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. And as it happened
that in the story, which he was constantly called on to repeat, of
the magnificence of the Great Can, he would speak of his revenues
as amounting to ten or fifteen _millions_ of gold; and in like
manner, when recounting other instances of great wealth in those
parts, would always make use of the term _millions_, so they gave
him the nickname of MESSER MARCO MILLIONI: a thing which I have
noted also in the Public Books of this Republic where mention
is made of him.[6] The Court of his House, too, at S. Giovanni
Chrisostomo, has always from that time been popularly known as the
Court of the Millioni.
[Sidenote: Recounts Marco’s capture by the Genoese.]