The privilege of free import and export
at the port of Messina, without payment of customs of goods to the
amount annually of 20 ounces. Dated in Catania 13th January, 1346
(1347?).
For the former notice I am indebted to the courtesy of Signor B.
Cecchetti of the Venetian Archives, who cites it as "transcribed in
the Commemor. IV. p. 5"; for the latter to that of the Abate Carini
of the Reale Archivio at Palermo; it is in Archivio della Regia
Cancellaria 1343-1357, f. 58.
The mission of this MARCO POLO is mentioned also in a rescript of the
Sicilian king Peter II., dated Messina, 14th November, 1340, in
reference to certain claims of Venice, about which the said Marco
appeared as the Doge's ambassador. This is printed in F. TESTA, De
Vita et Rebus Gestis Federici II., Siciliae Regis, Panormi, 1775, pp.
267 seqq. The Sicilian Antiquary Rosario Gregorio identifies the Envoy
with our Marco, dead long before. (See Opere scelte del Canon Ros.
Gregorio, Palermo, 1845, 3za ediz., p. 352.)
It is possible that this Marco, who from the latter notice seems to
have been engaged in mercantile affairs, may have been the Marcolino
above mentioned, but it is perhaps on the whole more probable that
this nobilis vir is the Marco spoken of in the note at p. 74.
[38] La Collezione del Doge Marin Faliero e i Tesori di Marco Polo,
pp. 98-103. I have seen this article. - H. C.
IX. MARCO POLO'S BOOK; AND THE LANGUAGE IN WHICH IT WAS FIRST WRITTEN.
[Illustration: Porcelain Incense Burner, from the Louvre]
[Sidenote: General statement of what the Book contains.]
50. The Book itself consists essentially of Two Parts. First, of a
Prologue, as it is termed, the only part which is actual personal
narrative, and which relates, in a very interesting but far too brief
manner, the circumstances which led the two elder Polos to the Kaan's
Court, and those of their second journey with Mark, and of their return to
Persia through the Indian Seas. Secondly, of a long series of chapters
of very unequal length, descriptive of notable sights and products, of
curious manners and remarkable events, relating to the different nations
and states of Asia, but, above all, to the Emperor Kublai, his court,
wars, and administration. A series of chapters near the close treats in a
verbose and monotonous manner of sundry wars that took place between the
various branches of the House of Chinghiz in the latter half of the 13th
century. This last series is either omitted or greatly curtailed in all
the copies and versions except one; a circumstance perfectly accounted for
by the absence of interest as well as value in the bulk of these chapters.
Indeed, desirous though I have been to give the Traveller's work complete,
and sharing the dislike that every man who uses books must bear to
abridgments, I have felt that it would be sheer waste and dead-weight to
print these chapters in full.
[Illustration: Temple of 500 Genii at Canton after a Drawing by FELIX
REGAMEY]
This second and main portion of the Work is in its oldest forms undivided,
the chapters running on consecutively to the end.[1] In some very early
Italian or Venetian version, which Friar Pipino translated into Latin, it
was divided into three Books, and this convenient division has generally
been adhered to. We have adopted M. Pauthier's suggestion in making the
final series of chapters, chiefly historical, into a Fourth.
[Sidenote: Language of the original Work.]
51. As regards the language in which Marco's Book was first committed to
writing, we have seen that Ramusio assumed, somewhat arbitrarily, that it
was Latin; Marsden supposed it to have been the Venetian dialect;
Baldelli Boni first showed, in his elaborate edition (Florence, 1827), by
arguments that have been illustrated and corroborated by learned men
since, that it was French.
That the work was originally written in some Italian dialect was a
natural presumption, and slight contemporary evidence can be alleged in
its favour; for Fra Pipino, in the Latin version of the work, executed
whilst Marco still lived, describes his task as a translation de
vulgari. And in one MS. copy of the same Friar Pipino's Chronicle,
existing in the library at Modena, he refers to the said version as made
"ex vulgari idiomate Lombardico." But though it may seem improbable that
at so early a date a Latin version should have been made at second hand, I
believe this to have been the case, and that some internal evidence also
is traceable that Pipino translated not from the original but from an
Italian version of the original.
The oldest MS. (it is supposed) in any Italian dialect is one in the
Magliabecchian Library at Florence, which is known in Italy as L'Ottima,
on account of the purity of its Tuscan, and as Della Crusca from its
being one of the authorities cited by that body in their Vocabulary.[2]
It bears on its face the following note in Italian: -
"This Book called the Navigation of Messer Marco Polo, a noble Citizen
of Venice, was written in Florence by Michael Ormanni my great
grandfather by the Mother's side, who died in the Year of Grace One
Thousand Three Hundred and Nine; and my mother brought it into our
Family of Del Riccio, and it belongs to me Pier del Riccio and to my
Brother; 1452."
As far as I can learn, the age which this note implies is considered to be
supported by the character of the MS. itself.[3] If it be accepted, the
latter is a performance going back to within eleven years at most of the
first dictation of the Travels. At first sight, therefore, this would
rather argue that the original had been written in pure Tuscan.
