the immediate family of our Traveller belonged to the _Nobles_ of
Venice properly so called, who had seats in the Great Council and were
enrolled in the Libro d’Oro. Ramusio indeed styles our Marco _Nobile_
and _Magnifico_, and Rusticiano, the actual scribe of the Traveller’s
recollections, calls him “_sajes et noble citaiens de Venece_,”
but Ramusio’s accuracy and Rusticiano’s precision were scarcely to
be depended on. Very recently, however, since the subject has been
discussed with accomplished students of the Venice Archives, proofs
have been found establishing Marco’s personal claim to nobility,
inasmuch as both in judicial decisions and in official resolutions of
the Great Council, he is designated _Nobilis Vir_, a formula which
would never have been used in such documents (I am assured) had he not
been technically noble.[5]
[Sidenote: Marco the Elder.]