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