that the bishop, in fear of his life, fled to Rovigno, and from thence
to Venice. The podesta lodged soldiers in his palace during the war; and
in 1284 Boniface fulminated a comprehensive excommunication from Venice
against podesta and city. Matters were arranged and he returned to
Parenzo, but only to renew his claims. In 1293 the podesta, Jacopo
Querini, was disputing with him over a feud at Cervera which he claimed,
though it had been in the possession of others for eighty years, and
both lost their tempers. The podesta turned to the bishop and said: "I
promise you that when my term of office is over I will do you all the
harm I can, both publicly and privately; and I pray God and His saints
to let me live long enough to see with my own eyes the prophecies
fulfilled of the destruction of the Church of Rome, for one may well
see that the time is near." On September 14, 1296, the podesta, Giovanni
Soranzo, attacked the bishop's palace at the head of the armed populace,
intending, as the bishop asserted, to kill him. The prelate took refuge
in the Franciscan convent, and escaped by ship to Pirano. Thence he went
again to Venice, and excommunicated the whole of his opponents. The
podesta threatened to cut off hand and foot from whoever published or
executed the ban; and Boniface ordered the _prepositum_ of Pisino to
send it to the clergy, which was done next year, but without the desired
effect. He acted in the same way with other podestas, and was often
absent from his seat in consequence, thus incurring reproofs from the
patriarchs Raimondo and Pietro Gerra. The latter went so far as to
attack and destroy the castle of Orsera, where the bishop took refuge.

The people of Parenzo now are more concerned with developing their
commerce than with insisting upon their rights, and the quay presents a
busy scene when the wine-boats are lading. The casks are so large that
two are a load for a yoke of oxen. The cart has sloping sides, and a bed
of fresh-cut boughs and hay acts as springs. One of the sides of the
cart (of wicker or staves) is removed at the quay, and the casks are
rolled down an inclined plane. There were much excitement and some
danger as the lumbering weight was turned at right angles to its former
course, which was towards the water. The fishermen were busy too; they
catch spider-crabs with long spears ending in five prongs, at right
angles to the shaft, and forming a kind of cage, which the crabs find it
diff