I Told You That The Great Kaan Never Went On A Campaign But Once, And It
Was On This Occasion; In All Other Cases Of Need He Sent His Sons Or His
Barons Into The Field.
But this time he would have none go in command but
himself, for he regarded the presumptuous rebellion of Nayan as far too
serious and perilous an affair to be otherwise dealt with.
NOTE 1. - Here Ramusio has a long and curious addition. Kublai, it says,
remained at Cambaluc till March, "in which our Easter occurs; and learning
that this was one of our chief festivals, he summoned all the Christians,
and bade them bring with them the Book of the Four Gospels. This he caused
to be incensed many times with great ceremony, kissing it himself most
devoutly, and desiring all the barons and lords who were present to do the
same. And he always acts in this fashion at the chief Christian festivals,
such as Easter and Christmas. And he does the like at the chief feasts of
the Saracens, Jews, and Idolaters. On being asked why, he said: 'There are
Four Prophets worshipped and revered by all the world. The Christians say
their God is Jesus Christ; the Saracens, Mahommet; the Jews, Moses; the
Idolaters, Sogomon Borcan [Sakya-Muni Burkhan or Buddha], who was the
first god among the idols; and I worship and pay respect to all four, and
pray that he among them who is greatest in heaven in very truth may aid
me.' But the Great Khan let it be seen well enough that he held the
Christian Faith to be the truest and best - for, as he says, it commands
nothing that is not perfectly good and holy. But he will not allow the
Christians to carry the Cross before them, because on it was scourged and
put to death a person so great and exalted as Christ.
"Some one may say: 'Since he holds the Christian faith to be best, why
does he not attach himself to it, and become a Christian?' Well, this is
the reason that he gave to Messer Nicolo and Messer Maffeo, when he sent
them as his envoys to the Pope, and when they sometimes took occasion to
speak to him about the faith of Christ. He said: 'How would you have me to
become a Christian? You see that the Christians of these parts are so
ignorant that they achieve nothing and can achieve nothing, whilst you see
the Idolaters can do anything they please, insomuch that when I sit at
table the cups from the middle of the hall come to me full of wine or
other liquor without being touched by anybody, and I drink from them. They
control storms, causing them to pass in whatever direction they please,
and do many other marvels; whilst, as you know, their idols speak, and
give them predictions on whatever subjects they choose. But if I were to
turn to the faith of Christ and become a Christian, then my barons and
others who are not converted would say: "What has moved you to be baptised
and to take up the faith of Christ? What powers or miracles have you
witnessed on His part?" (You know the Idolaters here say that their
wonders are performed by the sanctity and power of their idols.) Well, I
should not know what answer to make; so they would only be confirmed in
their errors, and the Idolaters, who are adepts in such surprising arts,
would easily compass my death. But now you shall go to your Pope, and pray
him on my part to send hither an hundred men skilled in your law, who
shall be capable of rebuking the practices of the Idolaters to their
faces, and of telling them that they too know how to do such things but
will not, because they are done by the help of the devil and other evil
spirits, and shall so control the Idolaters that these shall have no power
to perform such things in their presence. When we shall witness this we
will denounce the Idolaters and their religion, and then I will receive
baptism; and when I shall have been baptised, then all my barons and
chiefs shall be baptised also, and their followers shall do the like, and
thus in the end there will be more Christians here than exist in your part
of the world!'
"And if the Pope, as was said in the beginning of this book, had sent men
fit to preach our religion, the Grand Kaan would have turned Christian;
for it is an undoubted fact that he greatly desired to do so."
In the simultaneous patronage of different religions, Kublai followed the
practice of his house. Thus Rubruquis writes of his predecessor Mangku
Kaan: "It is his custom, on such days as his diviners tell him to be
festivals, or any of the Nestorian priests declare to be holydays, to hold
a court. On these occasions the Christian priests enter first with their
paraphernalia, and pray for him, and bless his cup. They retire, and then
come the Saracen priests and do likewise; the priests of the Idolaters
follow. He all the while believes in none of them, though they all follow
his court as flies follow honey. He bestows his gifts on all of them, each
party believes itself to be his favourite, and all prophesy smooth things
to him." Abulfaragius calls Kublai "a just prince and a wise, who loved
Christians and honoured physicians of learning, whatsoever their nation."
There is a good deal in Kublai that reminds us of the greatest prince of
that other great Mongol house, Akbar. And if we trusted the first
impression of the passage just quoted from Ramusio, we might suppose that
the grandson of Chinghiz too had some of that real wistful regard towards
the Lord Jesus Christ, of which we seem to see traces in the grandson of
Baber.
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