attack on the part of the Slavs inadvisable; when the two settlements
were joined together by a common line of defences it became the seat of
government.

[Illustration: AESCULAPIUS CAPITAL, RECTOR'S PALACE, RAGUSA

_To face page 356_]

[Illustration: FOUNTAIN OF ONOFRIO DE LA CAVA, RAGUSA

_To face page 357_]

There are two other pieces of Onofrio's work still in existence in
Ragusa, the pretty little fountain between the Rector's Palace and the
Sponza, next door to the Corpo di Guardia, of which an illustration is
given, showing a certain admixture of Renaissance feeling with Gothic
foliage, and the much mutilated fountain just within the Porta Pile. It
had two columns at each angle, of which only the inner one remains, and
a marble cupola surrounded by statues. The aqueduct which supplies it
and the other fountains is eight miles long, and brings the water from
Gionchetto. It was only completed in 1438, after many discouraging
incidents. Opposite to it is the pretty facade of S. Salvatore, built
after the earthquake of 1520, and due to Bartolommeo da Mestre,
"protomagister" of the cathedral of Sebenico, which it resembles a good
deal in the character of its design and mixture of Gothic and
Renaissance forms. It has a nave of three bays with an apse; the
vaulting is Gothic, as are the windows, but the arches rest on classic
pilasters, used also at the angles of the facade, the horizontal lines
of which are varied by the semicircular gable and quadrants which flank
it. A rose-window occupies the central place, and above the door (which
is rather later in style) is a long dedicatory inscription in an
ornamented panel space.

[Illustration: PLAN OF LA SPONZA, RAGUSA]

At the bottom of the piazza, upon which the Rector's Palace, the
cathedral, and S. Biagio face, is the Sponza or Dogana, the ancient
custom-house and mint. The custom-house was on the ground floor, and the
scales for weighing merchandise hung in the wide arch opposite the
entrance. The mint was on the second floor, and the first floor was used
for carnival and social meetings of the nobility. The building is of
several periods dating from the beginning of the fourteenth century to
1520, a date given by an inscription on the second story. The courtyard
has an arcade of round arches, four on each side, and one of a greater
breadth at each end, resting on octagonal piers, the caps and arches
moulded simply. The first floor has an arcade of pointed arc