The Travels of Marco Polo Volume I Part 46

CHAPTER VIII.

HOW THE GREAT KAAN GAVE THEM A TABLET OF GOLD, BEARING HIS ORDERS IN THEIR BEHALF.

When the Prince had charged them with all his commission, he caused to be given them a Tablet of Gold, on which was inscribed that the three Amba.s.sadors should be supplied with everything needful in all the countries through which they should pa.s.s--with horses, with escorts, and, in short, with whatever they should require. And when they had made all needful preparations, the three Amba.s.sadors took their leave of the Emperor and set out.

When they had travelled I know not how many days, the Tartar Baron fell sick, so that he could not ride, and being very ill, and unable to proceed further, he halted at a certain city. So the Two Brothers judged it best that they should leave him behind and proceed to carry out their commission; and, as he was well content that they should do so, they continued their journey. And I can a.s.sure you, that whithersoever they went they were honourably provided with whatever they stood in need of, or chose to command. And this was owing to that Tablet of Authority from the Lord which they carried with them.[NOTE 1]

So they travelled on and on until they arrived at Layas in Hermenia, a journey which occupied them, I a.s.sure you, for three years.[NOTE 2] It took them so long because they could not always proceed, being stopped sometimes by snow, or by heavy rains falling, or by great torrents which they found in an impa.s.sable state.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Castle of Ayas.]

NOTE 1.--On these Tablets, see a note under Bk. II. ch. vii.

NOTE 2.--AYAS, called also Ayacio, Aiazzo, Giazza, Glaza, La Jazza, and _Layas_, occupied the site of ancient Aegae, and was the chief port of Cilician Armenia, on the Gulf of Scanderoon. _Aegae_ had been in the 5th century a place of trade with the West, and the seat of a bishopric, as we learn from the romantic but incomplete story of Mary, the n.o.ble slave-girl, told by Gibbon (ch. 33). As Ayas it became in the latter part of the 13th century one of the chief places for the s.h.i.+pment of Asiatic wares arriving through Tabriz, and was much frequented by the vessels of the Italian Republics. The Venetians had a _Bailo_ resident there.

Ayas is the _Leyes_ of Chaucer's Knight,--

("At LEYES was he and at Satalie")--

and the Layas of Froissart. (Bk. III. ch. xxii.) The Gulf of Layas is described in the xix. Canto of Ariosto, where Mafisa and Astolfo find on its sh.o.r.es a country of barbarous Amazons:--

"Fatto e 'l porto a sembranza d' una luna," etc.

Marino Sanuto says of it: "Laiacio has a haven, and a shoal in front of it that we might rather call a reef, and to this shoal the hawsers of vessels are moored whilst the anchors are laid out towards the land." (II. IV. ch.

xxvi.)

The present Ayas is a wretched village of some 15 huts, occupied by about 600 Turkmans, and standing inside the ruined walls of the castle. This castle, which is still in good condition, was built by the Armenian kings, and restored by Sultan Suleiman; it was constructed from the remains of the ancient city; fragments of old columns are embedded in its walls of cut stone. It formerly communicated by a causeway with an advanced work on an island before the harbour. The ruins of the city occupy a large s.p.a.ce.

(_Langlois, V. en Cilicie_, pp. 429-31; see also _Beaufort's Karamania_, near the end.) A plan of Ayas will be found at the beginning of Bk. I.

--H. Y. and H. C.

CHAPTER IX.

HOW THE TWO BROTHERS CAME TO THE CITY OF ACRE.

[Il.u.s.tration: ACRE AS IT WAS WHEN LOST (A.D. 1291). FROM THE PLAN GIVEN BY MARINO SANUTO]

They departed from Layas and came to ACRE, arriving there in the month of April, in the year of Christ 1269, and then they learned that the Pope was dead. And when they found that the Pope was dead (his name was Pope * *), [NOTE 1] they went to a certain wise Churchman who was Legate for the whole kingdom of Egypt, and a man of great authority, by name THEOBALD OF PIACENZA, and told him of the mission on which they were come. When the Legate heard their story, he was greatly surprised, and deemed the thing to be of great honour and advantage for the whole of Christendom. So his answer to the two Amba.s.sador Brothers was this: "Gentlemen, ye see that the Pope is dead; wherefore ye must needs have patience until a new Pope be made, and then shall ye be able to execute your charge." Seeing well enough that what the Legate said was just, they observed: "But while the Pope is a-making, we may as well go to Venice and visit our households."

So they departed from Acre and went to Negropont, and from Negropont they continued their voyage to Venice.[NOTE 2] On their arrival there, Messer Nicolas found that his wife was dead, and that she had left behind her a son of fifteen years of age, whose name was MARCO; and 'tis of him that this Book tells.[NOTE 3] The Two Brothers abode at Venice a couple of years, tarrying until a Pope should be made.

NOTE 1.--The deceased Pope's name is omitted both in the Geog. Text and in Pauthier's, clearly because neither Rusticiano nor Polo remembered it. It is supplied correctly in the Crusca Italian as _Clement_, and in Ramusio as _Clement IV._

It is not clear that _Theobald_, though generally adopted, is the ecclesiastic's proper name. It appears in different MSS. as _Teald_ (G.

T.), _Ceabo_ for _Teabo_ (Pauthier), _Odoaldo_ (Crusca), and in the Riccardian as _Thebaldus de Vice-comitibus de Placentia_, which corresponds to Ramusio's version. Most of the ecclesiastical chroniclers call him _Tedaldus_, some _Thealdus_. _Tedaldo_ is a real name, occurring in Boccaccio. (Day iii. Novel 7.)

NOTE 2.--After the expulsion of the Venetians from Constantinople, Negropont was the centre of their influence in Romania. On the final return of the travellers they again take Negropont on their way. [It was one of the ports on the route from Venice to Constantinople, Tana, Trebizond.--H. C.]

NOTE 3.--The _edition_ of the Soc. de Geographie makes Mark's age _twelve_, but I have verified from inspection the fact noticed by Pauthier that the _ma.n.u.script_ has distinctly xv. like all the other old texts. In Ramusio it is _nineteen_, but this is doubtless an arbitrary correction to suit the mistaken date (1250) a.s.signed for the departure of the father from Constantinople.

There is nothing in the old French texts to justify the usual statement that Marco was born after the departure of his father from Venice. All that the G. T. says is: "Meser Nicolau treuve que sa fame estoit morte, et les remes un filz de xv. anz que avoit a nom Marc," and Pauthier's text is to the same effect. Ramusio, indeed, has: "M. Nicol trov, che sua moglie era morta, la quale nella sua part.i.ta haveva partorito un figliuolo," and the other versions that are based on Pipino's seem all to have like statements.

CHAPTER X.

HOW THE TWO BROTHERS AGAIN DEPARTED FROM VENICE, ON THEIR WAY BACK TO THE GREAT KAAN, AND TOOK WITH THEM MARK, THE SON OF MESSER NICOLAS.

When the Two Brothers had tarried as long as I have told you, and saw that never a Pope was made, they said that their return to the Great Kaan must be put off no longer. So they set out from Venice, taking Mark along with them, and went straight back to Acre, where they found the Legate of whom we have spoken. They had a good deal of discourse with him concerning the matter, and asked his permission to go to JERUSALEM to get some Oil from the Lamp on the Sepulchre, to carry with them to the Great Kaan, as he had enjoined.[NOTE 1] The Legate giving them leave, they went from Acre to Jerusalem and got some of the Oil, and then returned to Acre, and went to the Legate and said to him: "As we see no sign of a Pope's being made, we desire to return to the Great Kaan; for we have already tarried long, and there has been more than enough delay." To which the Legate replied: "Since 'tis your wish to go back, I am well content." Wherefore he caused letters to be written for delivery to the Great Kaan, bearing testimony that the Two Brothers had come in all good faith to accomplish his charge, but that as there was no Pope they had been unable to do so.

NOTE 1.--In a Pilgrimage of date apparently earlier than this, the Pilgrim says of the Sepulchre: "The Lamp which had been placed by His head (when He lay there) still burns on the same spot day and night. _We took a blessing from it_ (i.e. apparently took some of the oil as a beneficent memorial), and replaced it." (_Itinerarium Antonini Placentini_ in _Bollandists_, May, vol. ii. p. xx.)

["Five great oil lamps," says Daniel, the Russian Hegoumene, 1106-1107 (_Itineraires russes en Orient_, trad. pour la Soc. de l'Orient Latin, par Mme. B. de Khitrowo, Geneva, 1889, p. 13), "burning continually night and day, are hung in the Sepulchre of Our Lord."--H. C.]

CHAPTER XI.

HOW THE TWO BROTHERS SET OUT FROM ACRE, AND MARK ALONG WITH THEM.

When the Two Brothers had received the Legate's letters, they set forth from Acre to return to the Grand Kaan, and got as far as Layas. But shortly after their arrival there they had news that the Legate aforesaid was chosen Pope, taking the name of Pope Gregory of Piacenza; news which the Two Brothers were very glad indeed to hear. And presently there reached them at Layas a message from the Legate, now the Pope, desiring them, on the part of the Apostolic See, not to proceed further on their journey, but to return to him incontinently. And what shall I tell you?

The King of Hermenia caused a galley to be got ready for the Two Amba.s.sador Brothers, and despatched them to the Pope at Acre.[NOTE 1]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Portrait of Pope Gregory X.]

NOTE 1.--The death of Pope Clement IV. occurred on St Andrew's Day (29th November), 1268; the election of Tedaldo or Tebaldo of Piacenza, a member of the Visconti family, and Archdeacon of Liege, did not take place till 1st September, 1271, owing to the factions among the cardinals. And it is said that some of them, anxious only to get away, voted for Theobald in full belief that he was dead. The conclave, in its inability to agree, had named a committee of six with full powers which the same day elected Theobald, on the recommendation of the Cardinal Bishop of Portus (John de Toleto, said, in spite of his name, to have been an Englishman). This facetious dignitary had suggested that the roof should be taken off the Palace at Viterbo where they sat, to allow the divine influences to descend more freely on their counsels (_quia nequeunt ad nos per tot tecta ingredi_). According to some, these doggerel verses, current on the occasion, were extemporised by Cardinal John in the pious exuberance of his glee:--

"Papatus munus tulit Archidiaconus unus Quem Patrem Patrum fecit discordia Fratrum."

The Archdeacon, a man of great weight of character, in consequence of differences with his Bishop (of Liege), who was a disorderly liver, had gone to the Holy Land, and during his stay there he contracted great intimacy with Prince Edward of England (Edward I.). Some authors, e.g.

John Villani (VIII. 39), say that he was Legate in Syria; others, as Rainaldus, deny this; but Polo's statement, and the authority which the Archdeacon took on himself in writing to the Kaan, seem to show that he had some such position.

He took the name of Gregory X., and before his departure from Acre, preached a moving sermon on the text, "_If I forget thee, O Jerusalem_,"

etc. Prince Edward fitted him out for his voyage.

Gregory reigned barely four years, dying at Arezzo 10th January, 1276. His character stood high to the last, and some of the Northern Martyrologies enrolled him among the saints, but there has never been canonisation by Rome. The people of Arezzo used to celebrate his anniversary with torch-light gatherings at his tomb, and plenty of miracles were alleged to have occurred there. The tomb still stands in the Duomo at Arezzo, a handsome work by Margaritone, an artist in all branches, who was the Pope's contemporary. There is an engraving of it in _Gonnelli, Mon. Sepolc. di Toscana_.