It is recorded in the archives of Padua, says Milizia, that when
Rhadagasius entered Italy, and the cruelties exercised by the Visigoths
obliged the people to seek refuge in various places, an architect of
Candia, named Eutinopus, was the first to retire to the fens of the
Adriatic, where he built a house, which remained the only one there for
several years. At length, when Alaric continued to desolate the country,
others sought an asylum in the same marshes, and built twenty-four
houses, which formed the germ of Venice. The security of the place now
induced people to settle there rapidly, and Venice soon sprung up a city
and gradually rose to be mistress of the seas. The Venetian historians
inform us that the house of Eutinopus, during a dreadful conflagration,
was miraculously saved by a shower of rain, at the prayer of the
architect, who made a vow to convert it into a church; he did this, and
dedicated it to St. James, the magistrates and inhabitants contributing
to build and ornament the edifice. The church is still standing, in the
quarter of the Rialto, which is universally considered the oldest part
of Venice.