The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 1 by Marco Polo and da Pisa Rusticiano

also in the supposed occasional use of Oriental state records, as in Herodotus’s accounts of the revenues of the satrapies, and of the army of Xerxes, and in Marco Polo’s account of Kinsay, and of the Kaan’s revenues. (Vol. ii pp. 185, 216.) [14] An example is seen in the voluminous _Annali Musulmani_ of _G. B. Rampoldi_, Milan, 1825. This writer speaks of the Travels of Marco Polo with his _brother_ and uncle; declares that he visited _Tipango_ (_sic_), Java, Ceylon, and the _Maldives_, collected all the geographical notions of his age, traversed the two peninsulas of the Indies, examined the islands of _Socotra, Madagascar, Sofala_, and traversed with _philosophic eye_ the regions of Zanguebar, Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt! and so forth (ix. 174). And whilst Malte-Brun bestows on Marco the sounding and ridiculous title of “_the Humboldt of the 13th century_,” he shows little real acquaintance with his Book. (See his _Précis_, ed. of 1836, I. 551 _seqq._) [15] See for example vol. i. p. 338, and note 4 at p. 341; also vol. ii. p. 103. The descriptions in the style referred to recur in all seven times; but most of them (which are in Book IV.) have been omitted in this translation. [16] [On the subject of Moses of Chorene and his works, I must refer to the clever researches of the late Auguste Carrière, Professor of Armenian at the École des Langues Orientales.—H. C.] [17] _Zacher, Forschungen zur Critik, &c., der Alexandersage_, Halle, 1867, p. 108. [18] Even so sagacious a man as Roger Bacon quotes the fabulous letter of Alexander to Aristotle as authentic. (_Opus Majus_, p. 137.) [19] _J. As._ sér. VI. tom. xviii. p. 352. [20] See passage from Jacopo d’Acqui, _supra_, p. _54_. [21] It is the transcriber of one of the Florence MSS. who appends this terminal note, worthy of Mrs. Nickleby:—“Here ends the Book of Messer M. P. of Venice, written with mine own hand by me Amalio Bonaguisi when Podestà of Cierreto Guidi, to get rid of time and _ennui_. The contents seem to me incredible things, not lies so much as miracles; and it may be all very true what he says, but I don’t believe it; though to be sure throughout the world very different things are found in different countries. But these things, it has seemed to me in copying, are entertaining enough, but not things to believe or put any faith in; that at least is my opinion. And I finished copying this at Cierreto aforesaid, 12th November, A.D. 1392.” [22] _Vulgar Errors_, Bk. I. ch. viii.; _Astley’s Voyages_, IV. 583. [23] A few years before Marsden’s publication, the Historical branch of the R. S. of Science at Göttingen appears to have put forth as the subject of a prize Essay the Geography of the Travels of Carpini, Rubruquis, and especially of Marco Polo. (See _L. of M. Polo_, by _Zurla_, in _Collezione di Vite e Ritratti d’Illustri Italiani_. Pad. 1816.) [24] See _Städtewesen des Mittelalters_, by _K. D. Hüllmann_, Bonn, 1829, vol. iv. After speaking of the Missions of Pope Innocent IV. and St. Lewis, this author sketches the Travels of the Polos, and then proceeds:—“Such are the clumsily compiled contents of this ecclesiastical fiction (_Kirchengeschichtlichen Dichtung_) disguised as a Book of Travels, a thing devised generally in the spirit of the age, but specially in the interests of the Clergy and of Trade.... This compiler’s aim was analogous to that of the inventor of the Song of Roland, to kindle enthusiasm for the conversion of the Mongols, and so to facilitate commerce through their dominions.... Assuredly the Poli never got further than Great Bucharia, which was then reached by many Italian Travellers. What they have related of the regions of the Mongol Empire lying further east consists merely of recollections of the bazaar and travel-talk of traders from those countries; whilst the notices of India, Persia, Arabia, and Ethiopia, are borrowed from Arabic Works. The compiler no doubt carries his audacity in fiction a long way, when he makes his hero Marcus assert that he had been seventeen years in Kúblái’s service,” etc. etc. (pp. 360–362). In the French edition of _Malcolm’s History of Persia_ (II. 141), Marco is styled “_prêtre Venetien_”! I do not know whether this is due to Sir John or to the translator. [Polo is also called “a Venetian Priest,” in a note, vol. i., p. 409, of the original edition of London, 1815, 2 vols., 4to.—H. C.] XII. CONTEMPORARY RECOGNITION OF POLO AND HIS BOOK. [Sidenote: How far was there diffusion of his Book in his own day?]