The Travels Of Marco Polo - Volume 1 Of 2 By Marco Polo And Rustichello Of Pisa










































 -  (See Q. Makrizi, IV. 69-70.) Plautus speaks of such
patterns in carpets, the produce of Alexandria - Alexandrina belluata
conchyliata - Page 256
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(See Q. Makrizi, IV.

69-70.) Plautus speaks of such patterns in carpets, the produce of Alexandria - "Alexandrina belluata conchyliata tapetia." Athenaeus speaks

Of Persian carpets of like description at an extravagant entertainment given by Antiochus Epiphanes; and the same author cites a banquet given in Persia by Alexander, at which there figured costly curtains embroidered with animals. In the 4th century Asterius, Bishop of Amasia in Pontus, rebukes the Christians who indulge in such attire: "You find upon them lions, panthers, bears, huntsmen, woods, and rocks; whilst the more devout display Christ and His disciples, with the stories of His miracles," etc. And Sidonius alludes to upholstery of like character:

"Peregrina det supellex * * * Ubi torvus, et per artem Resupina flexus ora, It equo reditque telo Simulacra bestiarum Fugiens fugansque Parthus." (Epist. ix. 13.)

A modern Kashmir example of such work is shown under ch. xvii.

(D'Avezac, p. 524; Pegolotti, in Cathay, 295, 306; I. B. II. 309, 388, 422; III. 81; Della Decima, IV. 125-126; Fr.-Michel, Recherches, etc., II. 10-16, 204-206; Joseph. Bell. Jud. VII. 5, 5, and V. 5, 4; Pliny, VIII. 74 (or 48); Plautus, Pseudolus, I. 2; Yonge's Athenaeus, V. 26 and XII. 54; Mongez in Mem. Acad. IV. 275-276.)

NOTE 5. - [Bretschneider (Med. Res. I. p. 114) says: "Hulagu left Karakorum, the residence of his brother, on the 2nd May, 1253, and returned to his ordo, in order to organize his army. On the 19th October of the same year, all being ready, he started for the west." He arrived at Samarkand in September, 1255. For this chapter and the following of Polo, see: Hulagu's Expedition to Western Asia, after the Mohammedan Authors, pp. 112-122, and the Translation of the Si Shi Ki (Ch'ang Te), pp. 122-156, in Bretschneider's Mediaeval Researches, I. - H. C.]

NOTE 6. - ["Hulagu proceeded to the lake of Ormia (Urmia), when he ordered a castle to be built on the island of Tala, in the middle of the lake, for the purpose of depositing here the immense treasures captured at Baghdad. A great part of the booty, however, had been sent to Mangu Khan." (Hulagu's Exp., Bretschneider, Med. Res. I. p. 120.) Ch'ang Te says (Si Shi Ki, p. 139): "The palace of the Ha-li-fa was built of fragrant and precious woods. The walls of it were constructed of black and white jade. It is impossible to imagine the quantity of gold and precious stones found there." - H. C.]

NOTE 7. -

"I said to the Kalif: 'Thou art old, Thou hast no need of so much gold. Thou shouldst not have heaped and hidden it here, Till the breath of Battle was hot and near, But have sown through the land these useless hoards To spring into shining blades of swords, And keep thine honour sweet and clear. * * * * * Then into his dungeon I locked the drone, And left him to feed there all alone In the honey-cells of his golden hive: Never a prayer, nor a cry, nor a groan Was heard from those massive walls of stone, Nor again was the Kalif seen alive.' This is the story, strange and true, That the great Captain Alau Told to his brother, the Tartar Khan, When he rode that day into Cambalu. By the road that leadeth to Ispahan." (Longfellow.)[1]

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