Indeed Those Regions Are Now So Well Known, And So
Thronged By Commerce, That The Traffic Between Italy, Spain, And England
Is Not Greater.
[Sidenote: Recounts a tradition of the travellers' return to Venice.]
5. Ramusio goes on to explain the light regarding the first part or
prologue of Marco Polo's book that he had derived from a recent piece of
luck which had made him partially acquainted with the geography of
Abulfeda, and to make a running commentary on the whole of the preliminary
narrative until the final return of the travellers to Venice: -
"And when they got thither the same fate befel them as befel Ulysses,
who, when he returned, after his twenty years' wanderings, to his native
Ithaca, was recognized by nobody. Thus also those three gentlemen who
had been so many years absent from their native city were recognized by
none of their kinsfolk, who were under the firm belief that they had all
been dead for many a year past, as indeed had been reported. Through the
long duration and the hardships of their journeys, and through the many
worries and anxieties that they had undergone, they were quite changed
in aspect, and had got a certain indescribable smack of the Tartar both
in air and accent, having indeed all but forgotten their Venetian
tongue. Their clothes too were coarse and shabby, and of a Tartar cut.
They proceeded on their arrival to their house in this city in the
confine of St. John Chrysostom, where you may see it to this day. The
house, which was in those days a very lofty and handsome palazzo, is now
known by the name of the Corte del Millioni for a reason that I will
tell you presently. Going thither they found it occupied by some of
their relatives, and they had the greatest difficulty in making the
latter understand who they should be. For these good people, seeing them
to be in countenance so unlike what they used to be, and in dress so
shabby, flatly refused to believe that they were those very gentlemen of
the Ca' Polo whom they had been looking upon for ever so many years as
among the dead.[4] So these three gentlemen, - this is a story I have
often heard when I was a youngster from the illustrious Messer GASPARO
MALPIERO, a gentleman of very great age, and a Senator of eminent virtue
and integrity, whose house was on the Canal of Santa Marina, exactly at
the corner over the mouth of the Rio di S. Giovanni Chrisostomo, and
just midway among the buildings of the aforesaid Corte del Millioni, and
he said he had heard the story from his own father and grandfather, and
from other old men among the neighbours, - the three gentlemen, I say,
devised a scheme by which they should at once bring about their
recognition by their relatives, and secure the honourable notice of the
whole city; and this was it: -
"They invited a number of their kindred to an entertainment, which they
took care to have prepared with great state and splendour in that house
of theirs; and when the hour arrived for sitting down to table they came
forth of their chamber all three clothed in crimson satin, fashioned in
long robes reaching to the ground such as people in those days wore
within doors. And when water for the hands had been served, and the
guests were set, they took off those robes and put on others of crimson
damask, whilst the first suits were by their orders cut up and divided
among the servants. Then after partaking of some of the dishes they went
out again and came back in robes of crimson velvet, and when they had
again taken their seats, the second suits were divided as before. When
dinner was over they did the like with the robes of velvet, after they
had put on dresses of the ordinary fashion worn by the rest of the
company.[5] These proceedings caused much wonder and amazement among the
guests. But when the cloth had been drawn, and all the servants had been
ordered to retire from the dining hall, Messer Marco, as the youngest of
the three, rose from table, and, going into another chamber, brought
forth the three shabby dresses of coarse stuff which they had worn when
they first arrived. Straightway they took sharp knives and began to rip
up some of the seams and welts, and to take out of them jewels of the
greatest value in vast quantities, such as rubies, sapphires,
carbuncles, diamonds and emeralds, which had all been stitched up in
those dresses in so artful a fashion that nobody could have suspected
the fact. For when they took leave of the Great Can they had changed all
the wealth that he had bestowed upon them into this mass of rubies,
emeralds, and other jewels, being well aware of the impossibility of
carrying with them so great an amount in gold over a journey of such
extreme length and difficulty. Now this exhibition of such a huge
treasure of jewels and precious stones, all tumbled out upon the table,
threw the guests into fresh amazement, insomuch that they seemed quite
bewildered and dumbfounded. And now they recognized that in spite of all
former doubts these were in truth those honoured and worthy gentlemen of
the Ca' Polo that they claimed to be; and so all paid them the greatest
honour and reverence. And when the story got wind in Venice, straightway
the whole city, gentle and simple, flocked to the house to embrace them,
and to make much of them, with every conceivable demonstration of
affection and respect. On Messer Maffio, who was the eldest, they
conferred the honours of an office that was of great dignity in those
days; whilst the young men came daily to visit and converse with the
ever polite and gracious Messer Marco, and to ask him questions about
Cathay and the Great Can, all which he answered with such kindly
courtesy that every man felt himself in a manner his debtor.
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