been the eldest, and Maffeo the youngest.[6] They were all engaged
in commerce, and apparently in a partnership, which to some extent
held good even when the two younger had been many years absent in
the Far East.[7] Marco seems to have been established for a time at
Constantinople,[8] and also to have had a house (no doubt of business)
at Soldaia, in the Crimea, where his son and daughter, Nicolo and
Maroca by name, were living in 1280. This year is the date of the Elder
Marco’s Will, executed at Venice, and when he was “weighed down by
bodily ailment.” Whether he survived for any length of time we do not
know.
[Sidenote: Nicolo and Maffeo commence their travels.]