|
|
Book of Ser Marco Polo
Contents:
Show Summary
Hide Summary
General SummaryMARCO POLO was the most famous of medieval travelers. He spent nearly twenty years in the Far East and brought back to Europe much entertaining knowledge about lands and peoples previously almost unknown. About 1260 his father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, set out from Constantinople on a trading venture, which led them, ultimately, to the court of the Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan. Kublai received the Venetians graciously and intrusted them with a message to the pope, requesting one hundred wise men of the West to teach the Mongols Christianity and the arts of civilization. The two brothers returned to Venice in 1269, but found no pope to comply with the Great Khan’s wishes. Tired of waiting for a new pope to be chosen, the Polos started out in 1271 on a second journey to the East. They took with them this time Nicolo’s son, Marco, then a lad of seventeen. It had been their intention, after reaching Ormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, to follow the sea route to China. But this plan was abandoned, and the Polos struck northward from Ormuz through Persia to the upper Oxus and the plateau of Pamir. These wild and inaccessible regions of central Asia were not again explored by European travelers till the nineteenth century. Crossing the desert of Gobi, the Polos at last reached China and the court of the Great Khan at Cambaluc, or Peking. Kublai took the young Marco into his service and sent him on important missions to different parts of the Mongol realm. In this way. Marco became familiar with a large extent of the Far East. All the Polos amassed much wealth, in consequence of the khan’s favor, but for a long time he was unwilling to let them return to Europe. It was not until 1292 that they started from Zaitun on the coast of China for the long journey homeward. They reached Venice at the end of 1295 and displayed to the astonished eyes of their kinsmen the huge quantities of precious stones, rubies, sapphires, diamonds and emeralds, into which they had converted their wealth. The story of their remarkable adventures was written down, at Marco’s dictation, by a certain Rusticano, who thus preserved it for all time. The original text was in French, but translations of it were made into the principal languages of western Europe.
Historical SummaryMarco Polo tells a romantic story, in the form current throughout the East, of the "Old Man of the Mountain." This was the title applied by the crusaders to the head of a Mohammedan sect, which had settled in the Syrian mountains north of Lebanon. His followers were notorious for their secret murders committed in blind obedience to the will of their chief. From their name (Arabic Hashishin) has come the modern application of the word Assassin.
215. The Old Man of the Mountain1
The Old Man had caused a certain valley between two mountains to be inclosed and had turned it into a garden, the largest and most beautiful that ever was seen. It was filled with every variety of fruit. In it were erected pavilions and palaces the most elegant that can be imagined, all covered with gilding and exquisite painting. And there were conduits too, flowing freely with wine and milk and honey and water; and numbers of the most beautiful damsels in the world, who could play on all manner of instruments, and sang most sweetly, and danced in a manner that it was charming to behold. For the Old Man desired to make his people believe that this was actually paradise. So he had fashioned it after the description that Mohammed gave of his paradise, to wit, that it should be a beautiful garden running with conduits of wine and milk and honey and water, and full of lovely women for the delectation of all its inmates. And sure enough the Saracens of those parts believed that it was paradise!
Now no man was allowed to enter the garden except those whom he intended to be his Assassins. There was a fortress at the entrance to the garden, strong enough to resist all the world, and there was no other way to get in. He kept at his
court a number of the youths of the country, from twelve to twenty years of age, such as had a taste for soldiering, and to these he used to tell tales about paradise, just as Mohammed had been wont to do, and they believed in him just as the Saracens believe in Mohammed. Then he would introduce them into his garden, some four, or six, or ten at a time, having first made them drink a certain potion which cast them into a deep sleep, and then causing them to be lifted and carried in. When therefore they awoke, and found themselves in a place so charming, they deemed that it was paradise in very truth. . . . With their own good will they never would have quitted the place.
Now this prince, whom we call the Old Man, kept his court in grand and noble style and made those simple hill-folks about him believe firmly that he was a great prophet. And when he wanted to send one of his Assassins on any mission, he would cause that potion whereof I spoke to be given to one of the youths in the garden, and then had him carried into his palace. So when the young man awoke, he found himself in the castle, and no longer in that paradise; whereat he was not well pleased. He was then conducted to the Old Man’s presence and bowed before him with great veneration, believing himself to be in the presence of a true prophet. The prince would then ask whence he came, and he would reply that he came from paradise, and that it was exactly such as Mohammed had described it. This of course gave the others who stood by, and who had not been admitted, the greatest desire to enter therein.
So when the Old Man would have any prince slain, he would say to such a youth, "Go thou and slay so-and-so; and when thou returnest my angels shall bear thee into paradise. And shouldst thou die, nevertheless even so will I send my angels to carry thee back into paradise." So he caused them to believe; and thus there was no order of his that they would not face any peril to execute, because of the great desire they had to get back into that paradise of his. And in this manner the Old Man got his people to murder anyone whom he desired
to get rid of. . . . Now it came to pass in the year 1252, that Alaü, Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, heard tell of these great crimes of the Old Man and resolved to make an end of him. So he took and sent one of his barons with a great army to that castle, and they besieged it for three years, but they could not take it, so strong was the place. But after three years, the defenders, having run short of food, were obliged to surrender. The Old Man was put to death with all his men, and the castle with its garden of paradise was leveled with the ground. And since that time he has had no successor; and there was an end to all his villanies.
1 , bk. i, chs. 23–25.
Contents:
Chicago: "The Old Man of the Mountain," Book of Ser Marco Polo in Readings in Early European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1926), 468–469. Original Sources, accessed November 23, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H33XFITJ8WW2GEP.
MLA: . "The Old Man of the Mountain." Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. i, in Readings in Early European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1926, pp. 468–469. Original Sources. 23 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H33XFITJ8WW2GEP.
Harvard: , 'The Old Man of the Mountain' in Book of Ser Marco Polo. cited in 1926, Readings in Early European History, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.468–469. Original Sources, retrieved 23 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=H33XFITJ8WW2GEP.
|