Smedley, quoting Sabellico, says that the continued storm of arrows discharged by the assailants during two days and a night was something almost indescribable; a wretched cat that tried to steal across an exposed roof was shot through by eleven arrows at once; in many places three and four arrows had struck in precisely the same spot, splitting one another in succession, and during several months after the Turks had withdrawn, the shafts they had shot supplied kitchens, baths, and ovens with firewood. [Sidenote: _Rom. iv. 382._] The heroic little city held out against famine and artillery during eleven months, and when at last Venice had made peace with the Sultan on condition that the garrison should be allowed to leave the town with its arms and baggage, Antonio da Lezze marched out with four hundred and fifty men and one hundred and fifty women, all that was left of the little force which had successfully resisted the greatest conqueror of the age during the greater part of a year. It is almost needless to say that the Republic treated the hero with her usual vile ingratitude, and that Da Lezze was imprisoned for a year and banished for ten because certain of the surviving inhabitants of Scutari accused him of having written to Venice that the town [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO S. ZACCHARIA] was short of provisions when there was still a considerable store. The impulse of conquest which had led the Turks so far was now almost exhausted, and when Mohammed the Conqueror died, the moment would have been favourable for driving the Turks out of the Archipelago, especially as the throne of the [Sidenote: _1483. Defence of Brescia, Tintoretto; Hall of Great Council._] Osmanlis was disputed by a number of claimants. But Venice was exhausted by her many struggles, and the sovereigns of other European states were only too ready to sacrifice the interests of Christianity at large to [Sidenote: _1484. Taking of Gallipoli, Tintoretto; ceiling, Hall of Great Council._] their private ends. The result was that the Republic, finding herself alone, made another ignominious peace with the Turks. But even now she had no rest, for she was at war with the Duke of Ferrara, who enjoyed the protection of the Pope. The latter exhausted every diplomatic means to induce Venice to withdraw; but the only result was that the Republic recalled its ambassador from Rome. Sixtus IV. now excommunicated Venice, and attempted to send notice of [Sidenote: _1484. Victory of Vittor Soranzo over the men of Este, Tintoretto; Hall of Great Council._] the excommunication by the political agent whom the Venetian ambassador had left in Rome. That official, however, declined to take the message, and the pope sent a special envoy, who was to present himself at the palace of the Patriarch. But the prelate succeeded in avoiding him by feigning illness, so that official notice [Sidenote: _1484. Defeat of the Duke of Ferrara, Francesco Bassano; ceiling, Hall of Great Council._]