The Travels of Marco Polo Volume I Part 23

[20] The French text which forms the _basis_ of my translation says that, excluding mariners, there were 600 souls, out of whom only 8 survived.

The older MS. which I quote as G. T., makes the number 18, a fact that I had overlooked till the sheets were printed off.

[21] Died 12th March, 1291.

[22] All dates are found so corrupt that even in this one I do not feel absolute confidence. Marco in dictating the book is aware that Ghazan had attained the throne of Persia (see vol. i. p. 36, and ii. pp. 50 and 477), an event which did not occur till October, 1295. The date a.s.signed to it, however, by Marco (ii. 477) is 1294, or the year _before_ that a.s.signed to the return home.

The travellers may have stopped some time at Constantinople on their way, or even may have visited the northern sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea; otherwise, indeed, how did Marco acquire his knowledge of that Sea (ii. 486-488) and of events in Kipchak (ii. 496 seqq.)? If 1296 was the date of return, moreover, the six-and-twenty years a.s.signed in the preamble as the period of Marco's absence (p. 2) would be nearer accuracy. For he left Venice in the spring or summer of 1271.

[23] Marco Barbaro, in his account of the Polo family, tells what seems to be the same tradition in a different and more mythical version:--

"From ear to ear the story has past till it reached mine, that when the three Kinsmen arrived at their home they were dressed in the most shabby and sordid manner, insomuch that the wife of one of them gave away to a beggar that came to the door one of those garments of his, all torn, patched, and dirty as it was. The next day he asked his wife for that mantle of his, in order to put away the jewels that were sewn up in it; but she told him she had given it away to a poor man, whom she did not know. Now, the stratagem he employed to recover it was this. He went to the Bridge of Rialto, and stood there turning a wheel, to no apparent purpose, but as if he were a madman, and to all those who crowded round to see what prank was this, and asked him why he did it, he answered: 'He'll come if G.o.d pleases.' So after two or three days he recognised his old coat on the back of one of those who came to stare at his mad proceedings, and got it back again. Then, indeed, he was judged to be quite the reverse of a madman! And from those jewels he built in the contrada of S. Giovanni Grisostomo a very fine palace for those days; and the family got among the vulgar the name of the _Ca' Million_, because the report was that they had jewels to the value of a million of ducats; and the palace has kept that name to the present day--viz., 1566." (_Genealogies_, MS. copy in _Museo Civico_; quoted also by _Baldelli Boni, Vita_, p. x.x.xi.)

[24] The Will of the Elder Marco, to which we have several times referred, is dated at Rialto 5th August, 1280.

The testator describes himself as formerly of Constantinople, but now dwelling in the confine of S. Severo.

His brothers _Nicolo_ and _Maffeo_, if at Venice, are to be his sole trustees and executors, but in case of their continued absence he nominates _Jordano Trevisano_, and his sister-in-law _Fiordelisa_ of the confine of S. Severo.

The proper t.i.the to be paid. All his clothes and furniture to be sold, and from the proceeds his funeral to be defrayed, and the balance to purchase ma.s.ses for his soul at the discretion of his trustees.

Particulars of money due to him from his partners.h.i.+p with Donato Gra.s.so, now of Justinople (Capo d'Istria), 1200 _lire_ in all.

(Fifty-two lire due by said partners.h.i.+p to Angelo di Tumba of S.

Severo.)

The above money bequeathed to his son _Nicolo_, living at _Soldachia_, or failing him, to his beloved brothers _Nicolo_ and _Maffeo_. Failing them, to the sons of his said brothers (_sic_) _Marco_ and _Maffeo_.

Failing them, to be spent for the good of his soul at the discretion of his trustees.

To his son Nicolo he bequeaths a silver-wrought girdle of vermilion silk, two silver spoons, a silver cup without cover (or saucer? _sine cembalo_), his desk, two pairs of sheets, a velvet quilt, a counterpane, a feather-bed--all on the same conditions as above, and to remain with the trustees till his son returns to Venice.

Meanwhile the trustees are to invest the money at his son's risk and benefit, but only here in Venice (_investiant seu investire, faciant_).

From the proceeds to come in from his partners.h.i.+p with his brothers Nicolo and Maffeo, he bequeaths 200 lire to his daughter Maroca.

From same source 100 lire to his natural son Antony.

Has in his desk (_capsella_) two hyperperae (Byzantine gold coins), and three golden florins, which he bequeaths to the sister-in-law _Fiordelisa_.

Gives freedom to all his slaves and handmaidens.

Leaves his house in Soldachia to the Minor Friars of that place, reserving life-occupancy to his son Nicolo and daughter Maroca.

The rest of his goods to his son Nicolo.

[25] The terms in which the younger Maffeo mentions these half-brothers in his Will (1300) seem to indicate that they were still young.

IV. DIGRESSION CONCERNING THE MANSION OF THE POLO FAMILY AT VENICE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Corte del Milione, Venice.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Malibran Theatre Venice]

[Sidenote: Probable period of their establishment at S. Giovanni Grisostomo.]

23. We have seen that Ramusio places the scene of the story recently alluded to at the mansion in the parish of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, the court of which was known in his time as the Corte del Millioni; and indeed he speaks of the Travellers as at once on their arrival resorting to that mansion as their family residence. Ramusio's details have so often proved erroneous that I should not be surprised if this also should be a mistake.

At least we find (so far as I can learn) no previous intimation that the family were connected with that locality. The grandfather Andrea is styled of _San Felice_. The will of Maffeo Polo the younger, made in 1300, which we shall give hereafter in abstract, appears to be the first doc.u.ment that connects the family with S. Giovanni Grisostomo. It indeed styles the testator's father "the late Nicolo Paulo of the confine of St. John Chrysostom," but that only shows what is not disputed, that the Travellers after their return from the East settled in this locality. And the same will appears to indicate a surviving connexion with S. Felice, for the priests and clerks who drew it up and witness it are all of the church of S. Felice, and it is to the parson of S. Felice and his successor that Maffeo bequeaths an annuity to procure their prayers for the souls of his father, his mother, and himself, through after the successor the annuity is to pa.s.s on the same condition to the senior priest of S. Giovanni Grisostomo. Marco Polo the Elder is in his will described as of _S.

Severo_, as is also his sister-in-law Fiordelisa, and the doc.u.ment contains no reference to S. Giovanni. On the whole therefore it seems probable that the Palazzo in the latter parish was purchased by the Travellers after their return from the East.[1]

[Sidenote: Relic of the Casa Polo in the Corte Sabbionera.]

24. The Court which was known in the 16th century as the Corte del Millioni has been generally understood to be that now known as the Corte Sabbionera, and here is still pointed out a relic of Marco Polo's mansion.

[Indeed it is called now (1899) _Corte del Milione_; see p. 30.--H. C.]

M. Pauthier's edition is embellished with a good engraving which purports to represent the House of Marco Polo. But he has been misled. His engraving in fact exhibits, at least as the prominent feature, an embellished representation of a small house which exists on the _west side_ of the Sabbionera, and which had at one time perhaps that pointed style of architecture which his engraving shows, though its present decoration is paltry and unreal. But it is on the _north side_ of the Court, and on the foundations now occupied by the Malibran theatre, that Venetian tradition and the investigations of Venetian antiquaries concur in indicating the site of the Casa Polo. At the end of the 16th century a great fire destroyed the Palazzo,[2] and under the description of "an old mansion ruined from the foundation" it pa.s.sed into the hands of one Stefano Vecchia, who sold it in 1678 to Giovanni Carlo Grimani. He built on the site of the ruins a theatre which was in its day one of the largest in Italy, and was called the Theatre of S. Giovanni Grisostomo; afterwards the _Teatro Emeronitio_. When modernized in our own day the proprietors gave it the name of Malibran, in honour of that famous singer, and this it still bears.[3]

[In 1881, the year of the Venice International Geographical Congress, a Tablet was put up on the Theatre with the following inscription:--

QVI FURONO LE CASE DI MARCO POLO CHE VIAGGI LE PIu LONTANE REGIONI DELL' ASIA E LE DESCRISSE

PER DECRETO DEL COMUNE MDCCCLx.x.xI].

There is still to be seen on the north side of the Court an arched doorway in Italo-Byzantine style, richly sculptured with scrolls, disks, and symbolical animals, and on the wall above the doorway is a cross similarly ornamented.[4] The style and the decorations are those which were usual in Venice in the 13th century. The arch opens into a pa.s.sage from which a similar doorway at the other end, also retaining some scantier relics of decoration, leads to the entrance of the Malibran Theatre. Over the archway in the Corte Sabbionera the building rises into a kind of tower.

This, as well as the sculptured arches and cross, Signor Casoni, who gave a good deal of consideration to the subject, believed to be a relic of the old Polo House. But the tower (which Pauthier's view does show) is now entirely modernized.[5]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The site of the CA' POLO.

Fig. A. From the Diner Map A. D. 1500.

Fig. B. From Map by Ludovico Ughi A.D. 1729 Scale 1 to 2500.

Fig. C. From Recent Map. Scale 1 to 1315.]

Other remains of Byzantine sculpture, which are probably fragments of the decoration of the same mansion, are found imbedded in the walls of neighbouring houses.[6] It is impossible to determine anything further as to the form or extent of the house of the time of the Polos, but some slight idea of its appearance about the year 1500 may be seen in the extract (fig. A) which we give from the famous pictorial map of Venice attributed erroneously to Albert Durer. The state of the buildings in the last century is shown in (fig. B) an extract from the fine Map of Ughi; and their present condition in one (fig. C) reduced from the Modern Official Map of the Munic.i.p.ality.

[Coming from the Church of S. G. Grisostomo to enter the calle del Teatro on the left and the pa.s.sage (_Sottoportico_) leading to the _Corte del Milione_, one has in front of him a building with a door of the epoch of the Renaissance; it was the office of the _provveditori_ of silk; on the architrave are engraved the words:

PROVISORES SERICI

and below, above the door, is the Tablet which] in the year 1827 the Abate Zenier caused to be put up with this inscription:--

AEDES PROXIMA THALIAE CVLTVI MODO ADDICTA MARCI POLO P. V. ITINERVM FAMA PRAECLARI JAM HABITATIO FVIT.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Entrance to the Corte del Milione Venice]

[Sidenote: Recent corroboration as to the traditional site of the Casa Polo.]

24a. I believe that of late years some doubts have been thrown on the tradition of the site indicated as that of the Casa Polo, though I am not aware of the grounds of such doubts. But a doc.u.ment recently discovered at Venice by Comm. Barozzi, one of a series relating to the testamentary estate of Marco Polo, goes far to confirm the tradition. This is the copy of a technical definition of two pieces of house property adjoining the property of Marco Polo and his brother Stephen, which were sold to Marco Polo by his wife Donata[7] in June 1321. Though the definition is not decisive, from the rarity of topographical references and absence of points of the compa.s.s, the description of Donata's tenements as standing on the Rio (presumably that of S. Giovanni Grisostomo) on one side, opening by certain porticoes and stairs on the other to the Court and common alley leading to the Church of S. Giovanni Grisostomo, and ab.u.t.ting in two places on the Ca' Polo, the property of her husband and Stefano, will apply perfectly to a building occupying the western portion of the area on which now stands the Theatre, and perhaps forming the western side of a Court of which Casa Polo formed the other three sides.[8]