There were a whole series of merchant-adventurers, whose wandering, seafaring lives form a picturesque chapter in the history of Ragusa. One of the most remarkable of them was Michele Prazzatto, a native of the Isola di Mezzo. Like most of his fellow-islanders, he devoted himself at an early age to commerce; but his first two ventures failed, and his ships foundered. He was thinking of giving up trade in despair, “but a lizard that he saw trying to climb up a wall taught him the lesson of Robert Bruce’s spider. Like the lizard, having failed twice, he succeeded in a third venture, and rose rapidly to wealth.”[482] He served Charles V. with his galleys, and brought large cargoes of grain to Spain in a time of famine. The Emperor appreciated his services, and treated him with friendly familiarity. According to a local tradition, on one occasion Prazzatto was assisting at Charles’s toilet, and on being asked what reward he wanted for his services, replied: “I am rich enough not to desire wealth; I am king on board my own carracks, and have no need for honours; I am a citizen of Ragusa, and desire no titles; but, as a memento of your favour, you may give me this shaving towel.” The request was granted, and the towel is religiously preserved to this day in the parish priest’s house at Isola di Mezzo. At his death Prazzatto left his whole fortune, amounting to 200,000 ducats, to the Republic, which rewarded his munificence by placing his statue in the courtyard of the Rector’s Palace—the only public monument ever erected to a citizen of Ragusa. The fame of Charles V. and of his exploits, owing to the part which Ragusa took in them, are a living memory to this day.