We Were All Invited To Dinner,
During Which The King Started Many Questions, To Which He Gave Very
Pertinent Answers Himself.
After dinner we returned to our tents.
On the 2d of June we arrived at Tauris, in which place lodgings were
appointed for us. Six days afterwards, Uzun-Hassan sent for the patriarch
and us to court; and although he had three or four times informed me
already that I must prepare to return into Italy, leaving my colleague
Barbaro at his court, I could not reconcile myself to the journey, and
had done every thing in my power to put off my departure. When we went to
court, the king addressed himself first to the patriarch, whom he ordered
to return to his prince, and to say from him, that he, the king, would
very shortly declare war against the Turks, having already taken the
field with that view, and that he never failed in performing his promises.
He then turned to me, saying, "Return to your country, and tell your
masters that I shall very soon make war upon the Ottomans, and desire
them to do their duty as I shall do mine. I know no one better fitted to
carry this message than you, who have accompanied me from Ispahan, and
have seen my preparations; so that you are able to inform the Christian
princes of all that you have seen, and of my good intentions." I offered
several reasons for excusing myself from obeying these commands, which
gave me much vexation; but the king looked at me with a severe expression
of countenance, saying, "It is my pleasure for you to go, and I command
you. I shall give you letters for your masters, which will inform them of
my sentiments and the reasons of your return." In this state of
embarrassment, I was advised by the patriarch and M. Josaphat to comply
with a good grace; on which I replied to the king as follows: "My
departure, Sir, gives me much distress; but since you judge it proper, I
make no more objections, and am ready to obey your orders. Wherever I may
go, I shall speak of your great power and goodness, and the honours I
have received from your majesty, and shall exhort all the princes of
Christendom to join their forces with you against the common enemy." My
speech pleased the king, and he answered me kindly according to his
wonted manner. After retiring from this andienqe, the king sent some
Persian robes to the patriarch and me, made of fine stuff and very
beautifully ornamented, and presented each of us with a horse and some
money to assist us during our journey.
We remained two days at Tauris after the kings departure, and set out on
the 10th of June to rejoin the court, which was then encamped in a
pleasant spot among excellent pastures and plenty of fine wells; about
twenty-five miles from Tauris. We remained there till the pastures were
eaten bare, and then marched about fifteen miles farther.
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