The two last
were those who went to Constantinople first, and afterwards to Cathay,
as has been seen. Messer Marco the elder being dead, the wife of Messer
Nicolo who had been left at home with child, gave birth to a son, to
whom she gave the name of Marco in memory of the deceased, and this is
the Author of our Book. Of the brothers who were born from his father's
second marriage, viz. Stephen, John, and Matthew, I do not find that any
of them had children, except Matthew. He had five sons and one daughter
called Maria; and she, after the death of her brothers without
offspring, inherited in 1417 all the property of her father and her
brothers. She was honourably married to Messer AZZO TREVISANO of the
parish of Santo Stazio in this city, and from her sprung the fortunate
and honoured stock of the Illustrious Messer DOMENICO TREVISANO,
Procurator of St. Mark's, and valorous Captain General of the Sea Forces
of the Republic, whose virtue and singular good qualities are
represented with augmentation in the person of the Most Illustrious
Prince Ser MARC' ANTONIO TREVISANO, his son.[9]
"Such has been the history of this noble family of the Ca' Polo, which
lasted as we see till the year of our Redemption 1417, in which year
died childless Marco Polo, the last of the five sons of Maffeo, and so
it came to an end. Such be the chances and changes of human affairs!"
[Illustration: Arms of the Ca' Polo.]
[1] The Preface is dated Venice, 7th July, 1553. Fracastorius died in the
same year, and Ramusio erected a statue of him at Padua. Ramusio
himself died in July, 1557.
[2] The Geography of De Barros, from which this is quoted, has never been
printed. I can find nothing corresponding to this passage in the
Decades.
[3] A grievous error of Ramusio's.
[4] See the decorated title-page of this volume for an attempt to realise
the scene.
[5] At first sight this fantastic tradition seems to have little
verisimilitude; but when we regard it in the light of genuine Mongol
custom, such as is quoted from Rubruquis, at p. 389 of this volume, we
shall be disposed to look on the whole story with respect.
[6] This curious statement is confirmed by a passage in the records of the
Great Council, which, on a late visit to Venice, I was enabled to
extract, through an obliging communication from Professor Minotto.
(See below, p. 67.)
[7] This rather preposterous skit at the Genoese dialect naturally excites
a remonstrance from the Abate Spotorno. (Storia Letteraria della
Liguria, II. 217.)
[8] Jackdaws, I believe, in spite of some doubt from the imbecility of
ordinary dictionaries in such matters.
They are under this name made the object of a similitude by Dante
(surely a most unhappy one) in reference to the resplendent spirits
flitting on the celestial stairs in the sphere of Saturn: -
"E come per lo natural costume
Le Pole insieme, al cominciar del giorno,
Si muovono a scaldar le fredde piume:
Poi altre vanno via senza ritorno,
Altre rivolgon se, onde son mosse,
Ed altre roteando fan soggiorno." - Parad. XXI. 34.
There is some difference among authorities as to the details of the
Polo blazon. According to a MS. concerning the genealogies of Venetian
families written by Marco Barbaro in 1566, and of which there is a
copy in the Museo Civico, the field is gules, the bend or. And
this I have followed in the cut. But a note by S. Stefani of Venice,
with which I have been favoured since the cut was made, informs me
that a fine 15th-century MS. in his possession gives the field as
argent, with no bend, and the three birds sable with beaks
gules, disposed thus ***.
[Illustration: Arms of the Polo[A]]
[A] [This coat of arms is reproduced from the Genealogies of
Priuli, Archivio di Stato, Venice. - H. C.]
[9] Marco Antonio Trevisano was elected Doge, 4th June, 1553, but died on
the 31st of May following. We do not here notice Ramusio's numerous
errors, which will be corrected in the sequel. [See p. 78.]
II. SKETCH OF THE STATE OF THE EAST AT THE TIME OF THE JOURNEYS OF THE
POLO FAMILY.
9. The story of the travels of the Polo family opens in 1260.
[Sidenote: State of the Levant.]
Christendom had recovered from the alarm into which it had been thrown
some 18 years before when the Tartar cataclysm had threatened to engulph
it. The Tartars themselves were already becoming an object of curiosity
rather than of fear, and soon became an object of hope, as a possible help
against the old Mahomedan foe. The frail Latin throne in Constantinople
was still standing, but tottering to its fall. The successors of the
Crusaders still held the Coast of Syria from Antioch to Jaffa, though a
deadlier brood of enemies than they had yet encountered was now coming to
maturity in the Dynasty of the Mamelukes, which had one foot firmly
planted in Cairo, the other in Damascus. The jealousies of the commercial
republics of Italy were daily waxing greater. The position of Genoese
trade on the coasts of the Aegean was greatly depressed, through the
predominance which Venice had acquired there by her part in the expulsion
of the Greek Emperors, and which won for the Doge the lofty style of Lord
of Three-Eighths of the Empire of Romania. But Genoa was biding her time
for an early revenge, and year by year her naval strength and skill were
increasing. Both these republics held possessions and establishments in
the ports of Syria, which were often the scene of sanguinary conflicts
between their citizens.