ewer and twenty sequins every third year to the Capitano in Golfo, or Admiral of the Adriatic, as compensation for the rights of transit paid to Venice by Ragusa “da tempi immemorabili fino al presente anno.”

During the Seven Years’ War Ragusa had a diplomatic incident with Great Britain. The Republic was suspected by the British Government of allowing French ships to be fitted out in her own harbours. The Jesuit scientist Ruggiero Bosković was sent to England as Ragusan agent to convince the authorities of the groundlessness of the accusation; he succeeded in his mission, and was well received.

In 1763 a revolution broke out at Ragusa, the first since 1400, albeit a bloodless one, and the fourth in the whole course of her history. It arose through the antagonism between the old and the new nobility, the latter created after the earthquake. The two orders did not intermarry, and had always lived on terms of mutual jealousy. The older nobles were called Salamanchesi, and the newer Sorbonnesi.[496] The immediate cause of the outbreak was a romantic incident. A young Caboga, a member of the old aristocracy, fell in love with, and became betrothed to, a daughter of a Sorbonnese family. The affair caused great scandal, and was discussed in the Grand and Minor Councils. The Salamanchesi wished to forbid the marriage and to expel Caboga from the assemblies, while the newer order and many young members of the old wished to see these absurd barriers removed. As the former would not give way, the latter made overtures to the people, who were beginning to be somewhat dissatisfied with the existing Government. An _émeute_ broke out; the Rector’s Palace was stormed by an armed band, the old nobles were turned out, and the officials forced to relinquish their functions. But the new nobles had not the courage to take possession in violation of the established rules of centuries, and for a time complete anarchy reigned. There were no law courts, no provincial governors, no commanders of the forts. The people, however, who had always been accustomed to absolute submission to the oligarchy, made no attempt to disturb the peace. They pursued their usual occupations, and awaited the result of the quarrel with equanimity, hoping that the outcome would be a reduction of their taxes. Negotiations between the two parties were opened, but the Salamanchesi proved intractable; and when the Sorbonnesi suggested Papal intervention they threatened to bring the affair before the Sultan and to apply for assistance to the Pasha of Bosnia, saying that they would rather give the city over to the Turks than resign their privileges! At last the new nobles declared that if their opponents did not give way in three days they would appoint their own Rector and the other officials. This decision ended the dispute, and a number of the Salamanchesi went over to the new party, which thus formed two-thirds of the Grand Council, so that the elections could be validly held. A compromise was arrived at: the Rector was chosen from the old nobility, the taxes were somewhat reduced, and the restrictions abolished.[497]

In 1768 war broke out between Russia and Turkey, in consequence of the interference of the former in the affairs of Poland and various incursions of Russian troops across the Turkish frontier. A Russian fleet, under Admiral Orloff and the Englishman Elphinstone, entered the Mediterranean and sailed up the Adriatic. Finding that a number of Ragusan ships were carrying foodstuffs from Alexandria and other Levantine ports to Constantinople, Orloff treated these and all other Ragusan vessels as enemies, although their captains protested that they had been forced to ship the cargoes by the Pasha of Alexandria. He summoned the Republic to renounce Turkish suzerainty, and to place itself under the protection of a Christian Power. He demanded that all the larger Ragusan ships should be sold to Russia, to whom the State must also make a loan, and permission was to be given for the erection of a Greek church in the town. The admiral threatened bombardment in case of non-compliance. The Government first thought of resisting, and tried to place Ragusa in a state of defence. But on examination it was discovered that of the 400 cannon in the forts only 40 were mounted, while the ammunition consisted of less than 2000 lbs. of powder and about 5000 cannon balls. A force of 5000 men might have been raised, but there was no means of arming or feeding them. The Republic then resorted to bribery, and offered Orloff 120,000 sequins, by which the storm was for a moment averted,[498] but the Russian fleet continued to harry Ragusan trade. The citizens, fearing further trouble, applied to France for assistance, and this not being forthcoming, to Austria. The Ragusan envoy at Vienna, Francesco Giuseppe Gondola, a descendant of the poet and the last of that name, did all in his power to induce the Empress Maria Theresa to intervene on behalf of Ragusa. But she was at that time on bad terms with Catherine II. of Russia, and the negotiations failed to have the desired effect. The Senate then sent Francesco Ragnina to St. Petersburg as envoy, but Catherine refused to receive him. At last, after long negotiations, when peace was made between Russia and Turkey in 1774, a special agreement was concluded at Leghorn between Orloff, who was there with his fleet, and Ragnina, settling the differences. A clause was inserted that a Greek church should be built, but it was not executed.

A quarrel arose between the Republic and the Kingdom of Naples in 1782. The Neapolitan Government, for some unknown reason, suddenly claimed to revive its old rights over Ragusa, and demanded the privilege of appointing a _Governatore delle Armi_ in the town and a Neapolitan official as Resident. These requests being refused, it tried to enforce them by placing an embargo on the Ragusan ships in the ports of the Two Sicilies, and seizing all Ragusan property in the kingdom. The Ragusan Minister at Vienna, Count d’Ajala, induced Count Kaunitz, Austrian Minister at Naples, to intercede in the Republic’s favour, “as energetically as was consistent with the good relations between the two Courts.” But the Neapolitan Government held firm for the time. Eventually a compromise was arrived at, the embargo was removed, the confiscated property restored, and a _Governatore delle Armi_ appointed on condition that he refrained from interfering with the affairs of the Republic. The salary paid to him was 30 soldi a day and an old turret to live in.[499]

The peace was again disturbed in 1787 by a new war between Russia and Turkey, Austria siding with the former. This time the Republic was more circumspect, and through the ability of d’Ajala suffered no harm beyond a little plundering. More serious trouble arose in 1792, when war having been declared by the European Coalition against the French Republic, the Court of Vienna complained that Ragusan ships were carrying grain to French ports. The Senate protested that such acts had been done against its orders, and that it had no objection to the punishment of Ragusan captains caught in the act. It is the same old story—Ragusan seamen profiting by foreign wars, while the Government casts off all responsibility.

Before coming to the concluding chapter of the Republic’s history, I shall quote a few descriptions of Ragusa in the eighteenth century by different travellers. Prévot, who was French consul in 1750, gives a curious picture of the town, showing the character of its narrow oligarchy. “The Republic,” he writes, “_i.e._ those who govern it, do not care that foreigners of distinction, whether consuls or traders, should come to Ragusa, because they are obliged to use a certain measure of respect and justice towards them which they do not show to any of their own subjects. The pride of the nobles, who make everything give way before their authority, is hurt at being obliged to show the least consideration to those who are not of their own order, lest they should lose caste in the eyes of their slaves, by whom they wish to be regarded as the lords of creation. Trade carried on by foreigners seems to them a trespass on their own ventures, even when it does not actually compete with them; for they dread even potential rivalry. Hence their system of exclusion, for they prefer to be absolute masters of very little rather than share a few benefits with people who are not their slaves. Above all, they imagine that the French, being sharper than other people, see the viciousness of their rule, the injustice of their administration, and the absurdity of their pretensions; they blush for very shame, and wish to be isolated so as to avoid being exposed to criticism. It is their sensitive spot. One may well be circumspect, but they have too much intelligence not to know their own defects, but too much obstinacy and pride to wish to correct them, and to suffer other witnesses of their conduct than those who are forced to applaud it. One may say that Ragusa is less a State than a private house, of which both masters and servants prefer to shut the doors to strangers so as to remain unknown.”[500]

Pouqueville, who was at Ragusa in 1805, also describes the social conditions of the people. “The nobles had places of honour in church, at the café, at the theatre, and the noblewomen had sedan chairs adorned with their armorial bearings, and took precedence at all meeting places. The days on which the Rector went to church were marked in red letters in the Ragusan calendar with the words, ‘Oggi Sua Serenità si porta al Duomo.’ He went there in a much patched red toga, preceded by a valet carrying a red silk umbrella ... followed by the Senators in black threadbare gowns. Before him marched two musicians, one with a hunting-horn and the other with a fiddle.

“The citizens form three corporations: the _cittadinanza_, recruited from the commoners having a capital of 20,000 francs, who were like the Roman _liberti_. Their women-folk were admitted to the theatre in a row of boxes parallel to that of the noblewomen, whom they eclipsed by their beauty and their attire. They had to pay visits to the noblewomen on certain days.

“The second class was the bourgeoisie, the industrious part of the population, for it included the sea captains, men of great honesty, sailors, and agents in foreign countries. Their wives were not received by the nobility, and might only go to the parterre of the theatre; but at the promenade they shone by the elegance of their figures and their wealth. The men spent most of their lives at sea, and when they had accumulated a fortune they often retired to foreign lands, as they had no consideration at home.

“The peasants were serfs, and attached to the land and sold with it. But their master could not kill them, and if he ill-treated them they could go to another.

“In 1805 the nobles were usually estimable men, and among them were many _littérateurs_ of great merit. The religious Orders, who had produced Banduri, Bosković, Zamagna, and other men of letters and science, kept alive the sacred fire.... The _cittadinanza_ contained many rich families, and the merchants owned over 3000 ships, which carried nearly all the trade of the Mediterranean. The peasants did not complain of their lot, and, the men being much better than the laws, the State was flourishing.... The peasants were splendid fellows, but absolutely obedient to their masters. It was the ancient respect for a caste which, being unmilitary, was peaceful and debonair. There was no secret police, no gendarmes. In 1805 the first capital sentence in twenty-five years was pronounced; the city went into mourning, and an executioner had to be sent for from Turkey.... The Ragusan serfs are extremely brave. They are in perpetual war with the Montenegrins, who are savage and without honour. There was a constant blood-feud, and the book of blood was preserved by the Senate to remind the Ragusans of their duty. When a feud had gone on for a long time, and too many murders had been committed on both sides, a composition was agreed to for a small sum.”

In spite of its defects, which French writers, imbued with the ideas of the eighteenth-century philosophers and of the Revolution, would naturally tend to exaggerate,[501] the Republic of Ragusa very favourably impressed an Englishman, Thomas Watkins, who visited the town in 1879. “Of the Ragusans I cannot write too favourably, especially of the nobles and superior order of citizens, who, generally speaking, possess all the good qualities that virtuous example and refined education can bestow, without those vices which prevail in countries more open to foreign intercourse, and consequently more practised in deception. They have more learning and less ostentation than any people I know, more politeness to each other, and less envy. Their hospitality to strangers cannot possibly be exceeded; in short, their general character has in it so few defects that I do not hesitate to pronounce them (as far as my experience of other people will permit me) the wisest, best, and happiest of States.”[502] Later the author compares the condition of the Ragusans to those of the Dalmatian subjects of Venice, very unfavourably to the latter. “I discovered that the wretched Government of Venice had, by sending out their Barnabotti or famished nobility to prey upon the inhabitants, rendered ineffectual the benefits of nature. What a contrast between them and the citizens of Ragusa, who live protected and exempt from all taxes, while they can scarcely _subsist_ upon the rich lands they inhabit, being harassed by every species of extortion that avarice can devise and power execute.”[503] The picture is somewhat idealised, and, as we have seen, even the Ragusans had taxes to complain of; but there is no doubt that they were far better off than the Dalmatian Venetians, or, indeed, than the citizens of most other States at that time.

During the protracted wars between England and France, and between England and America, Ragusan trade revived to an unexpected extent, and the prosperity of the inhabitants increased a hundredfold. In 1779 there were 162 ships flying St. Blaize’s banner, of 10 to 40 guns each, and 27 more lay at the wharves. The land trade also flourished, and the old routes became alive with caravans once more. By the year 1797 the fleet had increased to 363 ships of over 15 tons, valued at 16,000,000 piastres, bringing in an Income of 2,400,000 piastres to the owners, and a revenue of 152,000 piastres to the State. The coastwise trade employed 80 boats, worth 400,000 piastres. The tax on oil brought in 27,000 piastres; the exports by sea were valued at 420,000 piastres, the imports at 1,800,000 piastres; the exports by land at 1,500,000 piastres, the imports at 900,000 piastres. Agriculture was very flourishing. The population had again risen to 35,000, and their income increased every year by 700,000 florins.

The Republic maintained an ambassador at Vienna (Count d’Ajala), a Minister in Rome, political agents in Paris, Naples, and Constantinople, and consuls at Venice, Alexandria, and various other towns. At Ragusa there was a French and an Austrian consul; Naples and Russia were represented by Ragusan merchants.