About a century later, when already the Republic of Venice was rising in importance and esteem, Narses, coming from his victory over the Ostrogoths, visited the Venetians, and built them a new chapel, which he dedicated to Saint Theodore,--a young Syrian soldier saint, much honored in the Oriental church. He was apparently a satisfactory protector, for all went well with the Venetians under his tutelage. Their numbers and wealth increased so that one island was quite insufficient for their habitations, and no one church could suffice for the growing state or city. During these important years images of Saint Theodore, whom we have seen standing on a column in the Piazzetta, opposite the lion of his more fortunate successor, were cherished and worshipped by the people, who looked to him as their efficient patron and guardian; and with {304} reason,--for if his symbols were rightly understood, his saintship taught the Republic the wise policy of exerting its strength for protection and defence rather than for invasion and assault. But the time came when Saint Theodore was superseded, in spite of the good services he had rendered Venice during nearly three centuries,--centuries, too, when the struggle to live and grow and build up the Republic taxed the heads and hands of all, and required an able defender to watch over them. There is a legend that during the first Crusade, in 1099, when Vitale Michieli was Doge, a flotilla of two hundred and seven vessels sailed from Venice in command of the son of the Doge, Giovanni Michieli, and Arrigo Contarini, Bishop of Castello, whose father had been Doge about twenty years before. Their alleged object was to succor Godfrey de Bouillon; but they seem to have been far more successful as relic-hunters than as Knights of the Cross, and brought back rich treasures to the churches of Venice, among which was the body of Saint Theodore, which they found at a small town near the city of Myra. It was received with joy at Venice, and deposited in the Church of San Salvatore; but as this saint had already been superseded by the great Evangelist, he seems to have been left principally to the Confraternity of San Teodoro, whose _scuola_ is close to San Salvatore.