IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
66 INTRODUCTION
seems to prove. But for this circumstance we might suppose
the Marcolino mentioned in the ensuing paragraph to have
been a son of the younger Maffeo.
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 ; and
we learn from a document in the Venetian archives (see p.
77) that it must have been previous to 1318, and subsequent
to February 1309, the date of his last Will. The Will itself
is not known to be extant, but from the reference to it in this
document we learn that he left 1000 lire of public debt * (?im-
prestitorum) to a certain Marco Polo, called Marcolino. The
relationship of this Marco to old Maffeo is not stated, but we
may suspect him to have been an illegitimate son. [Marcolino
was a son of Nicolo, son of Marco the Elder ; see vol. ii.,
Calendar, No. 6.—H. C.]
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
Documentary notices of Polo at this time. The sobriquet of Milione.
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 providers vir or prud'-lzomme 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
* According to Romanin (I. 321) the lira dei grossi was also called Lira d'i;nprestidi, and if the lire here are to be so taken, the sum will be 10,000 ducats, the largest amount by far that occurs in any of these Polo documents, unless, indeed, the moo lire in § 5 of Maffeo Junior's Will be the like ; but I have some doubt if such lire are intended in either case.
t " (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 Appendix C. No. 3.) The other reference, to M. Polo, of S. Geremia, runs as follows :-
[MCCCII. indic. X V. die VIII. Macii fiat grä Gűillő aurifcci Ÿ ipe absolvat a pena i qua dicit icurisse its uno spőtono sibi it-zeta veuiédo de 1llestre ppe doznii illaci
Pauli de Canare, to ű i descenderat ad bibendit. ] .
"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. 6o6.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.