CHAPTER IX.

HOW THE TWO BROTHERS CAME TO THE CITY OF ACRE.

They departed from Layas and came to ACRE, arriving there in the month

of April, in the year of Christ 1269, and then they learned that the

Pope was dead. And when they found that the Pope was dead (his name was

Pope * *),{1} they went to a certain wise Churchman who was Legate

for the whole kingdom of Egypt, and a man of great authority, by name

THEOBALD OF PIACENZA, and told him of the mission on which they were

come. When the Legate heard their story, he was greatly surprised, and

deemed the thing to be of great honour and advantage for the whole of

Christendom. So his answer to the two Ambassador Brothers was this:

“Gentlemen, ye see that the Pope is dead; wherefore ye must needs

have patience until a new Pope be made, and then shall ye be able to

execute your charge.” Seeing well enough that what the Legate said was

just, they observed: “But while the Pope is a-making, we may as well

go to Venice and visit our households.” So they departed from Acre and

went to Negropont, and from Negropont they continued their voyage to

Venice.{2} On their arrival there, Messer Nicolas found that his wife

was dead, and that she had left behind her a son of fifteen years of

age, whose name was MARCO; and ’tis of him that this Book tells.{3} The

Two Brothers abode at Venice a couple of years, tarrying until a Pope

should be made.

[Illustration: ACRE _AS IT WAS WHEN LOST_ (A.D. 1291). _FROM THE PLAN

GIVEN BY_ MARINO SANUTO.]

NOTE 1.—The deceased Pope’s name is omitted both in the Geog. Text

and in Pauthier’s, clearly because neither Rusticiano nor Polo

remembered it. It is supplied correctly in the Crusca Italian as

_Clement_, and in Ramusio as _Clement IV._

It is not clear that _Theobald_, though generally adopted, is the

ecclesiastic’s proper name. It appears in different MSS. as _Teald_

(G. T.), _Ceabo_ for _Teabo_ (Pauthier), _Odoaldo_ (Crusca), and

in the Riccardian as _Thebaldus de Vice-comitibus de Placentia_,

which corresponds to Ramusio’s version. Most of the ecclesiastical

chroniclers call him _Tedaldus_, some _Thealdus_. _Tedaldo_ is a

real name, occurring in Boccaccio. (Day iii. Novel 7.)

NOTE 2.—After the expulsion of the Venetians from Constantinople,

Negropont was the centre of their influence in Romania. On the

final return of the travellers they again take Negropont on

their way. [It was one of the ports on the route from Venice to

Constantinople, Tana, Trebizond.—H. C.]

NOTE 3.—The _edition_ of the Soc. de Géographie makes Mark’s age

_twelve_, but I have verified from inspection the fact noticed by

Pauthier that the _manuscript_ has distinctly xv. like all the

other old texts. In Ramusio it is _nineteen_, but this is doubtless

an arbitrary correction to suit the mistaken date (1250) assigned

for the departure of the father from Constantinople.

There is nothing in the old French texts to justify the usual

statement that Marco was born after the departure of his father

from Venice. All that the G. T. says is: “Meser Nicolau treuve

que sa fame estoit morte, et les remès un filz de xv. anz que

avoit à nom Marc,” and Pauthier’s text is to the same effect.

Ramusio, indeed, has: “M. Nicolò trovò, che sua moglie era morta,

la quale nella sua partita haveva partorito un figliuolo,” and the

other versions that are based on Pipino’s seem all to have like

statements.