IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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THE DESCRIPTION OF THE WORLD IMAGES AND FASTDAYS • 6 2
some of them which are ten paces in size, and more and less. And some are of wood y
and some of earth or pottery and some of stone, & some of bronze, and they are all i v
covered with gold and very well worked & wonderfully. • Of these idols some are less v VB
large and some small. These great idols are lying down' stretched out and several other R
small idols are standing round those great ones, and it seems that they do there R
humility and reverence to them like disciples. •And the large idols are much more reverenced R VB
than the small. And because I have not told you all the doings of the idolaters I
wish to tell you them here. Now you may know that the regulars of the idolaters
who keep a rule live more decently than the other idolaters, for they keep themselves FB V
from certain things, namely from sensuality and other improprieties, but they hold it not z z
for a great sin. For this is their opinion, that a woman invites them in love they can lit with z
her without sin, but if they first invite the woman then they reckon it for sin. But yet I tell
you that if they find any man who has lain with a woman unnaturally they condemn
him to death. And they make the festivals of their idols at different times as we do of our saints, TA L
and they have something like the kalendar where the feasts of their idols are arranged on fixed
days. And I tell you that they have a moon kalendar just as we have the months,
and in this way they reckon the time of the year. And they have certain moons when all vA
these monks[of ]the idolaters for anything of the world would not [264] kill beasts v FB
nor _lying birds, nor shed blood, for five consecutive days of the week, •or four, or at least v v P v R
three, nor would they eat flesh which was killed in those five days, and they hold them y
in reverence as we Christians hold in reverence the Friday and the Sabbath, and other vigils.
of the Saints. And these five days they live more decently than they do the other R
days in all the year.2•Some of them for reverence and devotion do not eat flesh food all their VA Z
time, •these are the monks; but the laymen eat it always. And •the laymen indeed, they can take V z VA
up to thirty wives and more and less according as he is rich and as they are able to
1
1 V: lutane dale pigole
2 This passage about the kalendar (omitted by Z) is rather difficult, and the different texts are hard to combine. F: ont luner ausi con nos auum les mois TA': anno lunare chome not abiamo il mese VA: ano lunari chusi chome nui auemo le maxi VB: ano lo lunar chotne nui mexi The version suggested seems on the whole to be supported by FB: ont kalendier aussi comme nous auons et ont.v.jours par moys and P: Totum anni circulum per lunaciones computant nec alios menses nec ebdomadas habent In quibusdam lunacionibus obseruant dies quinque continuos and R: hanno vno
lunario di mesi, quasi come habbiamo not FB,VB,R make the five fast days every month,
instead of in some months. VL: In alguna luna de lanno fin al quinto .de la luna V only, I think, half implies that the fast days are weekly; while P says that there are no weeks. In old French luner or lunaire seems to have meant both a kalendar (not necessarily lunar) and a lunation or lunar month. F seems to use the word here in both senses, and in the second place VA translates it by lunaxone.
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