er whose waves, in repentance and shame, he was following
the Son of Consolation!

Sec. II. That the Venetians possessed themselves of his body in the ninth
century, there appears no sufficient reason to doubt, nor that it was
principally in consequence of their having done so, that they chose him
for their patron saint. There exists, however, a tradition that before
he went into Egypt he had founded the Church at Aquileia, and was thus,
in some sort, the first bishop of the Venetian isles and people. I
believe that this tradition stands on nearly as good grounds as that of
St. Peter having been the first bishop of Rome;[20] but, as usual, it is
enriched by various later additions and embellishments, much resembling
the stories told respecting the church of Murano. Thus we find it
recorded by the Santo Padre who compiled the "Vite de' Santi spettanti
alle Chiese di Venezia,"[21] that "St. Mark having seen the people of
Aquileia well grounded in religion, and being called to Rome by St.
Peter, before setting off took with him the holy bishop Hermagoras, and
went in a small boat to the marshes of Venice. There were at that period
some houses built upon a certain high bank called Rialto, and the boat
being driven by the wind was anchored in a marshy place, when St. Mark,
snatched into ecstasy, heard the voice of an angel saying to him: 'Peace
be to thee, Mark; here shall thy body rest.'" The angel goes on to
foretell the building of "una stupenda, ne piu veduta Citta;" but the
fable is hardly ingenious enough to deserve farther relation.

Sec. III. But whether St. Mark was first bishop of Aquileia or not, St.
Theodore was the first patron of the city; nor can he yet be considered
as having entirely abdicated his early right, as his statue, standing on
a crocodile, still companions the winged lion on the opposing pillar of
the piazzetta. A church erected to this Saint is said to have occupied,
before the ninth century, the site of St. Mark's; and the traveller,
dazzled by the brilliancy of the great square, ought not to leave it
without endeavoring to imagine its aspect in that early time, when it
was a green field cloister-like and quiet,[22] divided by a small canal,
with a line of trees on each side; and extending between the two
churches of St. Theodore and St. Geminian, as the little piazza of
Torcello lies between its "palazzo" and cathedral.

Sec. IV. But in the year 813, when the seat of government was finally
rem