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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CAPTIVITY OF MARCO POLO
SI
as an enemy of Venice, sent a complimentary letter to Doria
accompanied by costly presents.*
The latter died at Savona 17th October, 1323, á. few months
before the most illustrious of his prisoners, and his bones were
laid in a sarcophagus which may still be seen forming the sill of
one of the windows of S. Matteo (on the right as you enter).
Over this sarcophagus stood the Bust of Lamba till 1797, when
the mob of Genoa, in idiotic imitation of the French proceedings
of that age, threw it down. All of Lamba's six sons had fought
with him at Meloria. In 1291 one of them, Tedisio, went forth
into the Atlantic in company with Ugolino Vivaldi on a voyage
of discovery, and never returned. Through Casar, the youngest,
this branch of the Family still survives, bearing the distinctive
surname of Lamba-Doria.+
As to the treatment of the prisoners, accounts differ ; a thing
usual in such cases. The Genoese Poet asserts that the hearts
of his countrymen were touched, and that the captives were
treated with compassionate courtesy. Navagiero the Venetian,
on the other hand, declares that most of them died of
hunger.$
i
The inscription on S. Matteo regarding the battle is as follows :—" Ad Ilonorem Dei et Beate Vizginis Marie Anno MCCLXXXX VIII Die Dominico VII Septenz-
bris isle Angelus captus fuit in Gulfo Venetiarum in Civitate Scursole et ibidem fuit prelium Galearum LXX VI Januensium cum Galeis LXXXX VI Veneciarum. Capte fuerunt LXXXIIII per Nobilenz Virunz Donzznunn Lazrzbam Aurie Capitaneum et Arnziratum tune Comunis et Populi Janue cum omnibus existentibus in eisdem, de quibus conduxit Janie komines vivos carceratos VII cccc et Galeas X VIII, reliquas LX VI fecit cunzburi in ditto Gulfo Veneciarum. Qui obiit Sagone I. MCCCXXIII." It is not clear to what the Angelus refers.
* Rampoldi, Ann. llluszzlm. ix. 217. t Jacopo Doria, p. 280.
$ Murat. xxiii. IOIo. I learn from a Genoese gentleman, through my friend Professor Henry Giglioli (to whose kindness I owe the transcript of the inscription just given), that a faint tradition exists as to the place of our traveller's imprisonment. It is alleged to have been a massive building, standing between the Grazie and the Mole, and bearing the name of the Malapaga, which is now a barrack for Doganieri, but continued till comparatively recent times to be used as a civil prison. " It is certain," says my informant, " that men of fame in arms who had fallen into the power of the Genoese were imprisoned there, and among others is recorded the name of the Corsican Giudice dalla Rocca and Lord of Cinarca, who died there in 1312 ; " a date so near that of Marco's imprisonment as to give some interest to the hypothesis, slender as are its grounds. Another Genoese, however, indicates as the scene of Marco's captivity certain old prisons near the Old Arsenal, in a site still known as the Vico degli Schiavi. (Celesia, Dante in Liguria, 1865, p. 43.) [Was not the.place of Polo's captivity the basement of the Palazzo del Capitan del Popolo, afterwards Palazzo del Comune al blare, where the Customs (Do, ana) had their office, and from the 15th century the Casa or Palazzo di S. Giorgio ?-11. C.11
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