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 versÂ, 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 archÆological, 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 tesserÆ 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 Ætas 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 mediÆval 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, M? TT. 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: "? Sanctvs Cantivs, Sanc. Cantianvs, Sancta Cantianilla, Santvs Qvirinvs, Santvs Latinv." The lower row runs: "? 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 AÏn 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 champlevÉ 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: "? 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 Æternum 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.

The patriarchal seat given by Heraclius to the Patriarch Primigenius was taken in 1520 to S. Mark's, Venice, where it may still be seen in the treasury. Pasini says it is certainly of Egyptian manufacture, in proof of which both the character of the ornaments and tradition are invoked. The Chronicles of the Acts of S. Mark in Aquileia, which are earlier than the eleventh century, say that it was covered with ivory plaques, "utique antiquo," but the large amount of carving upon it leaves little space for the attachment of further ornament. Its history seems quite clear. Heraclius brought it from Alexandria to Constantinople about 630, and between 1520 and 1534 it was behind the high-altar of S. Mark's. In the latter year it was moved into the baptistery on to the altar, where it stayed till taken into the treasury.

It is made of Oriental cipollino. The medallion at the top is cemented on. On it is a crux ansata, with two figures at the sides, both in front and behind, believed to be the four Evangelists. On the exterior of the arms are ten lighted tapers, thought to symbolise the ten churches founded in Africa by SS. Matthew and Mark. Below the medallion in front is a Lamb on a hill, from which the rivers of Paradise flow, and on which is either a vine or a fig-tree. On the back are an eagle and a lion, each with six wings. The background is starred, there are two palms at the bottom, and a Tree of Life in the space between the lion's lower wings. Above the eagle's head is a crescent. Beneath the tapers on the outside is a bull with six wings on a starred background, and on the other side an angel, also with six wings, with two palms below, and two little two-winged trumpeting angels in the top corners, on a similarly starred ground. These three sides have a band of lattice-work at the base; the front has a panel with zigzag lines. The inscription on the front has puzzled paleographists. It has been read as Hebrew and as stating that it is the chair of S. Mark. A hole in the back and another in the side are thought to have perhaps held the dÉbris of the wooden chair which he actually used.

Herr Graeven believes that he has identified several plaques of ivory which belonged to the chair in different museums. They all display the type of head afterwards used for S. Paul in Western art, which Dr. Strzygowski has identified as representing S. Mark in Alexandrian ivories.

The octagonal baptistery, to the north of the cathedral, shows no sign of its age, which must no doubt be considerable; near to it is the church of S. Maria delle Grazie, which has fragments of similar paving to that in the cathedral, including the inscriptions. In the floor in front of the altar are also several pieces of ninth-century ciborium heads, and bits of twelfth-century carving. It is possible that the baptistery once had a canopy such as still exists at Cividale, and that the fragments here and at the cathedral formed part of it. The nave has six bays, with five antique columns on each side, of cipollino, granite, white and black, and white-veined marble. The caps are very varied. Some are Byzantine of the type of those at S. Apollinare in Classe; two are truncated reversed pyramids with roughly cut scrolls on the surface, and one of these has a super-abacus. Two of them are queer, rough things, with brackets at the angles in place of volutes, and a deep abacus sloping back, with a cross upon it. The bases of the pillars are boxed in, as at the cathedral. An antique base serves as support to the holy-water basin. The floor has been mended with slabs of red and white marble and tiles, and the mosaic goes on into the rooms which flank the apse, at the ends of the aisles. This arrangement of the plan is exactly the same as that in a church at Kanytelides not far from Tarsus, the plan of which Miss Lowthian Bell gives in her book on Cilicia and Lycaonia; it also occurs in the church of Bir-Umm-Ali in Tunisia. De VoguÉ gives two plans closely resembling it, and Mr. H.C. Butler describes some very similar plans near Is-SanemÊn in the Northern HaurÂn (the ancient Ære), which are probably Constantinian. It seems certain that it is an Oriental importation, especially in connection with the fact that the free-standing apse, as in the earlier church at Parenzo and at Salona, occurs quite frequently in Cilicia and Lycaonia, as Miss Lowthian Bell shows.

Between Grado and Aquileia is a little island with a celebrated church, S. Maria di Barbana. In the early centuries of the Christian era legend says that a picture of the Virgin floated hither on a springtide, and was caught in the branches of a little tree, which lived till the middle of the nineteenth century when a great storm destroyed it. The picture and the church which contains it are the object of an annual pilgrimage on the Feast of the Assumption; people from all around accompany a sacred picture from Grado to visit it. On this day the lagoon is alive with numberless craft, the priests' boat leading, with banners and tapers and fully vested ecclesiastics; and the air resounds with simple church melodies. At Barbana the Virgin's picture waits on the pier to greet that from Grado; and report says that it has been observed to nod at the moment the sister picture reached the shore!