PThY



THE SHORES OF THE ADRIATIC

THE AUSTRIAN SIDE



THE SHORES OF THE ADRIATIC

THE AUSTRIAN SIDE

THE KUeSTENLANDE, ISTRIA, AND DALMATIA

By F. HAMILTON JACKSON, R.B.A.

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF DECORATIVE DESIGNERS CANTOR LECTURER, ETC.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH PLANS. DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR, AND PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN SPECIALLY FOR THIS WORK



LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1908

PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY.



PREFACE

This volume is complementary to that dealing with the Italian side of the Adriatic, and follows much the same lines. It has not been thought necessary to repeat what appeared there about the sea itself, but some further details on the subject have been added in an introductory chapter. The concluding chapter treats of the influence which the two coasts exerted on each other, and contains some hints as to certain archaeological problems of great interest, which deserve fuller and more individual treatment than they can receive in such a work as the present.

In a country which still contains so much that is unfamiliar, so many mediaeval survivals in customs and costume, and so much that is fine in scenery, architecture, and the decorative arts, the picturesque aspect of the country has been dwelt upon more than was the case in dealing with the Italian side, and the meticulous description of buildings has to a great extent been abandoned, except in cases where it was necessary for the full understanding of the deductions drawn from existing details. At the same time, matters of archaeology have not been neglected, and the rich remains of mediaeval goldsmiths' work have received special attention. The costume, the customs, and the folk-lore of the Morlacchi are also treated of in considerable detail.

The determination of the Croat majority to stamp out the Italian language by insisting upon instruction in the schools being given solely in Croat will, in the course of a generation, make Italian a foreign language understood by few; and it seems wise for those who desire to visit Dalmatia to do so soon, while it is still understood and before Italian culture is forgotten.

The present work does not pretend to in any way rival Mr. T.G. Jackson's classic volumes on the architecture of the country, in completeness of historical treatment or architectural detail. Though Sir Gardner Wilkinson had published a book on the country, and the brothers Adam's full description of Diocletian's Palace was well known to connoisseurs, he may be said to have practically discovered Dalmatia for the Englishman; and it is a proof of the excellence of his work that, though twenty years have elapsed since it was published, it has never been surpassed, and its value remains undiminished. To these volumes the author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness, as well as to the "Mittheilungen" of the Austrian Central Commission for the Conservation of Historical Monuments; the "Bullettino di Storia Dalmata," conducted by Mgr. Bulic at Spalato; the "Atti" of the Istrian "Societa di Archeologia e Storia Patria," published at Parenzo; and the "Archeografo Triestino," published at Trieste, all chronicling discoveries as they were made, and containing articles giving interesting and reliable information upon the history and antiquities of the coast. In addition, the following works have been consulted:

Freeman's "Subject Lands of Venice"; Munro's "Rambles and Studies in Bosnia and Herzegovina"; Neale's "Travels in Dalmatia"; Villari's "Ragusa"; Benussi's "L'Istria"; Bianchi's "Zara Cristiana" and "Antichita Romane e mediaevale di Zara"; Mgr. Bulic's "Guide to Spalato and Salona"; Caprin's "Il Trecento a Trieste," "Alpi Gulie," and "L'Istria noblissima"; Carrara's "La Dalmazia descritta"; Chiudina's "Le Castella di Spalato"; Fabianich's "La Dalmazia ne primi cinque secoli del Cristianesimo"; Fosco's "La Cathedrale di Sebenico"; Franceschi's "L'Istria"; Gelcich's "Memorie storiche delle Bocche di Cattaro" and "Dello Sviluppo civile di Ragusa"; Lago's "Memorie sulla Dalmazia"; Lucio's "History of Dalmatia and Trau"; Ludwig and Molmenti's "Vittore Carpaccio"; Mantegazza's "L'Altra Sponda"; Modrich's "La Dalmazia"; Pasini's "Il Tesoro di S. Marco in Venezia"; Cav. G.B. di Rossi's "La Capsella Argentea africana," &c., and the two series of "Bullettino di Archeologia Cristiana"; Sabalich's "Guida Archeologica di Zaza"; Tamaro's "Le Citta dell' Istria"; and volumes of the Zara "Annuario Dalmatico"; Bamberger's "Blaues Meer und Schwarze Berge"; Danilo's "Dalmatien"; "Die Monarchic in Wort und Bild"; Eitelberger von Edelberg's "Gesammelte Kunsthistorischen Schriften"; Hauser's "Spalato und die monumente Dalmatiens"; Heider's "Mittelaltliche Kunst denkmale des OEsterreichischen Kaiserstaates"; Passarge's "Dalmatien und Montenegro"; Petermann's "Fuehrer durch Dalmatien"; Tomasin's "Die Volkstamme im Gebiete von Triest und in Istrien"; Von Warsberg's "Dalmatien"; and Count Lanckoronski's magnificent monograph of the Cathedral of Aquileia.

A small portion of the matter of this volume has appeared in The Builder and The Guardian, but has been revised and, to a great extent, rewritten. The author's thanks are due to the proprietors for permission to republish these articles. He desires to express his thanks also to the Austrian Government especially, and to the ecclesiastical authorities, for special facilities very kindly afforded him for prosecuting his studies; to the Central Commission, for the loan of cliches of most of the plans; to the directorate of the Archeografo Triestino, for permission to reproduce the plan of the cathedral, Trieste; to the Istrian Archaeological Society, for the plan of the three cathedrals of Parenzo, and for permission, very courteously given by the president, Dr. Amoroso, to use anything published by them on the subject; to Mgr. Bulic, Sig. Maionica, Curator of the Museum, Aquileia, and to Sig. Puschi, of the Museum, Trieste, for much information kindly given by word of mouth; and to Mr. Palmer, Librarian of the Art Library, South Kensington, for calling his attention to several books which were exceedingly useful.

The photographs (as in the Italian volume) are from the excellent negatives of Mr. Cooper Ashton, the travelling companion of many foreign archaeological expeditions.



CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE v

LISTS OF ILLUSTRATIONS AND PLANS xi-xv

I. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1

II. THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS 6

III. AQUILEIA 23

IV. GRADO 41

V. GRADO TO TRIESTE 54

VI. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA 69

VII. MUGGIA TO PIRANO 79

VIII. UMACO TO PARENZO 104

IX. PARENZO 107

X. TO POLA BY SEA 127

XI. TO POLA BY LAND 133

XII. POLA 143

XIII. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ISTRIAN COAST 160

XIV. FIUME AND VEGLIA 163

XV. OSSERO AND CHERSO 180

XVI. HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DALMATIA 187

XVII. ARBE 192

XVIII. ZARA 205

XIX. SEBENICO 245

XX. TRAU AND THE RIVIERA DEI SETTE CASTELLI 262

XXI. SPALATO 292

XXII. THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS 316

XXIII. RAGUSA 333

XXIV. THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO 369

XXV. THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES 397

INDEX 409



ILLUSTRATIONS

I. FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

Herzegovinian Women at a Baker's Shop in Ragusa Frontispiece Statue of Venus, Museum, Aquileia Facing page 36 Pulpit in the Cathedral, Grado " 45 Shipping at Trieste: the Canal, with the Greek Church and Sant' Antonio " 57 Pirano, from near the Cathedral " 97 Marble Capital of the Sixth Century, Parenzo " 113 High-altar, Parenzo, from the South Aisle " 116 Wine-boats in the Fiumara Canal, Fiume " 163 South Portion of Choir-screen, Cathedral, Veglia " 173 The Harbour of Besca Nova " 176 Chimneys at Besca Nova " 178 Monstrance in Colleggiata, Ossero " 184 Smergo Fishermen " 186 Ascent to the Ramparts, Zara " 205 Carving on Right Jamb of West Door, Cathedral, Trau " 272 Interior of the Cathedral, Trau " 276 Door of the "Atrio Rotondo," Palace of Diocletian, Spalato " 294 Interior of the Cathedral, Spalato " 296 Panel from Guvina's Doors of the Cathedral, Spalato " 299 Stall-backs in Choir, Cathedral, Spalato " 300 A Morlacco Family, between Salona and Clissa " 314 Travelling at ease: among the Islands " 329 Herzegovinian Charcoal Porter, Gravosa " 334 Reliquary of the Head of S. Blaise, Cathedral Treasury, Ragusa " 343 Cloister of the Dominican Convent, Ragusa " 349 Lavabo in Sacristy of Franciscan Convent, Ragusa " 353 Loggia of Rector's Palace, Ragusa " 354 Capital from the Loggia, Rector's Palace, Ragusa " 355 AEsculapius Capital, Rector's Palace, Ragusa " 356 Fountain of Onofrio di La Cava, Ragusa " 357 Reliquary of the Head of S. Trifone, Cattaro " 384 Albanian Horse-dealers, Cattaro " 388

II. FULL-PAGE LINE DRAWINGS

Narthex of the Cathedral, Aquileia " 35 A Corner in Grado " 42 The Patriarch's Throne, Cathedral, Grado " 46 Choir-screen and Ambo, Muggia Vecchia " 81 The "Fontico" and S. Giacorno, Capodistria " 90 The Piazza da Ponte, Capodistria " 92 The Inner Harbour, Pirano " 94 Opus Sectile in the Apse, Cathedral, Parenzo " 114 The Atrium and Western Facade, Cathedral, Parenzo " 119 View across the Nave, Cathedral, Parenzo " 131 An Istrian Farm-house " 133 Interior of the Basilica, San Lorenzo in Pasenatico " 134 Entrance to the Castle, Pisino " 137 An Angle of the Castle, San Vincenti " 139 Arch of the Sergii, Pola " 145 The Amphitheatre, Pola " 146 West Doorway, S. Francesco, Pola " 154 Interior of the Cathedral, Veglia " 171 In the Harbour, Besca Nova " 175 The Main Street, Besca Nova " 177 Lussin Grande " 181 West Door of the Colleggiata, Ossero " 183 The Landing-place, Arbe " 193 The Porta Marina, Zara " 207 North Door of Western Facade, Cathedral, Zara " 220 Apse of S. Crisogono, Zara " 230 Entrance to the Town of Nona " 239 Eastern End of Cathedral, Sebenico " 248 Late Venetian-Gothic Doorway, Sebenico " 253 South-east Portion of Choir, Cathedral, Sebenico " 254 Belfry of Greek Church, Sebenico " 257 The Porta Marina and Custom House, Trau " 265 The Porta S. Giovanni, Trau " 266 A Decayed Palace, Trau " 282 The Quay, Castel Vecchio " 287 The Porta Aurea, Spalato " 293 Italian Fruit and Vegetable Boats, Spalato " 303 Cloister of S. Francesco, Spalato " 305 Osteria at Salona " 310 Basilica of the Christian Cemetery, Salona " 312 Porta Pile, Ragusa " 336 Torre Menze and Fort S. Lorenzo, Ragusa " 337 La Sponza and Onofrio's Fountain, Ragusa " 359 The Ruined Bastion, Castelnuovo, Bocche di Cattaro " 373 Dobrota, Bocche di Cattaro " 378 Ciborium of S. Trifone, Cattaro " 383 S. Luka, Cattaro " 385 The Scuola Nautica, Cattaro " 386

III. LINE DRAWINGS IN TEXT

Knocker of the Rector's Palace, Ragusa On Title Antique Statue in the Museum, Aquileia page 37 Figure of S. Giusto, Campanile of the Cathedral, Trieste " 63 Arco di Riccardo, Trieste " 65 West End of the Church, Muggia Vecchia " 80 Knocker on Palazzo Tacco, Capodistria " 91 Greek Benedictional Cross, Parenzo " 117 Sarcophagus of S. Eufemia, Rovigno " 130 Wayside Chapel outside San Vincenti " 140 Stall on the Wine-quay, Fiume " 164 Veglia, showing the Castle Towers 172 Reliquary of the Head of Sant Christopher 196 Arbe, from the Shore 203 Morlacco Girl, Zara 212 Going to Market, Zara 213 Altar of Sant' Anastasia, Zara 225 Reliquary of Sant' Orontius, Zara 226 Reliquary of the Clothes of Our Lord, S. Maria Nuova, Zara 234 Costume of Sebenico 257 Late Gothic Lintel at Trau 283 A Quaint Costume, Trau 286 Reliquaries and Chalice, Treasury, Spalato Cathedral 297 Morse in the Treasury, Spalato Cathedral 298 Porta Maggiore, Lesina 319 West Door of the Cathedral, Curzola 326 Head Reliquary in Cathedral, Ragusa 345 Reliquary of the Jaw of S. Stephen of Hungary 346 A Corner of the Walls, Cattaro 388 Montenegrins in the Market, Cattaro 392 Early Greek Ship, from Millingen's Vases Tailpiece

IV. PLANS AND SECTIONS

Plan of the Cathedral, Aquileia 28 Plan of the Cathedral, Trieste 60 Plan of Pulpit, Muggia Vecchia 82 Plan of the Three Basilicas, Parenzo 109 Plan of S. Maria Formosa, Pola 148 Plans of S. Donate, Zara 214 Plans and Section of S. Lorenzo, Zara Between pages 216 and 217 Plan of Foundations discovered on the Riva Nuova, Zara 218 Plan of the Cathedral, Zara 223 Plan of Cathedral Crypt, Zara 224 Plan of S. Nicolo, Nona 242 Plan and Sections, S. Barbara, Trau 268 Plan of the Cathedral, Trau 271 Plan of Cathedral and Campanile, Spalato 295 Plan of the Dominican Convent, Ragusa 348 Plan and Elevation of one Bay of Cloister, Dominican Convent, Ragusa 352 Plan of La Sponza, Ragusa 358 Plan of the Cathedral, Cattaro 381

Map of Istria and Dalmatia At end of book



I

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

The two shores of the Adriatic are totally different in their natural characteristics; the western being almost islandless and destitute of harbours, while the eastern is fringed by an almost continuous chain of islands and possesses several magnificent harbours which communicate with the open sea by narrow channels easily fortified, the rocks rising precipitously from the water along the greater part of the coast, whereas on the Italian side there is an equally continuous strip of alluvial plain between the foothills and the sea.

The Adriatic was once bounded by a kind of ridge stretching from Monte Gargano to Albania. North of this line the depth is much less than in the Ionian Sea. When the surface of the earth sank, the Dalmatian islands were formed by the letting in of the sea. The depth near Parenzo is about 120 ft.; in the Quarnero, near Fiume, 195 ft.; between Cherso and Arbe, 335 ft.; and south-west of the island Zuri (some 24 miles from the mainland), about 700 ft. Depths as great as 335 ft. to 490 ft. are, however, not very common within nine miles of the mainland. In the Bocche di Cattaro the depth near the mouth is 165 ft., but half a mile west of the Punta d'Ostro, 335 ft. North of the line from Monte Gargano to Pelagosa, Cazza, and Curzola it is never as much as 780 ft.; south-east of this line the bottom sinks so much that between Cattaro and Brindisi it reaches a depth of over 5,000 ft. The tide is scarcely perceptible, and the currents are very slight. The land is still sinking, as is proved by the Roman sarcophagi found beneath the water at Vranjic and the submerged roads between Aquileia and Grado; while there are records of the destruction of ancient towns from sudden subsidences, as that of Cissa, near Rovigno. The subsidence has been calculated as about a yard in 1,000 years. Cluverius proves from Ptolemy that in antiquity the name Adriatic only applied to that part of the gulf which lay to the north of a line between Monte Gargano and Durazzo. A passage of Strabo, describing the people of Epirus, runs: "The Adriatic being ended, the Ionian commences, the first shore of which is in the neighbourhood of Epidamnus and Apollonia." When Venice conquered Durazzo the limits of the Adriatic were extended, and it was thenceforth called the Gulf of Venice. In 1859 the almost incredible fact is recorded that it was frozen for several days!

The Austrian provinces which lie along the coast are, commencing at the north, the Kuestenlande, Istria, and Dalmatia. In the first the Julian Alps form a great boundary wall to the plain of the Isonzo, from which the ground rises between Monfalcone and Nabresina to the stony district of the Karst. The Istrian ranges are spurs from this lofty plateau, the chain culminating in Monte Maggiore, north-west of Fiume. All these heights belong to the Julian Alps. Beyond Fiume, southwards, there are three principal mountain chains, all of which have much the same formation of limestone, pale brownish or grey in colour, with fossils and streaks of other colours. The first is the Dinaric Alps or Velebits, a continuation of the Julian Alps. These separate Dalmatia from Bosnia as far as Imoschi, where they enter Herzegovina, finally joining the Montenegrin chain. The chain of the shore commences on the left bank of the Kerka and extends to the Narenta, which cuts it. It runs as far as Trebinje, beyond the river. The Montenegrin mountains, which are so impressive above the Bocche di Cattaro, joining with those of the Herzegovina, make the third chain. The islands and rocks in the sea appear to be submarine branches of the littoral chain; the strata lie in the same direction—in the North Dalmatian islands to the north-west, in the Southern to the west. On the peninsula of Sabbioncello they lie partly in one and partly in the other direction. The former connection between the islands and the mainland is proved by the remains of rhinoceros, horse, and stag in the diluvial bone breccias of Lesina, and the survival of the jackal in Giuppana, Curzola, and Sabbioncello. Geologists hold that the deeply cut bays of Sabbioncello and Gravosa, as well as of the Bocche di Cattaro, and the step-shaped sinkings of the northern and eastern limestone mountains towards the Adriatic basin are signs of the tearing away of the islands from the mainland, perhaps through the destruction of the permeable strata.

These generally show in their forms the craggy and stony character of the Dinaric Alps, rising perpendicularly from the water on the side of the prevailing wind, and without vegetation. On the other side are softer hills and plains with southern vegetation, the aromatic scents from which are carried by the breeze. There are about twenty large islands, some of which are over 30 miles long; but the number may be raised to a hundred by counting in the small ones. They are generally in groups or chains, though some are isolated. The water is generally deep up to the shore, so there are very few sandbanks.

The greater portion of the naked surface of the land is formed of limestone and dolomites, which are closely related: there are also, on the lower levels, grey or red sands, among which schistous loams of uniform colour predominate. These two formations stretch from one end of the province to the other in sloping beds. They are interrupted here and there by loam and schistous clay and horizontal beds of a kind of limestone: below these are lignites and chalky limestone, in which shells are found belonging to a later formation. The oldest formations are the volcanic mountains near Knin and on Lissa. Next follow the trias strata, as under the Velebits and westwards from Sinj, then the sandstone beds, the different eocene beds and alluvial strata, as in the plain of Dernis, north of the Vrana Lake, by Nona and Imoski. The principal characteristic of the Karst district (to which Dalmatia belongs geologically) is the way the water flows, sometimes above, sometimes under ground. Where the woods were cut down to supply the Romans and Venetians with material for constructing their fleets, and where natural afforestation has been stopped by the feeding of sheep and goats, the red earth has either been washed away by the rains or blown away by the winds, so that it is only in the hollows that cultivation can be carried on.

The bitter north wind, the Bora, is the curse of the district. In the island of Arbe it sometimes blows even in June and July, stripping the vineyards as if hundreds of men had been at work, and carrying the salt spray all over the island, to the great detriment of vegetation. It is sometimes strong enough to upset pedestrians, and it is said that if it were not for it, there would be neither winter nor cold in the Dalmatian littoral. On the heights winter begins in November and lasts till April, with heavy snowfalls; but on the coast spring begins in February, and winter only at the beginning of December. The summer, which commences in May, is usually rainless, with the heat tempered by sea-breezes, though at the end of August heavy rains commence, and in autumn the frequent changes of temperature are dangerous. The flora consists of nearly 2,500 species, described by Visiani in his "Flora Dalmatica." The aquatic flora contains nearly 700 varieties, many of the seaweeds being exclusively Dalmatian. Views on the coast of Ragusa, or at Castelnuovo, in the Bocche, resemble those of Sardinia and Sicily. On one side may be seen green meadows, fruit trees, flowing water, cornfields, beechwoods, &c.; on the other, olive groves, thickets of arbutus, hedge plants the height of a tree, myrtles, and bay; on the naked rock aloes grow and the opuntia; in gardens, dwarf and date-palms, unprotected cycas revoluta, and orange and lemon trees; and wide valleys are filled with lofty carob trees—so close are the boundaries between the flora of middle Europe and of the Mediterranean. Almonds flower in December, and peas and beans are often gathered at Christmas. At Cannosa the date-palm ripens its fruit, and flowers are always to be seen. The Euphorbia Dendroides grows as high as in Crete, and rosemary bushes are frequently up to the shoulder of a man. In August the Syrian hibiscus is violet-red and the scarlet-red arbutus fruit hangs till Christmas. On Monte Marjan, near Spalato, where Diocletian had his parks, the sheltered aspect creates a tropical climate. Wild aloes grow 6 ft. high, and in midwinter numbers of field flowers may be picked as if it were spring.



II

THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

The people of Istria and Dalmatia are a very mixed race, as might be expected from the history of the countries. On these shores and islands were Greek colonies and Roman municipia, which have left their trace in the names of places and families. Greek colonies were at Issa (Lissa), Pharia (Lesina), Epetium (Stobrec), Tragurium (Trau), Melita (Meleda), Corcyra (Curzola), Buta (Budua), and Ambrachia (Brazza), to name some of those which have survived as towns to the present day. Roman family names occur especially round Spalato, such as Lutia (Lucio), Caepia (Cippico), Valeria (Valeri), Junia (Giunio), Coceia (Coceich), Marcia (Marce), Cassia (Cassio), Caelia (Celio), and Statilia (Statileo). Byzantine names testify to the rule of Byzantium, such as Paleologo, Lascaris, Andronico, Grisogono, Catacumano. In Istria there is a considerable admixture of German blood; on the rocks of Zara the Crusaders abandoned sick Frenchmen; whilst thither and to Spalato also came Ghibellines in exile. Franks, Croats, Bosniaks, Hungarians, Genoese, Neapolitans, and above all, Venetians have held sway over portions of the coast at different times. Families of Hungarian and Bosnian gentlemen established the free commune of Poglizza; exiles from Spain, Jews, for the most part driven out in 1492, established themselves at Spalato and Ragusa; Lombards descended upon the coasts and islands; and Venetians commenced to establish themselves in Dalmatia in the eleventh century, Istria coming even earlier more or less under their influence. In 1552, in the Council of Zara, out of seventeen noble families more than two-thirds were of Italian descent; and at Lesina the proportion was even greater. At Zara the Italians still preponderate, but the Slav element is in the majority in the greater part of Dalmatia, and even in the country parts of Istria. There are also many French, Hungarians, Bosniaks, Herzegovinians, Germans, Swiss, and gypsies, the Slav majority increasing towards the south.

In Istria the present inhabitants may be divided into Italians, Roumanians, and Slavs: to the last division belong the Morlacchi, the Tschitsches, Slovens, and Croats. The Italians are the most intelligent portion of the population, and are craftsmen, large occupiers of land, merchants, and sailors. They are the descendants of those who were subjects of Venice from the fourteenth century till the fall of the Republic. The Slovens were in Istria as early as the eighth century, and Paulus Diaconus mentions them as being near Cividale. Records exist of Croats raids in the tenth century, whilst further south there were two great immigrations—the first, in the seventh century, by the "Belocroats," called by Porphyrogenitus, Croats, from the banks of the Elbe, descendants of whom may to-day be found in the islands; and the second, in the fourteenth century, by the people of Rascia, who now inhabit much of the interior and are known as "Morlacchi," a name derived from the Slav "Mauro vlach," the black Wallachs.

According to Lucio, who refers to William of Tyre, all Dalmatians used the Roman language until 1200. After the Croats came down, the name of "Dalmatian," strictly speaking, belonged only to the cities of Zara, Trau, Spalato, and Ragusa, to the western islands of Dalmatia, and to Lissa and Lagosta—Eastern Dalmatia was a Servian province; Western, a Croatian. It is known that Slavs came in 1463 to Salvore, in 1526 to the district of Rovigno, in 1549 to the district of Cittanova, Montona, Parenzo, and Pola, in 1595 to Fontane, in 1624 and 1634 (the plague years) to Fillipano, 1647 to near Pola, and 1650 to Peroi, near Fasano. Those now there came from the Bocche and Montenegro, settled in 1658-1659 by Doge Giovanni Pesaro, after the great plague. The women still wear the ancient costume. The Slavs are most numerous between Dragogna and Trieste. Procopius gives an interesting description of them worth quoting: "The two nations of the Autars and the Slavs know no monarchical government; but from ancient times live freely in common fashion. They take all questions of great importance or difficulty to a common national council. The customs of the two nations are alike in everything else. These barbarians believe, by an article of faith transmitted from their ancestors, that, among many, there is one sole master of all things, whom they look upon as the author of the thunder; and to him they sacrifice bulls and other victims. They do not know what the goddess Fortune may be, nor believe that she has any influence on human affairs. When they feel themselves threatened by death, either by illness or wounds given in battle, they are told to promise a sacrifice to God if they escape the danger. Then, if they soon get about again, they fulfil the vow, firmly persuaded that by it they have recovered their health. They offer worship to woods, to nymphs, and other genii, immolating victims to them, and prophesying in the act. They live in rough huts far away from each other, and often change the situation. The greater part of them fight on foot, armed with shield and with darts, but without corslet. Some of them do not wear their ordinary clothes in battle, but draperies which scarcely reach to the thigh, and so they present themselves to the enemy. They all speak the same barbarous tongue, nor differ much in appearance, but are all tall and powerful. The colour of the flesh and the hair is neither vermilion nor brown, but reddish. They live a somewhat fatiguing life, somewhat neglected and uncultivated, like the Massagetae, and, like them, on sordid food. They are not cunning, nor evildoers, but follow the customs of the Huns in sacking and rapine. They possess vast lands and occupy the greater part of the further bank of the Danube." They have retained many characteristics of an earlier age, though not of the period of Procopius.

The men are tall and muscular, with strongly marked features. Their eyes are generally either grey or blue, the forehead broad and prominent, the teeth white and strong, the hair sometimes blonde, but ranging through all shades to black, and the countenance intelligent and expressive. The boys herd the flocks barefoot and half naked, so that their skin is always bronzed, and the men generally have bare breasts. Their sight and hearing are remarkably keen, and in Dalmatia they can make themselves heard from one hill to another, a feat which is partly owing to the quality of the air. Their excellent health enables them to support all kinds of hardships; they sleep out of doors (covering the head), except in winter, at which season they stay a good deal by the fire, though they may be seen in the city with icicles on their hairy chests. They have neither stoves, chimneys, nor glass in the windows. A case of a monk has been recorded, who, at the age of 105, made watches and read with the naked eye, ate and drank, walked and "wept" like a boy of twenty. The costume is distinctive and, with slight variations, is worn throughout Dalmatia. In Istria there are considerable differences both in colour and form. "The Morlacco in full dress has on his head the kapa, a cap of scarlet cloth, with black embroidery on the border and hanging fringe on one side; in some districts bordering on Bosnia a rich band of silk or coloured wools is twisted round it. Over the skirt of rough linen (the kosulja), open to show the breast, is the krozet, a waistcoat crossed on the breast with flat buttons of silver, or tin, and embroidery; it is bound to the sides with a girdle (pas) made of red strings. The trousers (benevrechi) are of a coarse blue cloth fitting to the legs and very tight at the calf, below which they are split up and fastened by sponje, copper or silver hooks. The stockings (nazubei) are of wool of various patterns. The shoes (opanci) have a sole of ox-leather and uppers of strips of dried sheeps' skin (opute); a longer oputa passes several times round the ankle and holds the shoe firm; it turns up at the toe and looks quite Oriental. Instead of the krozet, or over it, some wear the jacerma, a sleeveless red cloth jacket, covered in front with little discs of tin (siliki), or large balls of silver (toke), or by rows of coins. And over the pas they have the pasnjaca, a band of red leather covering part of the abdomen, with various divisions, in which they used to carry their rich arms, pistols, knives, &c., now filled with the pipe, pipe-cleaner, britva, a very small scimitar with a bone handle, and a small knife in a sheath. Finally, there is the koporan, a jacket with sleeves of blue cloth, with embroidery on the elbows and back; but few Morlacchi wear it.

"The women have a large handkerchief (jacmak) on their heads, embroidered on the borders; instead of the kosulja, or above it, they have the oplece—that is, the coverer of the shoulders; it is closed at the neck, embroidered on the breast, and on the ample sleeves also. Round the neck is the gerdan, several strings of glass beads of different colours; it is bound at the stomach by the litar, a long band of leather a couple of inches wide covered with little tin discs and very heavy. From the litar hang the britva and a lot of keys, by chains, which are sometimes costly. The gown (vustan) is of blue cloth, but in summer of linen, reaching to the middle of the calf. The apron (prejaca, or, in Venetian, travesa) is always a chef-d'oeuvre of workmanship, which the Morlacca thinks a deal of. The footwear is composed of three parts: bicve, of blue cloth reaching up to the knee, tightly laced up with little hooks, and finishing at the ankle in a ring; over them the true stockings (nazubei) of rough wool, with patterns in vivid colours and opanci, or filare, like the men's. The girl does not have the litar; on her head is no jacmak, but a red cloth cap, sparkling with antique or modern coins of silver, and occasionally of gold. In some places the girl has on her bosom the gendar, several rows of coins which hang from the neck, sometimes below the stomach, tinkling at every step; this is her dowry, and sometimes worth as much as L50. When she is married she puts off the gendar and sparkling kapa. The men used to have a pigtail, of which they were very proud. The wife used to comb it twice a month, anoint it with butter, and tie up the end with ribbons and amulets. It was the only time when a Morlacco addressed his wife affectionately. In barracks and in prison the hair is cut, so the pigtail is rarely seen now. To complete the toilet the torba and torbak must be mentioned: the first of red wool, with embroidery, worn by both men and women on the back, laced round the shoulders; the second generally of skin, worn only by the men, and hanging crosswise by a broad band of leather on the left hip."

I have given this detailed description of the costume (quoted from Signor Modrich's "Dalmazia"), thinking it would be of interest; but descriptions of the costumes as they appear to the ordinary traveller will be found in the sections dealing with the various places on the coast.

The Dalmatians are very fond of music and are constantly singing. They have a proverb: "He who sings thinks not of evil." Tomaseo thought their folk-songs richer than those of any other nation, ranging as they do over all manner of subjects. They are generally heroical or amorous in character, divided into short verses and sung in two parts; the bass delivers a kind of recitative, and the baritone joins in, the long final note with which each finishes dying away in a full chord. It is extraordinary how serious the men are over it, even when singing over their wine, in which they sometimes exceed. At Trau one Sunday afternoon we saw a party of eight or ten sitting round a table in a cafe as serious as if at a funeral, with wine before them, and enjoying their melancholy music. On this occasion the alto part was flat, and the effect was not as good as it is out of doors. Later we came across more than one group of four, standing where two streets met, and singing without looking at each other. In the narrow ancient streets the notes sounded quite in character with the surroundings and with the quaint dresses of the singers. Modrich says that they use the svirala, a kind of bagpipe with two canes, one with four and the other with three holes, and suggests that the long-drawn terminating notes of the songs are in imitation of its sound; but we neither saw nor heard this instrument, all the singing being unaccompanied. The principal occupations of the people are agriculture, cattle-raising, and fishing, or sea-faring. They are exceedingly religious, devoted to church and priest, and observe the great festivals with feasting and rejoicing, and with ceremonies many of which are evidently survivals of heathen observances. The greatest festival is Christmas. In preparation all clothes are washed and mended, house and yard cleaned, and better and richer food than they usually have is provided. On the Eve they work hard; before sunrise house and yard are decked with bay or olive branches or some other evergreen, which they think protects from lightning. On this day the sun, which the ancient Slavs worshipped, woke from sleep, as one may say, and the days began to lengthen perceptibly.

The father of the sun was Perun, the thunder-god. To this god the oak was dedicated. In the folk-songs he is replaced by S. Elias, and to this day a great log of oak is placed on the fire on Christmas Eve, and kindled for the preparation of the evening meal. It burns all night and the whole of the following day, and in many places is kept smouldering for eight days. The customs observed are as follows. The head of the family bares his head and says: "Blessed be thou, O log; God preserve thee!" and sprinkles wine upon it crosswise. Then corn is thrown over it, and he invokes every blessing from heaven for the health of those belonging to the house, present or absent, for the success of domestic undertakings, and for the harvest, to which the others present reply "Amen," fire off guns in sign of joy, and say: "Welcome to the evening of the log." Then they sit down to table in the kitchen, even if other rooms are available, which suggests a survival of the practice of eating by the ancient family altar, the hearth. In the centre of the table are three candles twisted together in honour of the Trinity, lighted, and stuck into a great loaf ornamented with ivy. This loaf is afterwards broken up and given to the sheep and cows when bringing forth, or when sick. A little of every kind of food is thrown on to the burning log. If there are three logs (as in some places), the right-hand one must be the biggest—the Father, the Son to the left, and the Spirit in the middle, the aspersion being made in this order. Boccaccio, in the "Genealogy of the Gods," refers to a similar custom in his day in Florence, evidently the survival, or transmutation, of some heathen rite. After supper the hymn "Es wurde geboren der Himmels Koenig von der unbefleckten Jungfrau Maria" is sung, and then the young people usually play Christmas games. Little houses are made of flour or bran, with a piece of money in one, which belongs to the person who selects that house. On Christmas Day they visit neighbours and relations, married daughters come with husband and children to the midday meal, bringing two loaves—one of finer quality for the mother, one of the usual kind as big as possible for the father. During the octave groups of young people (and sometimes of men also) go singing carols from house to house, and are rewarded with money and wine in return for wishing the donors a rich wine, olive, and fruit crop. On New Year's Day the three tapers of Christmas Eve are re-lighted. Before drinking at the meal the head of the house uses the following formula: "I wish you a good New Year; may you enjoy it in health and happiness, neither offend God, nor lose your soul, but have every tender joy and celestial glory." Then he drinks in undiluted wine three times, and blesses those present in the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, and pours the remainder of the wine on the candles to extinguish them. If by chance one remains alight it is considered an augury of long life to the person in front of whom it stands. The holy water of the Vigil of the Epiphany, called "water of the Three Kings," and used by the priests to bless every dwelling, is preserved to sprinkle the fields and the sick also, and is thought to be specific against the temptations of the devil at the hour of death. It is said to remain uncorrupted for as long as twenty-five years. Children go about on New Year's Day with a branch of rosemary stuck in an apple in which are kreuzer or ten-kreuzer pieces, wishing good fortune and collecting gifts. In Trieste and some of the Istrian towns, girls and boys go about throughout the octave of Epiphany with little lanterns, kneel on the steps of the houses, sing a song in honour of the three Holy Kings, and then, knocking, ask for money. The song tells how Christ was born poor, lived poor, and died on the Cross, and then goes on to wish friendly donors as many angels to take them to heaven as a sieve has holes; for the hard-hearted as many devils to take them as nails stuck in the door! In some neighbourhoods children are taken into the vineyards on Innocents' Day, when they strike the vines with switches and sing: "Bear, bear fruit, pretty vine, else will I cut thy head off."

Great preparations are made for Easter, when young lambs and turkeys are slain, which the folk-songs tell us used to be offered to the sun-god. Roasted lamb, cooked eggs, cheese, and bread and salt are carried early to the church to be blessed by the priest. When the bearers return, the table is blessed by the head of the family, and God thanked for the well-completed Lenten fast, after which they sit cheerfully down to their meal, burning all fragments left, since the food has been blessed, and taking care not to let anything fall to the ground. In Lent, and during other fasts, they eat neither flesh nor eggs, nor any kind of milk food. They have a saying that it is less culpable to kill a person in vendetta than to eat rich food in Lent. S. John the Baptist's Day is one of their principal feasts. On the Eve the shepherds light fires on all the hills. On the morning they swim for the first time in the year, or wash from head to foot, and also wash all their animals. The girls and boys make garlands of flowers and broom, set them on their heads, and dance "with devotional joy." This is no doubt part of the ancient heathen festival of midsummer. Another festival which has nothing to do with the Church is the "Fasching" or "Pust," on Monday during Carnival. Groups of masked male dancers go through the villages with horns on their heads, or with bells at their girdles weighing several pounds, in one hand a strong stick, in the other a bag of ashes. They dance, jest, fight with other bands, and throw ashes over the women and children who run away. One of them generally carries a clothed figure like a man—the "Pust"—which next day, or on Ash Wednesday, is burnt or buried. This is a relic of the heathen custom of destroying Morana or Mora, the goddess of night, of darkness, winter, and death, who, the country-folk say, sits on men at night and drinks their blood, and of Mrak (twilight), her helper, who brings little children to her by twilight. The priest, who used to be an oracle to his flock, was asked first to every festivity, and consulted in every difficulty. "The priest says so" put an end to all questioning. With their religious feeling, superstition goes hand in hand. They believe in vampires, nightmares, witches, and "Vilen." The vampire is an evil spirit which appears by night to frighten men, in the guise of a lately dead man or woman "who had not lived piously." It is a human skin filled with blood, covered with a shroud, and shows itself at crossways and on bridges, in caves and graveyards, but also rattles window-shutters and throws down tiles from the roof. It is not safe to call to it; if it reaches out to any one three times that is taken as a sign that it is a good spirit from purgatory asking for help. For protection a thorn-stick is carried, with which the vampire is thrust through. The "Alp" (the nightmare) is an evil old maid who sits on the back or breast of sleepers, holds their hands and feet, and stops their mouth so that they cannot cry for help; therefore they never sleep on the back, but on the right side, and keep near the bed an open bottle-gourd, of which the "Alp" or "Mora" is afraid. It generally wears a white dress and black bodice, with a white veil over loose hair. Witches only appear in bad weather, and hold their assemblies under walnut-trees or on certain hills. Excessive hail is supposed to be their work. They can be killed by firing with three grains of corn and the Paschal wax-candle at the lightning before the thunder sounds. If this can be done, the witch dies. "Vilen" are maidens with horses' hoofs. They are found in caves and collect in woods, at the sources of streams or springs. The name comes from the Slav "bijela," the white; they are not regarded as evil spirits. In the neighbourhood of Spalato they think that new-born children, if strong and handsome, are likely to be taken away by "Vilen," and therefore watch the infants most carefully till they are baptized. These maidens busy themselves with rope-making, spinning, and gold and silver embroidery, and have the power of changing stones and coal to gold and silver. In summer, when hail falls on the vineyards, peasants may still be seen to turn to the black clouds and throw up salt and shredded garlic. It is said that the devil can be seen if one stand at the church door in such weather with a priest, treading with the right foot upon the priest's right. He is like a great dragon spreading his claws and reaching to the upper clouds from the earth; but the priests never allow the trial, for fear the man should die of fright at the sight. This reminds one of the Chinese and Japanese storm-dragon.

The peasants practise astrology to find lucky times to commence undertakings. Falling stars are considered to be the opening of heaven, and anything asked for at that moment will be granted. Thunders are the rumbling which S. Elias makes with his car. Amulets are worn, especially near the Turkish border. It is considered lucky to spill wine on oneself. To meet a snake, a viper in the house, or a centipede crawling over the walls is also lucky. On the other hand, misfortune attends crackling wood, the birth of black lambs, the entering a house left foot first, sitting at table seven or thirteen in number, giving drink with the left hand, spilling oil or salt, and leaving two rods or knife and spoon crosswise. A crowing hen means domestic misfortune—she must be killed to avoid it; and the baying of a dog or hooting of an owl at night imports the death of a neighbour. Their customs are patriarchal. The father has full authority over his sons, and their wives are merely fresh daughters of the house. Every boy is held to be worth more than the women, from the age of eight, and girls and women who meet a man are expected to salute him. In some places, in the middle of the last century, this salutation was accompanied with a kiss. The oldest man in the house (stareshina) was the only one who could leave anything by will. He said prayers morning and evening, blessed the table, welcomed the guests, sat with them at table, and hurried the service of his family. He arranged the work of each member of the household, carried on all commercial transactions, and disposed of the results as he pleased. If he found the duties too heavy for him he transferred the responsibility to some other male member. The stopanjica (the mistress) was the directress of the house, and the other women worked under her orders. These people are exceedingly honest, and in some of the villages no locks are to be found either on door or chest.

They have a ceremony by which two persons swear friendship before the altar, and are then called half-brothers or half-sisters. At one time the usage was also practised between persons of different sex. They are also tenacious in prosecuting a vendetta, and, till about seventy years ago, there was but one way in which a blood feud could be extinguished. It was called the Karvarina, or price of blood, and its acceptance was preceded by several very curious ceremonies. The relations dipped the murdered man's shirt in his blood, and kept it till he was avenged, or the price of blood was arranged. The family of the murderer asked for a truce of several weeks, and sent a solemn embassy of twelve young women with their babies. Arrived at the house, the babies were put down, and the women wept, asking for peace and pity in the name of S. John the Baptist, and the putting away of anger for pity of the little ones. After a time the people of the house picked up the children and promised to bring to the font twelve of their children yet unborn to be attendants at the marriage of as many girls, and gave the mothers a piece of silver, a veil, and a cloth in sign of peace. Then the relations of the slain chose twenty-four judges, who were entreated by the other side to serve, and could not refuse, nor might they receive payment. To the preliminaries of the judgment on the appointed day the "dance of blood" succeeded. The criminal, with joined hands, and with the fatal sword at his neck, extricated himself from the slow, melancholy dance, and cried three times: "Pardon!" The nearest relation ordered the principal judge to drive him ignominiously away. The judge obeyed, and struck him to the earth with his foot, but as soon as his forehead touched the ground he turned and cried again: "In the Name of God, pardon me!" The dancing stopped, and the dancers burst into tears. The embittered relative of the murdered man went to him, raised him, embraced him, and kissed him on the forehead, and, turning to the rest, cried out: "This man has been my enemy hitherto, but shall be my friend—my brother—henceforward, to me and to you all also, and to any who were blood-relations of our dear friend who was killed," and then broke a silver coin in two, giving him one half. Then the oldest of the judges read the sentence imposing the price of blood, from 50 to 140 zecchins of gold. Part of the money went to the Church, a third to the expenses of the judgment, and the rest to the family, who generally applied it to some pious use.

Marriage customs vary slightly. About Pola and Parenzo the country people make a great display, and go through ceremonies pointing to the capture or purchase of the bride. The cortege is headed by a standard-bearer, an unmarried relation, carrying a linen flag of different colours, and on it a wheel-shaped loaf with a great apple on the point of a long pole. The guests knock loudly at the door: after a time a voice asks who they are and what they want. The oldest man answers: "A rose out of the garden," or "A hind out of the thicket." After some debate, first an old woman is brought out, then a younger, then the bridesmaids. They take them all, but want another—"A barefoot girl is still there." At last the bride appears. "That is the right one; we will take her away," all cry, and the bride-leader asks for her stockings and fine shoes, which generally contain a silver coin. These she herself puts on. The bridegroom gives shoes or some other gift to the mother and all the home people. Then one of the guests fires at an apple on a stick fixed to the roof, or on a tree-top, and it is considered a disgrace to all if he misses. Now the bride comes down, garlanded and with one or two apples in her hand, which she throws at the bridegroom, who tries to cover her with the flag. Whether struck or not, he picks the apples up, to eat with his bride after the ceremony. Then they go off to church. Other customs accompany the journey home.

The Morlacchi are very hospitable; if any one approaches one of their houses they ask him in, and will not let him go without his tasting bread and wine. They are exceedingly loyal and devoted to their native land. They are very fond of proverbs, of which I quote a few: "The empty sack does not stand upright"; "Penitence does not make the madman well again"; "If you will not be a thief I will not watch"; "You can't shut out the sun with the palm of your hand"; "Be married by your ears and not your eyes"; "There is most milk in other people's cows"; "He who cries most loudly works the least"; "Promises console the foolish"; "He who has been bitten by a viper fears the lizard"; "The wolf changes his skin, but not his habits"; "As the mother spins, so the daughter weaves"; "Horses by their pace, maidens by their stock."

They are a powerful and a proud race, as the following story from Fortis shows, and will without doubt leave their mark on European history when their culture equals their physical powers; but the present race-animosity between Croat and Italian is deplorable. The Croats, being in the majority, are using their power to oppress the Italian-speaking portion of the population. The schools are now all Croat, and the Italians have no means of instruction for their children in their own language except at Zara. At Spalato the race-feeling is especially bitter; it is the only city in Dalmatia in which the anniversary of the Italian defeat at Lissa is feted with display of flags and music by the municipio. The Italian theatre was burnt down some years ago, and the Croat majority on the council voted a large sum of money (stated to have been L60,000) to build a new Croat theatre to replace it; and this they refused to let to Italian companies. But there are no Croat companies ready to bear the expense of coming to Spalato, so the theatre remains closed!

The story told by Fortis is as follows: "Venice was exchanging prisoners-of-war with the Turks, and gave several Turkish soldiers for each Dalmatian. A deputy of the Porte observed that this was scarcely fair, to whom a Morlacco of Sinj replied fiercely: 'Know that our prince willingly gives many asses for a horse.'"



III

AQUILEIA

The city of Aquileia, called by the Greeks Chrysopolis, because it was one of the largest and richest cities of the empire, is now represented by a cluster of houses, a cathedral, and a museum in which the greater part of the objects found by excavating are housed. It is easily reached by carriage from either Villa Vicentina or Cervignano, a pleasant drive of an hour or so; and it gives one some idea of the size of the ancient city to remember that the whole of the ground passed over, at least from Villa Vicentina, was originally included in its suburbs. The city stretched 16 miles along the shore, but the ground has sunk some five feet, and much of ancient Aquileia now lies beneath the lagoon. The inscriptions show that most of the inhabitants were foreigners. At present the environs are malarious; but at the time when the naval station was established here the climate must have been much more healthy; on account, probably, of the great pine-forest which stretched along the shore, and of which there are still some small remains towards the Belvedere. At that time the Natisone debouched close to the town, and there was ample anchorage for ships. In the eleventh century the great port and arsenal were at Morrano and S. Marco al Belvedere, which were then still islands. The sea-mouth was between Grado and S. Pietro d'Oro, where the pharos was.

The city was founded in 181 B.C., and its name is said to have originated in the appearance of an eagle which was seen while the plan was being laid out. It was the centre from which numerous roads diverged. Here Vespasian was hailed emperor by his legion. In 238 Maximin and his son were killed beneath its walls. Alaric besieged it, and Attila destroyed it in 452. Forty years later Theodoric took the lordship of Italy from Odoacer on the banks of the Isonzo, and in 552 the citizens who had returned were again driven away to the deltas of other rivers by Alboin, who was, it is said, called from Pannonia by Narses to wreak his vengeance on the son of Justinian.

Christianity was planted in Aquileia in apostolic times. According to tradition S. Mark was sent by S. Peter from Rome to the city, and there wrote or translated his gospel into Greek. S. Hermagoras, who was Aquileian by birth, followed him as overseer of the Church. He was consecrated the first bishop of Italy in Rome, the diocese ranking next to the Roman see as being the most ancient after that city. There is no doubt possible as to the existence of Christianity here at the end of the third century. There were churches in the time of Constantine, and a baptistery as early as 270, in the days of Aurelian. In Constantinian times it was a centre of Catholic life. SS. Jerome and Ambrose lived within its walls, and towards the end of the fourth century the bishops of Como, Venetia, Istria, Noricum, Pannonia, and even Augsburg, as some say, were under Valerian the bishop. Till Carolingian times the patriarchs were Italians, Greeks, or Friulians; but, with the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire, the patriarchs of Aquileia politically were attached to it, and were friends of the emperors, who often stayed in the city on their journeys to and from Italy. All the names are German from the end of the tenth century to the middle of the thirteenth. The patriarchate was exceedingly prosperous under Poppo (1019-1045), who had been chancellor to Henry II. He moved his seat back to Aquileia from Cividale, built a fine palace (of which the two isolated pillars and the ruined walls to the south of the cathedral remain) and the existing cathedral, using portions of an earlier one as material.

As at Parenzo, excavations have revealed the plan of earlier buildings upon and around the site of the cathedral. This was the Capitol of the ancient city, and probably a street ran between the baptistery and the cathedral. To the north lay the forum and the cattle-market, as inscriptions prove. The discovery of drains proves that there were dwelling-houses as well as temples near; but the wall of the original city was just east of the cathedral, and beyond it a branch of the Natisone flowed, affording additional protection. The river was canalised and navigable for seven miles. The piers of a bridge still remain near Monastero.

A large antique building of some kind, perhaps a prison or courts-of-law, connected with the martyrdom of SS. Hermagoras and Fortunatus, was used in the construction of the first cathedral, and portions of imperial work are to be seen in the lower parts of the eastern wall and the paving of the crypt. The baptistery, which rises to the west, also is on the base of a heathen temple. In the year 348 a new church was so far ready that a great meeting could be held in it, at which the emperor's brother was present, Athanasius tells us. It was finished in 381, when a council was held in it. The destruction wrought by Attila appears to have been complete, for no inscriptions have been found of his date, nor any Lombard objects, and at the time of the Lombard invasion the patriarch fled to Grado with all the church valuables, and moved his seat thither.

The foundations show that there were two basilicas side by side, with a narthex common to both and a passage between them up to the transept. To the south the narthex terminated in an apse nearly 20 ft. across, and there was a hall, probably open to the sky, between the narthex and the baptistery, with others to the north and south of it. The basilica to the north of the present cathedral extended under the campanile and the graveyard, and mosaics of its floor have been found on two levels, sunken in part by the weight of the campanile. The lower mosaic has been found over a space of more than 120 ft., but the excavations could not be made complete owing to the ground being used as a cemetery. One pattern is purely geometrical; another has birds, dogs, hares, baskets of flowers, and floral scrolls in octagons and squares set diagonally between them; both marble and vitreous pastes are used, as well as gold tesserae. Inscriptions were also found in letters of the third or beginning of the fourth century: "***ore Felix hic crevisti hic Felix" and "Cyriacus vivas." The former is held to prove that there was a domestic basilica here at that period. The bottom of the wall was painted with geometrical patterns imitating marble plating. The mosaic runs right under the campanile. There is a door to the south, and two pillars parallel to the face of the wall, and one to the left, opposite the north angle. The upper building has a double row of bases of columns, nine or ten in number, with an external wall 19 ft. 6 in. from the present basilica, and with the western wall of the narthex level with the present narthex, beneath the piazza. Antique fragments were used in the foundations. The lower part of the wall of the existing building is of the same materials and thickness, and probably of the same date. The much simpler mosaic patterns of the floor are at the same level both inside and outside—viz. 2 ft. 9 in. below the present pavement. Near the round building in the north aisle a fish mosaic was found on which the sarcophagus of Poppo stood. Signs of a conflagration—fragments of charcoal, &c.—were also found on this pavement. The colours used in the mosaics are white, blue, grey, palish green-grey, yellow, brown, black, several blues and reds, and two greens. The finest fragment has a figure of a peacock with tail displayed, which was in the narthex in front of the door to the church, and is now in the museum. On the pavement coins were found, most of which belonged to the third and fourth centuries; but there were also one Greek coin of Marcianopolis, two so-called Consular coins, one Augustan, three of the second century, one Ostrogothic of Ravenna, and several Aquileian of 1400. In the eighteenth century sarcophagi were disinterred bearing fourth-century crosses, of an earlier date than Attila, at all events.

There appears to have been a restoration in the sixth century, probably under Narses; the use of super-abaci and the caps in the transept suggest this. Perhaps the council of 557 may have had something to do with it. Twin basilicas occur elsewhere in Istria, though they were not always of the same date, as at Trieste, S. Michele in Monte, Pola, and probably at Ossero, where the seven-naved basilica of which Mr. T.G. Jackson gives the plan would be easily explained by the supposition.

The original east end was square. The semicircular apse within it is of a later date, probably of the ninth century, of which period there are other remains—viz. the beautiful slabs of the choir now in the south transept, with the remains of the bases of the pillars of the screen above. Two of the patterns are exactly like some at Muggia Vecchia; others resemble ornamented pillars of the door of S. Ambrogio, Milan; others are very like the fragments preserved at S. Maria in Valle, Cividale; whilst a band of interlacings resembles one which occurs on an Assyrian cylinder, not only in its forms, but in its irregularities. A piece of antique fluted pilaster now does duty as a base. The ornament on the steps of the throne is also of this period, probably executed under either Paulinus ([Symbol: cross]802) or Maxentius ([Symbol: cross]833) by Comacines, who probably went on to Rome to work in S. Maria in Cosmedin. The Liber Pontificalis under Hadrian I. mentions the "tres apsides in ea constituens" of that church as if they were something new.



The cathedral was much damaged by the earthquake of 998, and Poppo began to rebuild it after the Latcran Council of 1027 had declared the see of Aquileia first in Italy after Rome, It was sufficiently finished in 1031 for it to be consecrated by him on the festival of the patron saint (July 13), two Roman cardinal-bishops and twelve bishops being present, as a later inscription states. Of this building the greater part remains, though with considerable alterations and additions made in the fourteenth century, after the earthquake of 1348, and in the fifteenth century. The twenty columns of the nave arcade, some of which are granite and some Istrian limestone, show by their different heights and thickness that they came from other buildings. Some of them are in more than one piece. The bases are Attic of different heights and are of Poppo's time, as the caps appear to be also. Two similar caps are in the churchyard; and one, hollowed out, is used as a holy-water basin. Some of the same character were found at Monastero under another basilica. The central nave is 39 ft. broad, and the aisles 26 ft. The transept is about 136 ft. long, with an apse 32 ft. 6 in. broad opening from it, 21 ft. deep. The exterior length of the building is 218 ft. The round arches from the aisles to the transepts are older than the nave arcade. The columns are antique; that on the south has also a Corinthian cap, but the base is Romanesque. The base of the northern column is a shapeless block; the cap is like those of the nave, but the super-abacus is plain. Across the transepts two round arches are thrown in a line with the aisle walls, resting on very thin columns of cipollino; that on the south is of several pieces not belonging to each other. The caps vary in design. North and south of these arches are the chapels, with their apses. The arch of the apse is round, with two antique granite columns; it had three small round windows in it. The bishop's throne is from the earlier church. Beneath the late-Gothic seats round the apse are the seats of Poppo's time, with remains of inscriptions: the pavement of marble slabs and mosaic patterns is also due to him.

In 1896 frescoes of the eleventh century were discovered beneath the rococo plaster-work in the semi-dome. In the centre is the Madonna and Child enthroned in a vesica above six saints, and surrounded by the symbols of the Evangelists. The saints to the spectator's right are SS. Hermagoras, Fortunatus, and Euphemia; to the left are SS. Mark, Hilarus, and Titianus. Among them are persons on a smaller scale—Poppo holding his church, the emperor (Conrad II.) and the empress, an unnamed person, and a boy "Einricus" (afterwards Henry III.); a border of medallions, with heads and peacocks alternately, surrounds the field. Below, between the three windows, are six more saints, three on each side. Two different hands can be traced. In the crypt are also paintings of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the difference in technique being marked. On the vaults are the legends of SS. Hermagoras and Fortunatus; in the lunettes the life of the Virgin, angels, Apostles, and saints, and on the soffits of the arches; and painted hangings in outline with figure-subjects upon them, on the lower part of the wall. There is one subject from the life of S. Mark. Two kinds of intonaco are used, one hard and white, the other grey and sandier. There are two rows of pillars in the crypt, six in the wall round the apse, and two (Renaissance) at the sides of the westward niche, which looks like a western apse with altar in front of it. The roof is a wagon vault pierced with cross-vaults, but not truly quadripartite, and the caps a curious combination of badly cut foliage and scrolls and round-arched arcading. Iron grilles of 1500 isolate the space within the columns where the sarcophagus stands. There were doorways to the triangular spaces left between the apse and the rectangular external form, which were walled up at a later date. The stairs to the crypt go through the side wings of the Renaissance tribune above with a crookedly set room on each side, with little windows in the walls, one of which is blocked by the marble sheeting, while those towards the crypt are also walled up, showing that the structure is early, and is probably Poppo's. The doors are of iron, with lions' heads on the south side and man-headed animals on the other.

The Patriarch Raimondo della Torre (who died in 1299) built the chapel of SS. Ambrogio and Margherita, which was used as the sepulchral chapel of the family. It opens to the nave, with two pointed arches with an oculus above. In the middle of the side wall, between two sarcophagi of white marble, is that of Allegranza di Rho, second wife of Moschino della Torre and mother of the Patriarch Gastone. She died July 23, 1300, and her sarcophagus is the only one of the five in the chapel inscribed. On the front are reliefs, and on the sloping cover her effigy. One of those at her side has a figure of a person in subdeacon's dress, with a key, no doubt Rainaldo della Torre, treasurer to the church and brother of Gastone. His will of March 31, 1332, gives a precise description of the monument he wished to have erected to him. There was to be an archivolt over it, but if it was erected it must have fallen in the earthquake of 1348, as there are no traces of it. One of red marble, with a patriarch fully robed, with pallium and mitre, standing on a dragon between a processional cross and a crozier, with censing angels on each side of the head, is that of either Raimondo or Pagano. It also bears a relief of the Annunciation. On the front of another are three circular plaques with the Agnus Dei in the centre and crosses in the others; in the spaces between are flatly treated towers, the arms of the family. In the north transept a sarcophagus front, or altar, stands against the wall supported on pillars. It has five ogee trefoil niches with saints within them, and a framing of late Gothic foliage, with half-lengths of angels in the spandrils. The central saint is accompanied by two small kneeling donors; the other four are the Aquileian virgins. In the south transept is a sarcophagus on four Romanesque columns with twisted pillars at the corners, and the sides of the central subject (S. Hermagoras, with the four virgins small, on their knees, and the hand of God above). The spaces between are inlaid with red marble. The caps appear to be of the fourteenth century, the period of the foliage cornice.

As a consequence of the earthquake of January 25, 1348, a good part of the church fell down on October 19. Constant wars prevented the patriarch from having money to spend on its restoration. A document of 1354 reveals a lamentable state of things—the population was but 100—worshippers did not come, and the clergy had fled to save themselves from sickness and death; no one came to the services of Holy Week because the roads were under water, &c.; with a final request that Udine might be named as the seat of the patriarchate. The rebuilding was commenced under Lodovico della Torre (1360) and finished under Marquard da Randeck (1365-1380), the architect being unknown. At this time the nave arcade was made pointed, and some of the super-abaci carved with Gothic foliage. After Venice had expropriated the patriarch (in 1420) money was spent upon the cathedral. In 1479 the choir seats were renewed. In 1493, under Nicolo Donato, the winter choir was renewed. In 1495 the high-altar was erected, upon which Antonio di Osteno, Bernardino di Bissone, and Domenico di Udine were employed. Work was also done in the crypt, in connection with the better preservation of the relics of some saints. In 1498 the tribune appears to have been made, under Domenico Grimani. This is a very decorative arrangement, with a central feature, flanked by two flights of steps, and side platforms furnished with a balustrade, which project some way into the transepts, and are carved elaborately with graceful arabesques. In the centre below is a niche with shell-head and grated window, through which the inside of the crypt is visible. To the right is a ciborium altar, with a relief of Christ in the tomb half-length, supported by the Virgin and S. John, flanked by two scroll-bearing angels. An inscription describes it as an oratory, where relics of the saints are venerated. The pillars bear an architrave—a shell-he ad beneath, an arch above, and a gable termination of early Renaissance shape—above a shallow cornice. The effect is heavy. The left side was used as a singing-gallery. In the apse hangs a picture by Pellegrino di S. Daniele (which was put up in 1503), a good deal repainted—a Risen Christ with SS. Peter and Herniagoras. The fine frame was carved by Giovanni Pietro di Udine in 1500, and gilded two years later by Antonio de' Tironi of Bergamo. Before 1484 the floor was of beaten earth; at that time a pavement of red Veronese marble was commenced, completed in 1544. The aisles are at a slightly higher level than the nave. The Gothic roof was remade on the pattern of those of SS. Zeno and Fermo, Verona, in 1526 (signed Giuliano q Vivente of Udine), and restored in 1560. It is now painted in chequers. Beams resting on corbels beneath the windows cross the nave, while the aisles have a flat panelled roof, with bosses at the intersections of the framing.

The font is supported by four small pillars surrounding a larger central one. In the north aisle is a circular building with a conical wooden roof supported upon a little colonnade—work of the fifteenth century in its present form. There was, however, a "sepolcro"—a copy of the Holy Sepulchre—here, with a flat cupola, mentioned in 1077, and described as being near the grave of Patriarch Sigeard, and in 1085 an altar was consecrated within it by Patriarch Frederick II. The ceremony of carrying the Host thither on Good Friday and locking and sealing the door, from which it was brought out on Easter Day, lasted till the suppression of the patriarchate in 1751.



At that time the treasure and archives were divided between the bishoprics of Goerz and Udine. The precious objects were stolen from Udine, and have disappeared, but at Goerz there still remain several. There is a bishop's crozier of the end of the twelfth century, Romanesque in style, decorated with seven pieces of rock-crystal arranged diagonally, and with a knop of the same, set at a later date. The crook is set with precious stones, rubies, turquoises, aquamarine, and lapis lazuli. Within is the Lamb holding a cross; under it the whorl finishes with a dragon. A much older bishop's staff is of worm-eaten wood—set in metal at a later date to preserve it from destruction—said to have been given to S. Hermagoras by S. Peter or S. Mark. There is also a great crucifix of gilded silver on a wood basis worked with a rough naturalism free from Byzantine influence. The cross is made into a tree, from which grapes hang; the nimbus is set with large amethysts and small rubies. Of the same period is a fine book-cover of gilded silver with the subject of the Ascension. Christ enthroned in a vesica is supported by two angels; below is the Madonna as orante, surrounded by the Apostles. The border consists of fine leaf-scrolls, late twelfth century in character. A silver statuette of the Madonna and Child is of the fourteenth century. The Child is nude, tall, and thin, and wears a crown decorated with pearls and trefoils. The naked portions are matt silver, the draperies are gilded. It stands on a pedestal of three ornamented steps. The fate of the precious objects is reversed in the case of the documents. Those sent to Goerz have disappeared, whilst Udine still preserves a considerable number. At Aquileia the only object remaining from the treasury is a statue of the Madonna and Child, of Istrian marble, heavily painted. The work resembles in style the carving at S. Giovanni in Fonte, Verona.

The campanile must have been built by Poppo, although the base looks like Roman masonry, since the mosaics go right under it, but it was added to later, and the octagonal bell-chamber is inscribed: "MD . XLVIII TADEVS . LVRANVS . HOC . O . FECIT." It is 39 ft. square and the walls are over 7 ft. thick. The entrance is approached by 27 steps. It is 70 ft. to the floor of the bell-chamber.

The narthex has three thick antique pillars, part granite and part marble, with heavy early Christian Corinthian caps and super-abaci with crosses upon them. The baptistery lies to the west of the narthex, united to it by a building known as the Chiesa dei Pagani. This consists of three bays with a descent of three steps from the first, over which there was once a cupola. The other bays are cross-vaulted, and there are several round-headed windows. In the pavement is a curious pierced stone. It has a cross with the Agnus Dei in the centre (pierced), and four little window shapes in the angles with round-headed tympana and oblong piercings below. There was a second story; part of the wall of this remains, constructed of ancient tiles, which were much used in Aquileia in the Middle Ages; an inscription records a restoration in 1738. The baptistery was originally a Roman building, square externally and octagonal within, with four niches, one of which is partially preserved. Remains of the others have been found outside the octagon. There was an hexagonal font in the centre, and in the angles of the walls are the springings of vaults; there are also six pillar-stumps of different thicknesses. Most of the present building is modern, the result of several restorations. On each side of the baptistery and Chiesa dei Pagani were halls with mosaic floors of the Christian period, of which that to the south was least damaged when discovered; it had three patterned fields, with borders. The open hall between was stone-paved—a bit of the paving was found a foot deeper than the original floor of the baptistery.



The museum contains a quantity of exceedingly interesting objects, the fruit of excavations, which the director, Signor Maionica, most kindly piloted me through, calling attention to the various objects of special interest and giving me details about them of which otherwise I should have been ignorant. The collection of objects in amber, many of them stained a fine red, is the finest in existence, though the most splendid examples have gone to the British Museum, to Udine and Goerz. The sculptured objects include a very beautiful youthful Venus, a girl apparently of about 17, a draped statue of the Emperor Claudius in Greek costume, one of Tiberius as Pontifex Maximus (both found near the theatre),one of Livia, showing the arrangement of the back hair, and marble wigs to place upon the heads of statues to keep them in the fashion. There is also a draped Venus with a Cupid hiding beneath her robe, a copy of the Aura (Spring-rain) of Scopas, of which another is in the museum at Trieste, and a most interesting sculptor's model for use in the studio, showing how arms and legs of other pieces of marble were affixed to statues. A pedestal shows the life of Priapus, from his birth in the spring to his winter's inactivity; others have winged Cupids bearing torches and bestriding dolphins, the idea being of a voyage to the Islands of the Blest. A panel shows Bacchanalian Cupids; one desires to drink, one is drinking from a crater, another, supported away, inebriated; the robed master of the feast bears a sceptre and is playing the Pan-pipes. Another relief represents a banquet in a triclinium. One man sounds a double pipe, another carries food to the guests, one of whom is singing an obscene song, which disgusts the women, who make the sign of displeasure at him. In a relief of the time of Heliogabalus a meteoric stone is seen carried in procession, preceded by duumvirs, lictors, &c.—an evidence of an Oriental cult practised in Aquileia. Five great medallions from the same building show busts in very high relief of Jupiter, Mercury, Vulcan, Venus, and Minerva. A stone table with a sundial and windrose engraved upon it has a low seat on three sides, but the fourth free, so that the hour may be seen at all times of the day without the annoyance of dodging one's shadow. The letters of the inscription point to the second century A.D. as the date of its production. Many sarcophagi come from the north-east of Aquileia near Columbara, where a monument was found much resembling those of Petra and Baalbek in its forms. Inscriptions name clothiers, fullers, joiners, linen-weavers, builders and servants, purple-dyers, pikesmiths, a silver-worker, an Oriental pearl merchant with a sign of the city of Rome, &c. In the eighteenth century the Mint was discovered, with bars of silver and baskets of coin. A fine plate of beaten silver, with the story of Triptolemus, found here is now at Vienna.

Many pieces of ornament are preserved, often very finely modelled and also with traces of colour. The larger pieces, many of which are coarse in workmanship, are housed under a long shed in the open; among them are slabs of ninth-century ornament, lead coffins, and pipes with pointed covers to keep the sand out, urns for ashes, &c. There appears to have been a Roman rococo at Aquileia, earlier than at Spalato or Florence. Here, too, are some of the early Christian mosaics found during

the excavations in and around the cathedral. Especially beautiful are the fragments with peacocks and other birds, and lambs, with freely growing scrolls of vine. An asbestos net, found at Monastero, used to wrap round the body during cremation and so keep the bones together, is interesting, as are lachrymatories misshapen by the flames, small bottles of rock-crystal beautifully cut, a few enamelled objects and carvings in ivory, principally children's toys. Rings set with gems were made of gold for the nobles and of iron for the citizens, who at a later period used silver and even gold. Over 40,000 coins have been found in the course of the excavations, and lamps bearing no less than 800 different makers' marks. The marks are the same as those found all through Istria, Dalmatia, and the islands, proving a large export trade. The most important were those of C. Vibio Pansa, whose stamp (or those of his successors) is found in conjunction with imperial names till the time of Constantine. In the delta of the Isonzo, near Monfalcone, a portion was called "Insula Pansiana" even in the Middle Ages. A river in the bay of Monfalcone is still called Panzano, and near there is a place of the same name. There were also glass works at S. Stefano, Aquileia, where fragments of coloured glass have been found.

Ruskin refers to a curious ceremony, instituted in the twelfth century, which was observed in Venice till 1549 "in memorial of the submission of Woldaric, patriarch of Aquileia, who, having taken up arms against the patriarch of Grado, and being defeated and taken prisoner by the Venetians, was sentenced, not to death, but to send every year on 'Giovedi Grasso' sixty-two large loaves, twelve fat pigs, and a bull, to the Doge; the bull being understood to represent the patriarch and the twelve pigs his clergy; and the ceremonies of the day consisting in the decapitation of these representatives, and a distribution of their joints among the senators; together with a symbolic record of the attack on Aquileia, by the erection of a wooden castle in the rooms of the Ducal Palace, which the Doge and the Senate attacked and demolished with clubs." Mutinelli quotes the decree.

The patriarchate reached the zenith of its power under Volfkertis of Cologne, known to the Italians as Volchero. He was elected in 1204, and ruled till 1218. His dioceses included seventeen bishoprics of Venice on terra firma, stretching as far as Como and Trent, and six in Istria. The Venetian island bishoprics, by the convention of 1180, were under the Patriarch of Grado. In 1208 his dominions were so much increased that they almost exceeded those of the Pope in extent. He held the duchies of Carniola and Friuli, as well as the marquisate of Istria. He struck his own coins, of which there are two types, one closely resembling those of Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne, and governed constitutionally with the assistance of a parliament of three estates.



IV

GRADO

From Aquileia a steam-launch plies back and forth to Grado, a distance of some six or seven miles, at first along a canal with grassy banks plentifully besprinkled with giant snowdrops in the spring, then through wide stretches of lagoon along a channel, marked by piles, sometimes approaching the fishermen's huts, which occupy the summit of slight elevations rising but little above the surface of the water. These huts are mere shelters of reeds, and, one would think, quite unfit for human habitation, but close by them the nets may be seen drying, and perhaps food in course of preparation over an open fire, while the boat, thrust into a creek or tied to a stake, occupies the foreground. These wide-spreading lagoons, the resort of many kinds of water-fowl in their passage from north to south and vice versa, are very pictorial. The enclosures in which fish brought in by the tide are retained, the beds of reeds and rushes with yellow water-lilies, the figures of women and children wading and seeking fishy treasures, provide excellent material for the artist. Occasionally a boat passes in which a woman is taking fish to Aquileia, leaving behind it a long trail of ripples. The two great campanili, of Grado which we are nearing, and of Aquileia passing into the distance behind us, each with its cluster of low buildings around, are prominent against the horizon showing dark against the fine cumulus clouds, which are heaped in sharply defined masses against the blue of the upper sky and rise in threatening billows like exhalations from some vast cauldron, soon to fade away innocuously in the late afternoon.

Grado is on one of the islands of which a chain stretches from the mouth of the Isonzo to that of the Brenta right across the northern border of the Adriatic. Its port was one of the harbours of Aquileia, at first for purposes of war, but later for those of commerce. The town was square in plan, walled, and full of people. Cassiodorus speaks of its material conditions. The modern town is most picturesque, with narrow streets and numerous courtyards, with outside staircases, quaint shops, and fascinating plays of light and shade, and so much of the life of the people passes in the open air that there is always interesting matter for observation. It is a seaside resort, visited a good deal for bathing during the summer months, and there is also, as at Rovigno, an establishment for scrofulous children. But its chief attraction for us is archaeological, for it contains early Christian antiquities of considerable importance.



Its greatest prosperity was between the time of the great wanderings of the peoples and the descent of the barbarians into Italy. Its patriarch took the lead in establishing the government of the islands from which the Venetian Republic sprang. In 460 Nicetas called all the bishops, clergy, and leading officials of the islands together to deliberate on the question of government, and, after discussion, they agreed to establish one under the directorship of Tribunes. The first tribune was to live at Grado, with three others, called "maggiori," but depending upon him, one for Rivoalto, one for Candeana, and one for Dorsea, living at Rialto, Eraclea, and Torcello respectively. They had charge of the administration of justice, presided over the execution of the laws, enforced discipline, and met at times in council to discuss propositions laid before them. Grado lost its supremacy in 696, when the assembly held at Eraclea gave it to that city, though the Patriarch of Grado, Cristoforo, was given equality with the three tribunes which Eraclea then had. The next year the first doge, Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was elected. It was by means of Fortunatus of Trieste, Patriarch of Grado (803-825), that the cry of the Istrians, oppressed by the Frankish duke and his supporters, came to the ears of Charlemagne, with the result that after a strict inquiry held at Risano in 804, when the representatives of the cities and castella exposed the odious proceedings of the bishop, the duke, and their adherents, they obtained redress. In 875 the Saracens attacked Grado, but were repulsed. The next year a similar attack was made by the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia, but the Doge Orso met them, defeated them, and gave back to several Istrian towns objects of which they had been robbed.

Between Grado and Aquileia there was a constant struggle for supremacy, which was in reality a contest between Venice and the empire, Aquileia standing for the latter and Grado for the former. A formal peace was concluded between them during the Lateran Council of 1180, by which the Patriarch of Grado renounced all claims over the Istrian bishoprics, except as regards the hundred amphoras of wine sent by Capodistria from 1075, given as a personal honour to the Doge Pietro Candiano, and by him handed over to the Patriarch of Grado. In 452 the Patriarch of Aquileia fled to Grado from the Huns, returning after they had passed, and in 578, when Aquileia had become Lombard, Paulinus transferred his seat to Grado, thus putting himself under Byzantine protection. In 579 a synod was held in the church. From 607 there were two patriarchs—one in Grado and one in Aquileia—established for political reasons by the Lombards; they were schismatical, that is to say, adherents of the "three chapters." During the continuance of this schism, in 610, three Istrian bishops were taken from their very churches by the military, and carried off to Grado, where they were compelled to bend to the Imperial will in the matter. Gregory III. sanctioned the division of the two patriarchates in 731, both having become orthodox, Aquileia in 698 and Grado in 715. In 1451 the patriarchate of Grado was transferred to Venice, where the patriarch had been living for a long time.

The foundations of the cathedral were laid under Nicetas (456) by the architect Paulus, who was sent to him by Pope Leo I. The plan is Romanesque, a basilica with nave and aisles and no transept, the nave terminating in an apse eastward. It has two western doors, which open into a portico of almost the whole breadth of the church, part being cut off by the campanile, which is nearly 20 ft. square and over 160 ft. high. The clerestory and low-pitched wooden roof of the nave are supported by two piers and ten columns on each side. The columns are antique, but of varied material—cipollino, white and black and white-veined marble, and granite; and there is one of a rosy and white breccia. The caps vary both in design and size, and have been repaired with stucco. Some of them are decadent Roman and the rest Byzantine: the bases are hidden by a square wooden boxing. The eleven arches of the nave arcade are round. The round-headed windows of both nave and aisles had pierced slabs of stone in them, but in 1740 the openings were made lunette-shaped. One pierced slab of the ninth century has been found, and is now placed high up in the apse above the patriarch's throne. Under Fortunatus and John the Younger, about the beginning of the ninth century, the church appears to have been beautified; and again, in the second half of the tenth, under Vitalis. It is related that the relics were then provided with fresh receptacles and inscriptions. The choir occupies three bays of the nave, with a modern enclosure raised by several steps. Just outside the rail, by the fourth column on the left, stands the interesting pulpit, which has a later canopy, but itself appears to be of the ninth century, judging by the columns, two of which are twisted, and by the carving of the symbols of the Evangelists, which seems to be rather later. On the other hand, there is a square O in the inscription on S. John's book, of which other instances occur at Cattaro in an inscription of the ninth century, and in one of the seventh at Spalato. The pulpit is sexfoil in plan; one side is open, and one has a large cross carved upon it. The canopy has six fourteenth or fifteenth-century octagonal colonnettes, supporting ogee trefoiled arches with a domical termination, coloured in red and white chequers, and with scrolls and rosettes of red on the spandrils of the arches below. The shape and decoration show Arab influence strongly.



In the pavement is still preserved a great deal of that laid down by Elias in the sixth century. It filled the nave, being entirely worked in tesserae of very few colours—black, a green-grey, red, yellow, and white. From the west door a pattern, surrounded by a border, stretches as far as the fifth pair of columns. It consists of a central band of a wavy pattern, interrupted by inscriptions and medallions; the easternmost one is blank and has a running border, with the corners of the square (cut off by the band of inscriptions) filled with scroll-work. The side portions are cut up into squares by bands of open interlacings, with ivy leaves in the interstices, and different designs within the squares, or with inscriptions, most of them in Latin, but one in Greek. They record the gift of so many feet of pavement, as at Parenzo; and one donor, Laurentius the Viscount Palatine, seems to have been generous to both cathedrals. A long inscription leaves no doubt as to the date, and that it was laid down under the Patriarch Elias (571-585); it runs: "Atria quae cernis vario formata decore squallida sub picto caelatur marmore tellus longa vetustatis senio fuscaverat aetas prisca en cesserunt magno novitatis honori praesulis Haeliae studio praestante beati haec sunt tecta pio semper devota timori."

The flat ceilings and the rococo stucco-work are due to the restorations of 1740. The apse contains remains of mediaeval painting—a seated Christ of colossal size surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists, with raised right hand and a closed book in the left; on one side S. John the Baptist holding an open scroll, and on the other a saint in green, with gold-shot stole and nimbus, but no attribute—both larger than life. The corners are occupied by the patron saints, Hermagoras and Fortunatus. Round the apse, just above the patriarch's seat, runs a row of portraits of bishops of later date, half-lengths, beneath a round-arched arcade on a gold ground. On the left nave pier, near the door, are the remains of a painting of S. Helena, who has nimbus, cross, and book. In the centre of the apse is the ancient patriarch's seat, with an inscription upon the wall commemorating the ancient supremacy of the see: it is mainly composed of mutilated ninth-century carved slabs, probably portions of the chancel of that date. Other slabs with similar designs and portions of a ciborium are preserved in a little collection of marbles under a shed behind the apse, where are also several sarcophagi and other antique fragments.



In the treasury are two early reliquaries of silver, found beneath the high-altar in August, 1871. One is cylindrical, with a convex lid, upon which is represented in relief the Virgin enthroned, with the Babe at her breast. Her right hand holds a cross-headed sceptre, and behind her head is a nimbus with the usual monogram, [Greek: ME ThT]. The cylinder has no decoration but two bands of names of saints in Roman capital letters. These are: "Sanc. Maria, Sanc. Vitvs, Scs. Cassianvs, Sanc. Pancrativs, Sanc. Ypolitvs, Sanc. Apollinaris, Sanc. Martinvs." Within is a central cylinder and six compartments radiating from it, which contained a small cylindrical vase of gold with rings round it, a little glass flask, closed up and containing water, a little gold box with crosses and a leaf pattern on the outside, and a cross of dark-green enamel on the cover, a small slab of chalk or cement with a Greek cross imprinted on it, and several thin gold plates with the names of saints upon them. Several of the printed accounts of the discovery of this treasure say that there were six of these plates in the casket; but the glass case which encloses it and its contents has eleven, with the names as follows: "Domna Maria, Scs. Cassianvs, Sc. Martinvs, Sc. Brancativs, Scs. Troteomvs, Sca. Agnes, Scs. Bitvs, Scs. Apolinnaris, Scs. Hyppolitvs, Scs. Sabastianvs, Scs. Severvs." Dr. Kandler thought that it came from the church of S. Niceta in Aquileia, and was brought to the island with other treasures in 452, for safety, from Attila. De Rossi thought that the appellative "Domna" distinguishing the Virgin was an argument against such high antiquity; but in a later number of his "Bullettino" he described an inscription of about 457 at Loja, in Spain, in which the title "Domnus" or "Domna" is applied to all the saints, including the Virgin. There is a legend that "When Paul was patriarch of Aquileia the priest Geminianus was told in a vision to go to the destroyed city of Trieste to find the bodies of 42 martyrs buried between the wall of the church dedicated to them and the city wall. Going thither with many other Venetians he found the holy bodies in the specified place, covered over with marble slabs, and, taking them, went to the destroyed city of Aquileia, where he added to the relics the bodies of Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla, and the virgins Euphemia, Dorothea, Thecla, and Erasma, and then took them all to Grado." Paul is Paulinus I. (557-569), and the occurrence took place after the Lombards had gone by in 568. The forty-two martyrs were laid side by side in the church of S. Vitale, and Paul died the next year.

The other reliquary is elliptical, and has upon its sides reliefs and inscriptions bordered with a rough leaf-moulding. Round the middle are eight medallions with male and female heads, divided into two groups of five and three by palm-trees. Above and below is a row of names; those of the top row being: "[Symbol: cross] Sanctvs Cantivs, Sanc. Cantianvs, Sancta Cantianilla, Santvs Qvirinvs, Santvs Latinv." The lower row runs: "[Symbol: cross] S. Lavrentivs, vs loannes, vs Niceforvs Santisreddedidbotvm" (vir spectabilis, &c., reddidit votum). The use of b for v is characteristic of the period of the Patriarch Elias. The cover is slightly domical; upon it are two lambs, and between them a gemmed cross. They stand on a hill from which the four rivers of Paradise flow. Within was a second silver casket filled with water, and some remains of relics. At Pola some reliquaries of somewhat the same kind were found, of which a description will be given later.

In the Museo Sacro of the Vatican library is a similar capsella found at Ain Beida in Tunisia. It is oval, and has the same bands of ornament; round the body are reliefs. On one side is a lamb with a cross above his back, and on either side four sheep (with tufted tails, a Tunisian variety) coming towards him from an arched and pillared building. On the other is the Labarum monogram with ornamental terminations on a hill from which the four Paradise streams flow; a stag on either side kneels to drink. On the cover stands a saint, on the four Paradise streams, between two lighted tapers in candlesticks, holding a crown; whilst the hand of God holds another over his head. There are no nimbi. The reliquary was empty and without any compartments. De Rossi pronounced it to be of the sixth century, or the end of the fifth.

The treasury also contains an oblong fourteenth-century casket and two Limoges gemellions, as well as a good deal of late silver work, and an interesting altar frontal. The gemellions are champleve on copper, with engraved backs showing traces of gilding. A central circle on the face contains a shield with a rampant lion, enamelled in blue; round it is a quatrefoil made by four larger circles which overlap at the reentering angle. The spandril spaces are filled with dragon-like monsters on a green ground. The ring and the shield show metal. The quatrefoil is outlined with white, and filled with scrolls and figures fighting with each other or with beasts. The corner pieces have a little tower and scrolls, the windows and cornice are red enamel, the ground is green. The outside edge has a zigzag of blue enamel. The hole through which the water was poured over the hands has a spout representing an animal's head. I believe these basins to be the only examples of Limoges work to be found along the coast.

The altar-frontal is inscribed: "[Symbol: cross]MCCCLXII de Settembrio in lo tempo del nobele Miser Andrea Contarini Doxe di Vanesia e Miser Francesco Contarini Conte de' Grado fo fatta questa palla e Donado Macalorso da Vinesia me fece." It is of silver-gilt, 4 ft. 7 in. high and 7 ft. 4 in. long, with twenty-one divisions, in three rows of seven panels, the bars being covered with leaf scrolls and with medallion half-lengths of Greek saints at the crossings. In the upper row, in the middle panel, is a half-length "Ecce Homo," right and left are the symbols of the Evangelists, and the outer corners have the Annunciation—the Virgin on the right, and the angel on the left. In the centre of the second row Christ sits in the attitude of blessing, with raised right hand, and holding an open book in the left. On its pages is inscribed: "Ego sum lux mundi qui in me crediderit non morietur in aeternum Amen." On the right are SS. John, Paul, and Fortunatus; on the left, SS. Felix, Peter, and Martha. In the lowest row the centre shows a chalice with the Host; on the right, SS. Hermagoras, Thecla, and Erasma; on the left, SS. Dorothea, Euphemia, and another Fortunatus.