At Florence, in the passage regarding the Golden
King (vol. ii. p. 17) which begins in G. T. "Lequel fist faire jadis
un rois qe fu apelles le Roi Dor," renders "Lo quale fa fare
Jaddis uno re," a mistake which is not in the Crusca nor in the
Latin, and seems to imply derivation from the French directly, or by
some other channel (Baldelli Boni).
[3] In the Prologue (vol. i. p. 34) this class of MSS. alone names the
King of England.
In the account of the Battle with Nayan (i. p. 337) this class alone
speaks of the two-stringed instruments which the Tartars played whilst
awaiting the signal for battle. But the circumstance appears elsewhere
in the G. T. (p. 250).
In the chapter on Malabar (vol. ii. p. 390), it is said that the
ships which go with cargoes towards Alexandria are not one-tenth of
those that go to the further East. This is not in the older French.
In the chapter on Coilun (ii. p. 375), we have a notice of the
Columbine ginger so celebrated in the Middle Ages, which is also
absent from the older text.
[4] See vol. ii. p. 439. It is, however, remarkable that a like mistake is
made about the Persian Gulf (see i. 63, 64). Perhaps Polo thought in
Persian, in which the word darya means either sea or a large
river. The same habit and the ambiguity of the Persian sher led him
probably to his confusion of lions and tigers (see i. 397).
[5] Such are Pasciai-Dir and Ariora Kesciemur (i. p. 98.)
[6] Thus the MSS. of this type have elected the erroneous readings
Bolgara, Cogatra, Chiato, Cabanant, etc., instead of the correcter
Bolgana, Cocacin, Quiacatu, Cobinan, where the G. T. presents both
(supra, p. 86). They read Esanar for the correct Etzina; Chascun
for Casvin; Achalet for Acbalec; Sardansu for Sindafu,
Kayteu, Kayton, Sarcon for Zaiton or Caiton; Soucat for
Locac; Falec for Ferlec, and so on, the worse instead of the
better. They make the Mer Occeane into Mer Occident; the wild
asses (asnes) of the Kerman Desert into wild geese (oes); the
escoillez of Bengal (ii. p. 115) into escoliers; the giraffes of
Africa into girofles, or cloves, etc., etc.
[7] There are about five-and-thirty such passages altogether.
[8] The Bern MS. I have satisfied myself is an actual copy of the Paris
MS. C.
The Oxford MS. closely resembles both, but I have not made the
comparison minutely enough to say if it is an exact copy of either.
[9] The following comparison will also show that these two Latin versions
have probably had a common source, such as is here suggested.
At the end of the Prologue the Geographic Text reads simply: -
"Or puis que je voz ai contez tot le fat dou prolegue ensi con voz
aves oi, adonc (commencerai) le Livre."
Whilst the Geographic Latin has: -
"Postquam recitavimus et diximus facta et condictiones morum,
itinerum et ea quae nobis contigerunt per vias, incipiemus
dicere ea quae vidimus. Et primo dicemus de Minore Hermenia."
And Pipino: -
"Narratione facta nostri itineris, nunc ad ea narranda quae vidimus
accedamus. Primo autem Armeniam Minorem describemus breviter."
[10] Friar Francesco Pipino of Bologna, a Dominican, is known also as the
author of a lengthy chronicle from the time of the Frank Kings down to
1314; of a Latin Translation of the French History of the Conquest of
the Holy Land, by Bernard the Treasurer; and of a short Itinerary of a
Pilgrimage to Palestine in 1320. Extracts from the Chronicle, and the
version of Bernard, are printed in Muratori's Collection. As Pipino
states himself to have executed the translation of Polo by order of
his Superiors, it is probable that the task was set him at a general
chapter of the order which was held at Bologna in 1315. (See
Muratori, IX. 583; and Quetif, Script. Ord. Praed. I. 539). We do
not know why Ramusio assigned the translation specifically to 1320,
but he may have had grounds.
[11] See Bianconi, 1st Mem. 29 seqq.
[12] C. Dickens somewhere narrates the history of the equivalents for a
sovereign as changed and rechanged at every frontier on a continental
tour. The final equivalent received at Dover on his return was some 12
or 13 shillings; a fair parallel to the comparative value of the first
and last copies in the circle of translation.
[13] The Ramusios were a family of note in literature for several
generations. Paolo, the father of Gian Battista, came originally from
Rimini to Venice in 1458, and had a great repute as a jurist, besides
being a litterateur of some eminence, as was also his younger brother
Girolamo. G. B. Ramusio was born at Treviso in 1485, and early entered
the public service. In 1533 he became one of the Secretaries of the
Council of X. He was especially devoted to geographical studies, and
had a school for such studies in his house. He retired eventually from
public duties, and lived at Villa Ramusia, near Padua. He died in the
latter city, 10th July, 1557, but was buried at Venice in the Church
of S. Maria dell' Orto. There was a portrait of him by Paul Veronese
in the Hall of the Great Council, but it perished in the fire of 1577;
and that which is now seen in the Sala dello Scudo is, like the
companion portrait of Marco Polo, imaginary. Paolo Ramusio, his son,
was the author of the well-known History of the Capture of
Constantinople. (Cicogna, II. 310 seqq.)
[14] The old French texts were unknown in Marsden's time. Hence this
question did not present itself to him.
