IIIF Color HighRes
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
óI
WHY CUBLAI KAAN DID NOT BECOME CHRISTIAN OMARCO POLO talk about the faith of Christ. He said to them, How do you wish me to snake myself a Christian? You see that the Christians who are in these parts are totally' ignorant so that they do nothing and have no power; and you see that these idolaters do whatever they wish, and when I sit at table the cups which are in the middle of the hall come to me full of wine or drink or of other things without anyone touching them, and I drink with them. They compel storms to go in whatever direction they please, and do many wonderful things, and as you know their idols
speak and foretell them all that they wish. But I ani converted to the faith of Christ and am
made a Christian, then my barons and other people who are not attached to the faith of Christ would say to me, What reason has moved you to baptism, and to hold the faith of Christ? What virtues or what miracles have you seen of him? And these idolaters say that what they do they do it by the holiness and virtue of the idols. Then I shall not know what to answer them, so that there will be very great error between them and these idolaters who do such things with their arts and sciences; and they will easily be able to make me die. But you shall go to your Pont' and pray hint on our behalf to send me a hundred wise men of your religion, that before these idolaters they may be able to reprove what they do, and may tell then' that they know and can do such things but are unwilling, because they are done by the art of the devil and of evil spirits, and may so restrain them that they have not power to do such things before them. Then when we shall see this we shall reprove their and their law, and so I shall be baptized, and when I shall be baptiKed all my barons and great men will be baptized, and then their subjects will receive baptism; & so there will be more Christians here than there are in your parts. And íf, as has been said at the beginning, men fitted to preach our faith to hint had been sent by the Pope the said great Kaan would have been made a Christian, because it is known for
VB certain that he had a very great desire for it. •And for three days he wished that all should go to eat and drink in his Court. The great and bountiful feasts of every kind last for many days. They make very great sacrifices to the gods. And though Cambaluc city is six miles long and has very large suburbs, all the people could not dwell in it, but lodged some in the suburbs and some outside. When the feasts and entertainments were ended' he dismissed his armies,
FB and all went away to their houses. And the other [36a] Tartar baron who was a king,
V who had Caidu for name, who ought to have been with Naian against the great Kaan, VA when he hears this news that Naian had been defeated and killed he had great vexation VA VA at it and did not any more think to go to war against the lands cf the Tartar, as he TA had determined, but had' great dread of him and great fear of being so treated as Naian
1 totalmente BALDELLI-BONI, following the later editions and followed
2 fornite which I have supposed to be for finite.
3 mes auent B.: més, avent "ever, having" But FA,FB: mes(maiz il of ma ebbe VA,V: aue LT: imo babuit So probably read mes auoit
by B., prints talmente.
TA': ma auea TA':
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