286 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
reputation for hospitality. Their hospitality towards the Papal admiral Marc’ Antonio Colonna and the Venetian general Sforza Pallavicini, who were shipwrecked on the Ragusan coast in 1570, won them the gratitude of the Pope and of Venice.1 Francesco Tron, who was pursued by Turkish corsairs, took refuge in the harbour of Gravosa, and in spite of the threats of the pirate commander the Senate refused to give him up. Finally they bought off the cousin with a sum of money, but he sacked the monastery of Lacroma. Complaints were sent to Constantinople, and the Sultan delivered up the pirate Kara-kosia to the Ragusan Government to do what it pleased with him; but it was deemed best to set him at liberty with a warning. It was justified in its clemency, for in future none of his ships ever harmed a Ragusan. Venetian intrigues again threatened the Republic’s independence, and during the negotiations for a new Christian League it required all the diplomatic skill and eloquence of Francesco Gondola, the Ragusan ambassador in Rome, to save the city from destruction. In a despatch to the Senate, dated April I, 1570, he wrote as follows :—
   “ This war gives food for reflection to the thoughtful, especially with regard to the State of Ragusa, considering the capital malignity of the Venetians against us; it is recorded and confirmed that at the war of Castelnuovo in 1539 they tried to induce Andrea Doria, general of the Emperor (Charles V.), to capture Ragusa before aught else; and they were so keen on this proposal, that they only gave way when Doria opposed an
1 Razzi, iii. xx.