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 manuscript 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) assigned 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. Nicolo trovo, che sua moglie
era morta, la quale nella sua partita 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.
