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By this it is proved that the eastern apse is due purely to Euphrasius, the foundations being set in mortar of the kind used by him; and also that he kept the atrium pretty much as it was, only adding the columns with Byzantine caps. The baptistery on the other side also was very little altered.
It was oblong in shape, like the most ancient Christian churches, and had no apse, being 75 ft. 6 in. long and 55 ft. 9 in. wide. It had one main door of entrance, and the altar was at the eastern end of the northern portion. The pavement is 5 ft. 9 in. below the level of the basilica of Euphrasius.
On each side are an angel and three large figures; on the left are Archbishop Claudius, Euphrasius the bishop, with a small figure of his son, and S. Maurus, holding a jewelled urn; Euphrasius holds his church. The three figures on the other side are unnamed; one bears a book, and the other two crowns.
There was a primitive Christian basilica to the north of the present one; and Euphrasius, in the sixth century, built his church upon the foundations of a second, which had succeeded it. The site of the first was used as a cemetery till the end of the eighteenth century, and was then made into the garden of the bishop's palace.
The lower part of the wall is separated from the mosaics by an ornamental plaster moulding, and is decorated with a remarkably fine series of panels in opus sectile, eight designs in couples answering to each other on either side, with a single design above the bishop's seat in the centre, on which the monogram of Euphrasius again occurs.
It had a floor of stucco, and was circular internally; enough was found between the campanile and the door from the piazza into the atrium to develop the whole curve. Euphrasius made it octagonal, and surrounded the font with marble slabs, the marks of which still remain; a few fragments were found, together with some gilded and coloured tesseræ, showing that it had mosaic enrichments.
Everything concerning these facts was made known to me, as well as the name of the book, but I have forgotten it. This countryman of Ctesiphon, afterwards followed him into Spain. Among the companions of Ctesiphon in that country were this brother Cecilius, and some other men, whose name were Intalecius, Hesicius, and Euphrasius.
Euphrasius of Parenzo was one of the principal supporters of Macedonius, and the pope did not hesitate to make the most disgraceful charges against him. In 578 Paulinus transferred the patriarchate to Grado, so putting himself under Byzantine protection. Elias of Grado held the same opinions as his predecessor, even excommunicating his adversaries.
Here are also two caps from the fourth-century church, fragments of mosaic pavement found in mediæval tombs, and a good many pieces of eighth and ninth-century carving. The survival of the Constantinian plan is explained by the slight alterations made by Euphrasius. The walled-up doors in the baptistery show that it was not an isolated building.
The present cathedral was erected by Euphrasius between 531 and 542. This is proved by his mosaic inscription, which states that "in the eleventh year of his episcopate" he had endowed it; for the endowment would naturally come after the building. He found the second basilica likely to fall, with the roof only kept up by chains. The columns are of Greek cipollino, like those at S. Vitale, Spirito Santo, S. Francesco, SS. Apollinare Nuovo and in Classe, Ravenna, and in S. Maria, Pomposa, and were worked by the same workmen in the Proconesos workshops: for on columns at S. Vitale and Parenzo, and also at Pomposa, are found the same mason's marks, monograms uniting the letters
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