47. We catch sight of our Traveller only once more. It is on the 9th of
January, 1324; he is labouring with disease, under which he is sinking day
by day; and he has sent for Giovanni Giustiniani, Priest of S. Proculo and
Notary, to make his Last Will and Testament. It runs thus: -
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S LAST WILL]
[Illustration: SLIGHTLY REDUCED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH SPECIALLY TAKEN
IN ST. MARK'S LIBRARY BY SIGNOR BERTANI.]
"IN THE NAME OF THE ETERNAL GOD AMEN!
"In the year from the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ 1323, on the
9th day of the month of January, in the first half of the 7th
Indiction,[12] at Rialto.
"It is the counsel of Divine Inspiration as well as the judgment of a
provident mind that every man should take thought to make a disposition
of his property before death become imminent, lest in the end it should
remain without any disposition:
"Wherefore I MARCUS PAULO of the parish of St. John Chrysostom, finding
myself to grow daily feebler through bodily ailment, but being by the
grace of God of a sound mind, and of senses and judgment unimpaired,
have sent for JOHN GIUSTINIANI, Priest of S. Proculo and Notary, and
have instructed him to draw out in complete form this my Testament:
"Whereby I constitute as my Trustees DONATA my beloved wife, and my dear
daughters FANTINA, BELLELA, and MORETA,[13] in order that after my
decease they may execute the dispositions and bequests which I am about
to make herein.
![The Travels Of Marco Polo - Volume 1 Of 2 By Marco Polo And Rustichello Of Pisa
- To this allusion has
been already made (supra, p. 31).
[Sidenote: Marco Polo's Last Will and Death.]
47. We catch - Page 254](../images/travel.jpg)
