[321] In my account of Ragusan history I have chiefly followed Appendini, Storia di Ragusa, which is the chief authority; Engel, Geschichte des Freistaates Ragusa; Chiudina (as given in Neigebaur’s Süd-Slaven); and Kohl’s Dalmatien; and the most recent work on the subject, Ragusa, Cenni Storici, compilati da Stefano Skurla, Canon Onor., Profess. Ginnasiale (Zagabria, 1876). For English readers Sir Gardner Wilkinson in his Dalmatia, and Mr. A. A. Paton in his Danube and Adriatic, have given such excellent accounts of Ragusan history that I only give here a general sketch of it, in which I have tried as much as possible to avoid treading in the footsteps of English fellow-investigators.
[322] Professor Mommsen visited Epidaurus and took down most of the inscriptions for the Illyrian volume of the Corpus Inscriptionum. I have no wish to give more than a general description of the antiquities of Epidaurus here, as I hope to give a full account of my epigraphic gleanings elsewhere.
[323] In the Monumenta Macarensia, Rhacusæ, 1810, p. 47, is a votive inscription reading I.O.M.S. ‖ MAXIMVS ‖ LAPIDARI ‖ VS EX VOTO ‖ ARAM POS., found at Narona (Viddo). Is it possible that this was raised by a Lapidary in our sense of the word? May not the coarser craft have been combined with the more refined? Mediæval architects were often goldsmiths as well.
[324] Adiantum Capillus-Veneris.
[325] Or serpent.
[326] It is, perhaps, worth noticing that the two St. Hilaries, of Arles and Poitiers, are signalised in ancient iconography as slayers of serpents or dragons.
[327] De Administrando Imperio. The derivation Roccosa or Reclusa might be suggested. Ragusa appears in early writers under various forms, Lavusa, Labusa, Labuda, Labusædum, Rausium, Rangia, Rachusa, &c.
[328] Sir Gardner Wilkinson and others called it ‘oak-wood,’ forgetting that Dubrava and Dub mean ‘oak-wood,’ and ‘oak’ only as their secondary meaning, and primarily signify a wood and tree generally. Remains of the original pine-wood still covered the mountain side till the French destroyed it about the year 1806, when they swept away the freedom of the Republic. See Kohl’s Dalmatien, vol. ii. p. 45.
[329] Alas! that I should have to record that the statue dates at least eight centuries later than Orlando’s time. This statue, which originally stood before the Church of S. Biagio, was thrown down in 1825 by a hurricane, when the following inscription was found on a brass plate beneath its pedestal: MCCCC.... III. DI MAGGIO ‖ FATTO NEL TEMPO DI PAPA MARTINO QUINTO ‖ E NEL TEMPO DEL SIGNOR NOSTRO ‖ SIGISMONDO IMPERATOR ROMANORUM ‖ ET SEMPER AUGUSTUS ET RE D’ONGARIA ‖ E DALMATIA ET CROATIA ETC. FÒ MESSA ‖ QUESTA PIETRA ET STENDARDO QUI ‖ IN HONOR DI DIO E DI SANTO BLASIO ‖ NOSTRO GONFALON. LI OFFICIALI.... It is interesting to notice that the Ragusan account of Orlando as ‘Governor of Bretagne’ agrees with the contemporary Einhard’s account of the historical Roland. The historian of Charles the Great calls him ‘Hruodlandus Brittannici limitis præfectus.’ Orlando’s exploits are associated with other towns of the eastern coast of the Adriatic. Sir Gardner Wilkinson mentions that the magnificent harbour of Pola is called ‘Orlando’s house.’ The probable design of the statue of Roland at Ragusa was, as in the free German cities, to signify her independence of external authority.
[330] A full account of these events is given by Sir Gardner Wilkinson from Appendini.