634 ^f^- Miller legendary conflicts of Titans there or from a certain Titanus, or Tritanus, a soldier of Pompey's army, whose name is said to have been found there on a tomb in the sixteenth century. To this mountain Marinas may well have repaired, for he was a stone-mason by trade, and the quarries of Monte Titano still form one of the chief industries of the natives. On one of these visits he recog- nized that this secluded spot was just the place for a pious anchorite, and decided to establish himself there. I was shown the bed, hewn out of the rock, where he is supposed to have slept, and the whole place is naturally full of legends about him. His reputation for piety soon spread, and the Bishop of Rimini invited him to re- turn to that city, and made him a deacon for his services in com- bating the heresies of the time. But he soon grew weary of the world, and went back to his hermitage, where he built a chapel for the use of the faithful, who had gathered around him. A wealthy matron named Felicissima, to whom the mountain and neighboring lands belonged, was converted by him and made him a present of those possessions, so that when he died he was able to tell his fol- lowers : rclinqiio vos liberos ab utroqiie honiine, a phrase which has been interpreted to mean that he left them free from both political and ecclesiastical jurisdiction. His remains, carried off by the Lom- bard king Astolphus to Pavia, but restored by Pepin, now lie in the principal church of the Republic, whither they were transferred in 1628. Two guardians of the precious relics, called Massai, are an- nually appointed, and ever}- year the festival of the saintly founder is celebrated. It is clear from this story, that the Commonwealth of San Marino originated from a religious community, and the first authen- tic allusion to it which has come down to us is that of a monk, named Eugippius,' who flourished in the fifth or si.xth century, and said that he had read the life of another monk, "who had once lived in the monastery of Monte Titano." The next apparent men- tion of the spot is contained in the work of the pseudo-Anastasius, who includes among the places comprised in Pepin's donation to the Pope a certain Castelliun S. Mavini or 5. Mariani, or 6". Martini (for the readings vary). The statement was of some importance, because it was subsequently used as a proof of the alleged rights of the Holy See over the Republic. But, even supposing the dona- tion of Pepin to be genuine, there was no "castle" of S. Marino in that monarch's time on Monte Titano, so that another place must have been meant. Moreover, local antiquaries cite the proceedings I Melchiorre Delfico, Manorie Storiche di San Marino, I. II. H Republique de San Marino, 5, who quotes Canisius, Antiquae Lectiones, VI
