revenue, but there were also important manufactures. Ragusa made woollen
and silk stuffs after the looms for silk were brought from Tuscany in
1539, and shoes and glass, coral wares and wax, besides salt and other
things were produced and sent into the interior by caravans. Ships went
to India and America, France, Spain, England, and Holland. A document
addressed by Cromwell to the Senate is extant, granting privileges in
all English harbours to Ragusans, and they were as daring sailors as
the Bocchesi, as many as 300 serving as captains in the navies of
Charles V. and his successors.
The earliest law of Ragusa relating to the coinage is one of 1327
imposing penalties for falsification of money. This shows that it had a
mint before that time. At this date the "grosso" is the only silver coin
of the town known, but the fines are all calculated in "iperperi." The
word "zecha" occurs for the first time in a law of 1338. A few years
afterwards all importers of silver had to present themselves at the mint
within three days of their arrival, the tenth part of their silver being
liable to purchase at "14 iperp: and 2 grossi" the pound. If they did
not do so the tenth part was confiscated, half going to the informer. In
1420 the price was half as much again, and in 1161 it was worth 38
iperperi the pound. In 1748 the mint had ceased issuing money, but was
at work again from 1791 till 1806. The iperpero was worth 12 grossi, and
3 of them went to a scudo. The earliest known is of 1683. In Ralph of
Coggeshall's time it was worth 3 sous of silver--that is to say, about
10s. At Ragusa this coin still passes, according to a writer in the
_Bullettino di Storia Dalmata_.
Six miles beyond Ragusa is Ragusa Vecchia, the ancient Epidaurus, which
became a Roman colony in 10 A.D. under the Consul Cornelius Dolabella,
and was destroyed by the Avars. Near here is the grotto of Æsculapius,
on Mount Snienitza, thought to be the Mons Cadmæus of antiquity, entered
by a hole 8 ft. across in the living rock. The cave is in the form of a
cross, 92 ft. long and 164 ft. broad, with stalactites and stalagmites.
In the middle is a pond called "The Nymph's Bath," with slightly
acidulated and intensely cold water. A legend, which goes back to the
tenth century, says that a dragon lived here, going out at night and
slaughtering men and women. The hermit S. Hilarion attacked and burnt
it, calling on the people to thank God, and declaring that it was the
Devil. According to one tradition Æsculapius was born in Epidaurus of a
beautiful Dalmatian, Jupiter being his father. His statue, in the form
of a serpent, was erected there, but was taken to Rome in 393 B.C.,
during a visitation of plague, which then ceased.
XXIV
THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO
The fine harbour known as the "Bocche di Cattaro" is thirteen miles long
from the entrance to Cattaro itself, which lies at the extreme south.
The "bocche," the mouths, lie between the Punta d'Ostro and the Punta
d'Arza, both fortified, and in the channel is the little rock Rondoni,
on which is another fort, Mamola. These defensive works were completed
in 1897. The bay was known to the ancients as "Sinus Rhizonicus,"
Rhizon, from which it was then named, being the modern Risano at the
extremity of the northern arm. The "Tavola Peutingeriana" gives the name
"Resinum." The first mention of the "Rhizinitie" is about B.C. 229, at
the period of the unfortunate wars waged by Teuta, widow of Agron,
against the Romans. Their origin is variously ascribed to Colchis, Troy,
and to Sicilian colonies sent by Dionysius of Syracuse. The Bocchesi
prefer a Sicilian origin; but the Greeks called all this part of the
continent Illyris Barbara. Livy mentions the Rizuniti among the peoples
of the kingdom between the fall of Teuta and the ruin of Genzius. Risano
was Teuta's capital, and there she died in 220 B.C. Her husband Agron
had conquered the country as far as Friuli.
Teuta allowed her subjects to be pirates, with the result that Issa
(Lissa), the only island which had remained independent, complained to
Rome, and the Romans sent an embassy to protest; but the youngest
ambassador offended her majesty, and was beheaded in consequence. This
decided the Romans to destroy her power, and treachery made the task
easy. From 227 B.C. Corfu, Lesina, and Lissa were under Roman
protection; the Illyrians were only allowed two ships, and were not
permitted to pass the Issus. Subsequent intrigues between Demetrius (who
had gained the lordship over the Ardiei by treachery) and Philip III. of
Macedon, wars and revolts, brought about the subjection of Illyria to
the Romans, and its conversion into a province in 168 B.C. The
far-seeing Rizuniti had already put themselves under Roman protection,
and were therefore given privileges, exempting them from all public
burdens.
At Prevlacca, near Punta d'Ostro, are remains of antique walls, thought
to be those of the ancient Epidaurus, by those who maintain that it was
at the gates of the "Sinus Rhizonicus." Most authorities, however, agree
in placing it at Ragusa Vecchia. Objects of the bronze age have been
excavated at Risano, and sepulchral stones and altars of strange and
un-Roman form have been found at Lastua Inferiore and Perzagno.
Cattaro appears as a Roman city under the name of Ascrivium or Acrivium,
and it and Risano are the only two towns known at the fall of the
Illyrian kingdom. The Romans made a road from Aquileia to Durazzo. It
passed by Epidaurus and along the Sutorina Valley to Castelnuovo, where
it turned along the coast to Risano, Perasto, Orohovac, Dobrota, and
Ascrivium. Thence it went to Castel Trinità. This road put the Rizuniti
into communication with the Dalmatians, and with the tribes to the
south. Rizinum was a Roman colony, and inscriptions show that it
belonged to the Sergian tribe and was governed by decurions. It was the
seat of the god Medaurus, of whom all that is known is contained in an
inscription found at Lambessa in Mauritania, set up by a Dalmatian
legate sent to Numidia as consul by Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A.D.). It
records the dedication of a lance to him.
Ascrivium was also a Roman colony. The municipal senate was presided
over by duumvirs, who held office for a year, and had power over the
entire administration of the city and of justice. The greater part of
the ancient Rhizon is now under water, and Cattaro has been many times
destroyed by invaders, so that there are very few antique remains.
At Risano are the remains of a building vaulted in two compartments,
like an ancient tomb, and a few stones. Some thirty sarcophagi found
there in 1870 raised hopes of the discovery of a necropolis, but these
hopes were disappointed. A colossal foot of an ox in bronze and one of
white marble were found in 1868, and a few inscriptions, one of which,
at the entrance to the Greek church, shows that the 7th Legion was
stationed there. It is to a distinguished soldier, who had twice gained
a golden garland of honour, neckchain, and bracelets, which he wore in
the triumph after the Dacian war. At Prevlacca, Cattaro, Scagliari,
Scoglio S. Giorgio, and Perasto are also inscriptions.
After the death of Theodosius the "Sinus Rhizonicus" became subject to
the Western Empire (395 A.D.), and till the days of Diocletian it was
the southern limit of Dalmatia. Justinian took it from the Ostrogoths,
and, considering it as part of Dardania, fortified the castle of [Greek:
Kattaros] in 532 to defend it from barbarian inroads. Risano, like
Salona and Epidaurus, was destroyed by an inroad of the Huns in 639,
after which Heraclius handed Dalmatia over to the Croats and Serbs, who
divided it between them. He, however, reserved to himself the important
coast-towns. In 867 the Saracens destroyed Budua, and went with
thirty-six ships to attack Porto Rose and Ascrivium, which they burnt.
The inhabitants took refuge in the fort, and after the Saracens had
gone, with the help of some nobles from the Bosniak city of Kotor (as is
said), rebuilt it. The Slav name is still Kotor.
The bishopric of Cattaro is said to date from the fifth or sixth century
as suffragan to Spalato (that is, to Salona, as Spalato only became
metropolitan in 650); but the first certain date occurs in 877, in which
year an act of the Concilium Delmitanum, when the ancient rights of
Salona were divided with Spalato, enacts that Cattaro and Budua shall be
suffragan to Dioclea. Bishops of Risano are mentioned in 141 and 591. In
1033 the metropolitan of Salona called a council, and the bishop of
Cattaro went with those of Dulcigno, Antivari, and Suacia. They were
caught in a storm and wrecked at Bacile near Torcole, twelve miles from
Lesina, and were all drowned. The sailors have never forgotten the
catastrophe. The Cattarines in consequence sent to the Pope, pointing
out the difficulties of communication, and obtained transference to the
arch-diocese of Antivari.
[Illustration: THE RUINED BASTION, CASTELNUOVO, BOCCHE DI CATTARO
_To face page 373_]
The "bocche" consist of several expanses of water, separated by narrow
canals and surrounded by lofty mountains, which often rise so nearly
directly from the water's edge as greatly to increase their
impressiveness. The scenery is exceedingly fine, and indeed the view
from the road to Cettinje is claimed as almost unsurpassed in Europe.
The first of the narrows is between the Kobila range (1470 ft.) and the
west point of the peninsula Lustica. It leads into the Bay of Topla, and
the steamer heads direct for Castelnuovo, leaving on the left the
Sutorina, the lower part of the Canali valley, a portion of the
territory of the Republic of Ragusa ceded to Turkey in 1699 to form a
buffer state between herself and Venice. The Slav name of Castelnuovo is
Erzegnovi, and it was founded in 1373 by the Bosniak king Tvarko I.,
Kotromanovic. In 1483 it was enlarged and raised to the position of
principal place in the dukedom of Herzegovina, founded by Duke Stephan
Sandalj (1435-1466). It lies on the slopes of Monti Dobrastica and
Radostak, piling up most picturesquely above the little harbour, with
great bastions split with wide cracks and deformed by the loss of pieces
which have fallen into the sea, but clothed with ivy which hides much of
the ruin. It has often changed its masters. After the death of Stephen
Sandalj it became Turkish; in 1538 the Turks were driven out by the
Spaniards and Venetians. At that time the Spaniards built the fort which
crowns the hill to the north of the town. It was the only part of
Dalmatia ever held by the Spaniards. Next year the Sardinian renegade,
Hassan Barbarossa, put the whole garrison to the sword, and also
conquered Risano. The Turks retained possession of Castelnuovo till
1687, when, by the assistance of the Knights of Malta, it again became
Venetian. Three Turkish inscriptions still remain; one over the door of
the Spanish fort, which was restored by the Turks, a second of 1660 over
the Porta Terra Ferma, and a third on the well in the piazza.
Towards the east is Kloster Savina, a monastery said to have been
founded in 1030, and now the summer residence of the Servian Orthodox
bishops of Cattaro. There is, however, nothing to be seen authorising so
early a date; the smaller of the two churches may perhaps date from the
thirteenth century, since it has a pointed wagon vault and transverse
ribs without mouldings. In this church the Knights of Malta who died
some two hundred years ago lie buried. The interest of the place lies in
the seventeenth-century silver-work, in which the treasure is rich. It
includes some twenty carved crosses mounted in silver and enamel from
Mount Athos; hanging lamps of pierced silver, in which the design is
much older than the workmanship, with medallions of saints;
silver-mounted book-covers, one of which is decorated with enamels; a
most curious "five-bread platter," with a cup in the centre, and two
little cruets and two little platters on projecting arms, all in pierced
work of archaic design enriched with blue enamel; and some embroidered
vestments of the fifteenth century, all of which are said to have been
brought from Studenitza. Farther on is Meljina, with a lazaretto of the
seventeenth century.
The view from the road between these two places is enchanting. Above the
blue waters of the Bay of Teodo the ground rises to the mountains, which
divide it from the Gulf of Cattaro, while farther still and bluer, the
greater heights of Montenegro cut the sky with their serrated edges. To
reach the Bay of Teodo another of the narrows is passed, the Canal of
Kombor, by the foot of Mount Dvesite. Here is a naval station. The land
is the most fertile in the whole district, and here is grown the famous
Margamino wine. At Bianca, near Teodo, Danilo, Prince of Montenegro,
used to pass the summer. Farther on is the Strait of Le Catene, so
called because in 1381 Lewis of Hungary actually put chains across it to
protect the inner portions. Opposite to the channel is Perasto, to the
left the Valle di Risano, to the right the Gulf of Cattaro. In front of
Perasto are two little islands, with picturesque buildings upon
them--the Scoglio S. Giorgio, and the Madonna del Scarpello, a little
church with a green cupola, containing a picture of the Madonna ascribed
as usual to S. Luke, a Byzantine work decked with gold and silver,
brought hither from Negropont in 1452. For many years the Bocchesi
brought shiploads of stone to increase the size of the island, and
still, on July 22 of each year, a stone-laden boat goes from Perasto to
the rock. There are two festivals celebrated here, of which the more
important is that of the Assumption, August 15. The other, the Birth of
the Virgin, on September 8, is less so. There is a proverb "Entre le due
Madonne cade la pioggia," the greatest rainfall occurring between the
two festivals. On festival days the picture is decked with rings,
chains, &c., kept locked up at Perasto during the rest of the year. The
property of the church is over £30,000. For five hundred years it has
been a centre of interest in the Bocche. According to the legend, a
luminous figure of the Madonna was seen by a sailor on the rock on July
22, 1452, and on that spot a chapel was erected. The present church was
built in 1628. Inside are a good many late seventeenth-century pictures,
and in two rooms close by are votive pictures of the usual kind. There
is a café on the island for the benefit of pilgrims. The island of S.
Giorgio is gradually wasting away. The monastery is said to have been
the most ancient in the district, and a list of the abbots "in
commendam" from 1166 exists, with notices of the church and monastery,
going back to the tenth century. There was a long contest for its
possession between Cattaro and Perasto, ending in the assassination of
the abbot by the Perastines, who took the property by force. Venice gave
the commune of Cattaro an annual subvention as _solatium_. The abbey,
destroyed in 1571, was rebuilt in 1624, and in 1654 was plundered by the
Turks, and then almost ruined by earthquake in 1667. The French erected
a battery upon it, which was abandoned some thirty years ago. The
church-was restored for service on October 27, 1878.
Near Risano, at Sopoti (the rushing), is an intermittent waterfall 45
ft. high, which I was told was 100 ft. wide. As soon as it runs dry the
cave from which it issued can be entered for several hundred yards. The
flow commences after heavy rains, and at the same times a well, or
spring, at Cattaro spirts up with such force as to throw out stones of
several pounds' weight. Above Risano are two strong fortresses, erected
after the insurrection of the Crivoscians in 1881. The revolt of 500 men
against conscription necessitated the mobilisation of a whole _corps
d'armée_ to subjugate them. They lived on the slopes of inaccessible
mountains, and the troops had to make the mountain paths into roads
practicable for artillery. The rebels were taken between troops from
Risano and Orohovac, and others who came from the Herzegovinian
mountains. Part laid down their arms, and part fled into Montenegro. To
prevent a recurrence of the trouble, and perhaps also with an eye to
Montenegro, the forts and a number of blockhouses were built, which one
may see high up the mountains, sometimes against the sky-line.
A white line about 3,000 ft. high marks the military road between
Perasto and Cattaro; the way of access to the blockhouses, in each of
which a detachment of twenty-five men, with two non-commissioned
officers and one lieutenant, is on duty for a year at a time, bearing
great heat in summer (for it is said that an egg laid on the rock in the
sun is hard in eight minutes), while in winter they are often blocked by
the snow for two or three weeks together.
Perasto is now a little place of some 500 inhabitants, but shows in its
ruined palaces and unfinished church that it was once populous and
prosperous. It has had a stormy history, during which the Perastines
have shown themselves sturdy fighters and loyal supporters of their
overlords, and is the one city of the Bocche which remained faithful and
grateful to Venice, even after Campo Formio. When the Austrian troops
came to take possession, the gonfalon, which had been confided to the
Perastines by the Republic, as a reward for their faithful services
almost four centuries before, was buried beneath the altar of S. Nicolò
with a solemn requiem, as if for the burial of a father. It was a red
flag with a yellow border, and the winged lion in the centre, prepared
to defend the cross planted upon a base rising out of the sea. It was
only consigned to the army in maritime and land enterprises in the
Levant. The city was distinguished by Venice with the title of
"fedelissima gonfaloniera." The guards were selected from the twelve
"casate" into which the city was divided, the names being those of the
original feudal families. It is asserted that the Perastines had the
same honour conferred upon them by the Servian kings, the guard
consisting of a company of twelve. Some say that it was their valour in
taking the citadel of Cattaro in 1378 which was the origin of the trust.
After the contests with Cattaro in 1160 it followed the fortunes of that
city till 1365, but in that year Perasto put itself under Venice. The
activity shown in assisting Victor Pisani in 1378 had other results, for
it was attacked shortly afterwards and sacked by the allies of Lewis of
Hungary. Till about 1400 it was subject either to Lewis or Tvartko of
Bosnia. It is now quite a little place, with some 500 inhabitants. The
palaces, with fine stone balconies now falling into ruins, which were
inhabited by the noble families, show how it prospered under Venetian
rule, as do the high campanile and the fragment of a large church on the
model of La Salute at Venice, commenced some hundred and thirty years
ago, but never completed. It is entered from the sacristy of the small
church, the arch and vault of the apse towering above it, and showing
the whole of the vault and the caps of the pilasters over its roof. In
the museum are a banner taken from the Turks in 1654, a sword presented
to the commune by Peter Zrinyi, and the gonfalon already mentioned,
which was buried beneath the altar. A fine processional cross, a
sixteenth-century filigreed chalice, a monstrance, and several
reliquaries are also preserved in the place; and here is also the
mausoleum of Bishop Zmajevic of Antivari, who took the Albanians to
Borgo Erizzo near Zara, and was a Perastine by birth. It lies at the
foot of Monte Cassone (about 2,900 ft. high), upon which is Fort S.
Croce. From its base the Bay of Ljuta stretches away south-eastwards
towards Dobrota, with Orohovac at its foot. The two Stolivos beneath the
lofty Vrmac, and Perzagno may be seen on the opposite shore. This
last-named place stands finely on a promontory, with a large domed
church (an unfinished shell with gaping window-openings) crowning the
eminence, whilst many houses, of the same date as those at Perasto, and
with fine angle balconies, are scattered about the road along the shore,
from which there are delightful views. A late Renaissance church has a
rather pretty rose-window with radiating shafts recalling the
Romanesque.
Nearer to Cattaro is Mula, and on the other side Dobrota; along both
roads are red and white oleanders, orange and lemon trees, ancient figs
and chestnuts, locust beans (carob), olives, pomegranates, and main'
flowers, among which may be specially named beautiful pale mauve irises.
The torrent Skurda, or Fiumara, separates the mountains Pestingrad and
Mrajanik from the lofty Lovcen, which towers above Cattaro to the height
of 5,770 ft. It is the holy mountain of Montenegro; on it the great
Wladika Pietro, the singer of the Servian redemption, chose to be
buried, as if from that height his spirit might watch and protect the
land to which he devoted his life. Every year a pilgrimage climbs to the
white-walled little chapel which sparkles on the dark mountain side. The
Servian dream is for the waters of Cattaro to be covered with ships
under the eagle of the Nemagna, for the country folk know well the
story of Uros, the great Stephan Nemagna, and the epic of the wars
against the Turks.
[Illustration: DOBROTA, BOCCHE DI CATTARO
_To face page 378_]
In the city of Cattaro, the ancient Ascrivium or Acrivium, some small
remains of the Roman period are to be seen encrusted in the walls of the
clock-tower, an altar and a memorial to a girl and her teacher. At the
beginning of the ninth century it boasted several fine buildings, to
which a rich man named Andreaccio Saracenis, mentioned as "Certo
zitadino nobile zintilhomo si de generazion come di richeza,"
contributed. Towards the end of the eighth century S. Maria Infunara was
built by him in the rope-makers' district, and here he also founded a
convent to enable his second daughter Theodora to lead the life of
contemplation. He also paid for the first cathedral of S. Trifone, which
Porphyrogenitus says was circular. The body of this martyr of the third
century was being brought to Venice from Asia Minor by certain
merchants, when a storm obliged them to shelter in the Bocche. The
magnates of the city and Andreaccio treated with the pilot for its
purchase, and paid 200 Roman solidi for the shrine, and 100 for a gemmed
crown above it. On January 13, 809, clergy and people went by ship to
Porto Rose to fetch the body. On their return the bishop invited them to
stop on the spot where the church was to be built, and hymns were sung.
February 3, the reputed day of his martyrdom, was accepted as the
festival, and a figure of S. Trifone was put on the standard of the
city. Certain coins which bore his effigy were named after him. The
sarcophagus of Andreaccio, in which his wife was also buried, was found
beneath the street in 1840, between the cathedral and the bishop's
palace. A portion of the ciborium of his church is encrusted in the wall
of the sacristy inscribed: "Andree sci ad honorem sociorvmq
majorem," and other fragments of the same period have been found during
the restoration, which is still going on. That these fragments were part
of an ambo on three columns, to which reference has been found, is
proved by the inscription from the Ash Wednesday service which runs
along it, "Memento te homine," &c. The front had two crosses beneath
semicircular heads, with conventional trees or candlesticks beside them,
and a great piece of circular interfacings, small and large, like the
slabs at S. Maria in Trastevere, Rome. The sides had bands of ornament
dividing the surface into unornamented sunken panels. A capital or two
of the same period were also found, a relief of peacocks drinking from a
vase, and some antique fragments, a piece of a frieze, a column of
cipollino and several of granite, and a few antique caps.