marked that the formula is not an ordinary one with translators, compilers, or authors of the 13th and 14th centuries. Perhaps you would not find a single other example of it." This seems to place beyond question the identity of the Romance compiler of Prince Edward's suite in 1270, and the Prisoner of Genoa in 1298. ticulars con Rustician. 42. In Dunlop's History of Fiction a passage is quoted from the preamble of Meliadus, as set forth in the Paris printed edition of 1528, which gives us to understand that Further parRusticien de Pise had received as a reward for some cerning of his compositions from King Henry III. the prodigal gift of two chateaux. I gather, however, from passages in the work of M. Paulin-Paris that this must certainly be one of those confusions of persons to which I have referred before, and that the recipient of the chateaux was in reality Helye de Borron, the author of some of the originals which Rustician manipulated. This supposed incident in Rustician's scanty history must therefore be given up. We call this worthy Rustician or Rusticiano, as the nearest probable representation in Italian form of the Rusticien of the Round-Table MSS. and the Rustacians of the old text of Polo. But it is highly probable that his real name was Rustichello, as is suggested by the form Rustichelus in the early Latin version published by the Société de Géographie. The change of one liquid for another never goes for much in Italy, and Rustichello might easily Gallicize himself as Rusticien. In a very long list of Pisan officials during the Middle Ages I find several bearing the name of Rustichello or Rustichelli, but no Rusticiano or Rustigiano.§ Respecting him we have only to add that the peace between Genoa and Venice was speedily followed by a treaty between Genoa and Pisa. On the 31st July, 1299, a truce for twenty-five years was signed between those two Republics. It was a very different matter from that between Genoa and Venice, and contained much that was humiliating and detri * J. As. as above. + See Liebrecht's Dunlop, p. 77; and MSS. François, &c. II. 349, 353. The alleged gift to Rustician is also put forth by D'Israeli the Elder in his Amenities of Literature, 1841, I. p. 103. E. g. Geronimo, Girolamo; and garofalo, garofano; Cristoforo, Cristovalo; gonfalone, gonfanone, &c. § See the List in Archivio Stor. Ital. VI. pp. 64, seqq. mental to Pisa. But it embraced the release of prisoners; and those of Meloria, reduced it is said to less than one tithe of their original number, had their liberty at last. Among the prisoners then released no doubt Rustician was one. But we hear of him no more. VIII. NOTICES OF MARCO POLO'S HISTORY, AFTER THE TERMINATION OF HIS IMPRISONMENT AT GENOA. 43. A very few disconnected notices are all that can be collected of matter properly biographical in relation to the quarter century during which Marco Polo survived the Genoese captivity. Death of Father before 1300. Will of his brother Maffeo. We have seen that he would probably reach Venice in the course of August, 1299. Whether he found his aged father alive is not known; but we know at least that a year later (31st August, 1300) Messer Nicolo was no longer in life. This we learn from the Will of the younger Maffeo, Marco's brother, which bears the date just named, and of which we give an abstract below.* It seems to imply strong regard for 1. The will is made in prospect of his voyage to Crete. 2. He had drafted his will with his own hand, sealed the draft, and made it over to Pietro Pagano, priest of St. Felice and Notary, to draw out a formal testament in faithful accordance therewith in case of the Testator's death; and that which follows is the substance of the said draft rendered from the vernacular into Latin. ("Ego Matheus Paulo . . . volens ire in Cretam, ne repentinus casus hujus vite fragilis me subreperet intestatum, mea propria manu meum scripsi et condidi testamentum, rogans Petrum Paganum ecclesie Scti. Felicis presbiterum et Notarium, sana mente et integro consilio, ut, secundum ipsius scripturam quam sibi tunc dedi meo sigillo munitam, meum scriberet testamentum, si me de hoc seculo contigeret pertransire; cujus scripture tenor translato vulgari in latinum per omnia talis est.") 3. Appoints as Trustees Messer Maffeo Polo his uncle, Marco Polo his brother, Messer Nicolo Secreto (or Sagredo) his father-in-law, and Felix Polo his cousin (consanguineum). 4. Leaves 20 soldi to each of the Monasteries from Grado to Capo d'Argine ; and 150 lire to all the congregations of Rialto, on condition that the priests of these maintain an annual service in behalf of the souls of his father, mother, and self. 5. To his daughter Fiordelisa 2000 lire to marry her withal. To be invested in safe mortgages in Venice, and the interest to go to her. Also leaves her the interest from 1000 lire of his investments to provide for her till she marries. After her marriage this 1000 lire and its interest shall go to his male heir if he has one, and failing that to his brother Marco. the testator's brother Marco, who is made inheritor of the bulk of the property, failing the possible birth of a son. I have already indicated some conjectural deductions from this document. I may add that the terms of the second clause, as quoted in the note, seem to me to throw considerable doubt on the genealogy which bestows a large family of sons upon this brother Maffeo. If he lived to have such a family it seems improbable that the draught which he thus left in the hands of a notary, to be converted into a Will in the event of 6. To his wife Catharine 400 lire and all her clothes as they stand now. To the Lady Maroca 100 lire. 7. To his natural daughter Pasqua 400 lire to marry her withal. Or, if she likes to be a nun, 200 lire shall go to her convent and the other 200 shall purchase securities for her benefit. After her death these shall come to his male heir, or failing that be sold, and the proceeds distributed for the good of the souls of his father, mother, and self. 8. To his natural brothers Stephen and Giovannino he leaves 500 lire. If one dies the whole to go to the other. If both die before marrying, to go to his male heir; failing such to his brother Marco or his male heir. 9. To his uncle Giordano Trevisano 200 lire. To Marco Tumba 100. To Fiordelisa, wife of Felix Polo, 100. To Maroca, the daughter of the late Pietro Trevisano, living at Negropont, 100. 10. To buy securities producing an annual 20 lire ai grossi to be paid yearly to Pietro Pagano, Priest of S. Felice, who shall pray for the souls aforesaid; on death of said Pietro the income to go to Pietro's cousin Lionardo, Clerk of St. Felice ; and after him always to the senior priest of S. Giovanni Grisostomo with the same obligation. 11. Should his wife prove with child and bear a son or sons they shall have his whole property not disposed of. If a daughter, she shall have the same as Fiordelisa. 12. If he have no male heir his Brother Marco shall have the Testator's share of his Father's bequest, and 2000 lire besides. Cousin Nicolo shall have 500 lire, and Uncle Maffeo 500. 13. Should Daughter Fiordelisa die unmarried her 2000 lire and interest to go to his male heir, and failing such to Brother Marco and his male heir. But in that case Marco shall pay 500 lire to Cousin Nicolo or his male heir. 14. Should his wife bear him a male heir or heirs, but these should die under age, the whole of his undisposed property shall go to Brother Marco or his male heir. But in that case 500 lire shall be paid to Cousin Nicolo. 15. Should his wife bear a daughter and she die unmarried, her 2000 lire and interest shall go to Brother Marco, with the same stipulation in behalf of Cousin Nicolo. 16. Should the whole amount of his property between cash and goods not amount to 10,000 lire (though he believes he has fully as much), his bequests are to be ratably diminished, except those to his own children which he does not wish diminished. 17. Should any legatee die before receiving the bequest, its amount shall fall to the Testator's heir male, and failing such, the half to go to Brother Marco or his male heir, and the other half to be distributed for the good of the souls aforesaid. The witnesses are Lionardo priest of S. Felice, Lionardo clerk of the same, and the Notary Pietro Pagano priest of the same. his death (a curious example of the validity attaching to all acts of notaries in those days), should never have been superseded, but should actually have been so converted after his death, as the existence of the parchment seems to prove. Messer Maffeo, the uncle, was, we see, alive at this time. We do not know the year of his death. But it is alluded to by Friar Pipino in the Preamble to his Translation of the Book, supposed to have been executed about 1315-1320. Documentary notices of Polo at this time. The sobriquet of Milione 44. In 1302 occurs what was at first supposed to be a glimpse of Marco as a citizen, slight and quaint enough; being a resolution on the Books of the Great Council to exempt the respectable Marco Polo from the penalty incurred by him on account of the omission to have his water-pipe duly inspected. But since our Marco's claims to the designation of Nobilis Vir have been established, there is a doubt whether the providus vir or prud'homme here spoken of may not have been rather his namesake Marco Polo of Cannareggio or S. Geremia, of whose existence we learn from another entry of the same year.' It is however possible that Marco the Traveller was called to the Great Council after the date of the document in question. * We have seen that the Traveller, and after him his House and his Book, acquired from his contemporaries the surname, or nick-name rather, of Il Milione. Different writers have given different explanations of the origin of this name; some, beginning with his contemporary Fra Jacopo d'Acqui (supra, p. lxxxii), ascribing it to the family's having brought home a fortune of a million of lire, in fact to their being millionaires. This is the explanation followed by Sansovino, Marco Barbaro, Coronelli, and others.† More far-fetched is that of Fontanini who supposes the name to have been given to the * "(Resolved) That grace be granted to the respectable MARCO PAULO, relieving him of the penalty he has incurred for neglecting to have his water-pipe examined, seeing that he was ignorant of the order on that subject." (See the original resolution in Appendix C, No. 3.) The other reference, to M. Polo of S. Geremia, runs as follows: "That grace be granted to William the Goldsmith relieving him of the penalty which he is stated to have incurred on account of a spontoon (spontono, a loaded bludgeon) found upon him near the house of MARCO PAULO of Cannareggio, where he had landed to drink on his way from Mestre." (See Cicogna, V. p. 606.) Sansovino, Venezia, Città Nobilissima e Singolare, Descritta, &c., Ven. 1581, f. 236 v.; Barbaro, Alberi; Coronelli, Atlante Veneto, I. 19. * Book as containing a great number of stories, like the Cento Novelle or the Thousand and One Nights! But there can be no doubt that Ramusio's is the true, as it is the natural, explanation; and that the name was bestowed on Marco by the young wits of his native city, because of his frequent use of a word which appears to have been then unusual, in his attempts to convey an idea of the vast wealth and magnificence of the Kaan's Treasury and Court. Ramusio has told us (supra, p. xxxvii) that he had seen Marco styled by this sobriquet in the Books of the Signory; and it is pleasant to be able to confirm this by the next document which we cite. This is an extract from the Books of the Great Council under 10th April, 1305, condoning the offence of a certain Bonocio of Mestre in smuggling wine, for whose penalty one of the sureties had been the NOBILIS VIR MARCHUS PAULO MILIONI.† It is alleged that long after our Traveller's death there was always, in the Venetian Masques, one individual who assumed the character of Marco Milioni, and told Munchausenlike stories to divert the vulgar. Such, if this be true, was the honour of our prophet among the populace of his own country. + 45. A little later we hear of Marco once more, as presenting a copy of his Book to a noble Frenchman in the service of Charles of Valois. * The word Millio occurs several times in the Chronicle of the Doge Andrea Dandolo, who wrote about 1342; and Milion occurs at least once (besides the application of the term to Polo) in the History of Giovanni Villani; viz. when he speaks of the Treasury of Avignon :—“ diciotto milioni di fiorini d' oro ec. che ogni milione è mille migliaja di fiorini d'oro la valuta” (xi. 20, § 1; Ducange, and Vocab. Univ. Ital.). But the definition, thought necessary by Villani, in itself points to the use of the word as rare. Domilion occurs in the estimated value of houses at Venice in 1367, recorded in the Cronaca Magna in St. Mark's Library (Romanin, III. 385). "Also; that pardon be granted to Bonocio of Mestre for that 152 lire in which he stood condemned by the Captains of the Posts, on account of wine smuggled by him, in such wise: to wit, that he was to pay the said fine in 4 years by annual instalments of one fourth, to be retrenched from the pay due to him on his journey in the suite of our ambassadors, with assurance that anything then remaining deficient of his instalments should be made good by himself or his securities. And his securities are the Nobles Pietro Morosini and MARCO PAÚLO MILION." Under Milion is written in an ancient hand "mortuus." (See Ap pendix C, No. 4.) Humboldt tells this (Examen, II. 221), alleging Jacopo d'Acqui as authority; and Libri (H. des Sciences Mathématiques, II. 149), quoting Doglioni, Historia Veneziana. But neither authority bears out the citations. The story seems really to come from Amoretti's commentary on the Voyage du Cap. L. F. Maldonado, Plaisance, 1812, p. 67. Amoretti quotes as authority Pignoria, Degli Dei Antichi. |