The large number of Ragusan vessels lost in the service of Spain discouraged the citizens, while the population and wealth of Ragusa was greatly reduced by the earthquake. The Republic was now suffering from the vexatious attitude of the Venetians and the Turks, who were conspiring together for the destruction of the last “Antemurale Christianitatis” in the Balkan peninsula, and the citizens actually proposed to ask for a Spanish-Neapolitan “Governatore delle Armi.” Don Antonio’s scheme having fallen through, he returned to his historical studies, and collected a mass of more or less unreliable information, chiefly culled from local traditions and native historians. 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.