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POLO, MARCO. 



roLYuroa 



008 



lired in the 10th or llth century of the Christian era. Mid wrote a 

 aide,' or ' Universal History ' from the foundation uf the world 

 to the time of Valen*. ThU work, which has come down to us, has 

 been edited by Bianooui, Bonn, 177'->, folio; and Hordt, Munich and 

 Leipzig. 179-2, 8vo. 



POLO, MARCO, the aon of a Venetian merchant named Niccolo, 

 who eet offfroui Venice with bii brother, in 1250, for Constantinople, 

 whence, Laving purchased valuable jewel* and precious (tones, he 

 ailed up the Euxiue to La Tana at the mouth of the Tauaia, From 

 La Taaa he proceeded inland to Bulgar on the Volga, the residence ol 

 Barga, the khan of the Western Tiirt-ira, or of Kaptchak, who pur- 

 chased hi* wares at a very liberal price. From the residence of tho 

 khan the two Venetian travellers proceeded round the north side ol 

 the Caspian Sea to Bokhara, where they arrived in 1261. They 

 remained three yean at Bokhara, during which time they applied 

 themselves to the study of the Mongol language, and in 1264 they 

 met an ambassador sent by Hulaku, grandson of Oengu, the ruler of 

 Persia, to Kublai, the great khan of the Mongols, or Khalkhas, who 

 ruled over Tartary and China, and who resided at Kemenfu in Chinese 

 Tartary. The two Venetian] agreed to accompany the ambassador, 

 and arrived at Keinrnfu in the following year (1265). Kublai received 

 them well, and wishing to establish a connection with the Western 

 world, of which he bad only a confused knowledge, he commissioned 

 the two brothers Polo to proceed as his envoys to the pontiff of the 

 Christians, requesting him, in a letter, to send him a hundred men, 

 learned in the various sciences and arts, to instruct his people. The 

 Polo, furnished with Kublai's credentials, returned towards the West, 

 anil arrived at the coast of Syria, whence they sailed for Veuio, 

 which they readied in 12G9, after on absence of nineteen years. 

 Niccolo found his wife dead, but she had left him a son, Marco, who 

 was born soon after hU departure. 



Owing to the death of Pope Clement IV. and the long interregnum 

 which followed, the two Polo could not execute Kublai Khan's com- 

 mission, and they determined on returning to Tartary, and taking 

 young Marco with them. But after they had lauded on tho coi-t ! 

 Syria they heard of the election of Gregory X., who was then at 

 1 '(oli main, whither they repaired, and conferred with the new pope on 

 the Mibject of their mission. Gregory appointed two Dominican friars 

 to accompany them. They set out for the interior in 1272, but the 

 two friars, being frightened at the war which was then ragiug in Asia 

 between Sultan Bibars the Mameluke and the king of Armenia, 

 declined prosecuting their journey, and the three Venetians proceeded 

 alone through the regions of Central Asia. They reached the court 

 and camp of Kublai Kuan in 1275, where they met with the most 

 favourable reception. Kublai was especially pleased with Marco, and 

 entrusted him with missions to various parts of China and India. 

 Marco Polo was the first European who visited China Proper : he 

 mad* memoranda of what he saw himself, and eagerly collected all the 

 information that he could obtain about those part* which he did not 

 vuiu In reading hi* narrative therefore a distinction ought to be 

 made between his own observations and those which he derived from 

 the report of others. After a lapse of several yean, an ambassador 

 arrived at the court of Kublai Khan from Argon, the ruler of Persia, 

 who avked in marriage a princess of Kublai's family. Kublai chose a 

 princess named Cagatin, and preps red to send her to Persia by sea, 

 with several ambassadors and a large retinue. The three Polo 

 obtained, though not without difficulty, permission to form part of the 

 escort. They set out in 1291, traversed China, embarked on the coast 

 of Fo-kieo, which lie* opposite to the island of Formosa, and thence 

 they proceeded through the strait* of Malacca to the island of Ceylon, 

 and tlience to Ormux in the Persian Gulf. On landing they proceeded 

 to Teheran, where they found that Argon was dead, and some time 

 afUr, bearing also the news of the death of Kublai, the three Vene- 

 tians thought of returning home, and at hut arrived at Venice i 

 War was then raging between Venice and Genoa. Marco Polo obtained 

 the command of a galley forming part of the squadron commanded by 

 Andrea Dandolo, which was defeated by the Genoese under Lamba 

 Uoria, off the island of Cunola in the Adriatic. Marco Polo was 

 carried prisoner to Genoa. In his captivity he used to relate his 

 adventure., and was eagerly listened to. He sent to Venice for hii 

 memoranda, which he had Ukeo down during his travclx, and having 

 made acquaintance with a fellow-prisoner of the name of Rustichello, 

 a native of Pisa, who had been taken, with thousands of his country- 

 men, in the battle of Meloria, he dictated to him the narrative of hi* 

 travels, and loot the manuscript to read to the curious. 



After peaeo wo* made between Genoa and Venice, Marco Polo 

 returned home. Hi* father Niccolo was still living, but he died in 

 1316. Of the Utter period of hi* sou Marco's life nothing more U 

 known, except that after hi* return to Venice he applied himself to 

 correct and improve the text of hi* narrative, of which it appears that 

 a French translation was mad* under his direction, and given by him 

 to Ti.ii.ault, lord of Cepoy, who was appointed by Catherine de 

 Courtcnay her vicar-general in the possessions which still remained to 

 the L.UOS in the East. The work U entitled ' Marco Polo, dell* 

 Meraviglie del Hondo Ha lui deecritte ; ' and in other copies, ' Itt-lle 

 COM ilei Tarteri e dell' Indie Orintali ; ' and in others, ' 11 MiUone di 

 Karoo Polo.' It was inserted by Ramtuio in hi* ' lUocolta di Navi- 

 gation! Viaggl,' 8 Tots, fello, Venice, 1660-69. But the best edition 



of Marco Polo is that by Count Baldelli, i vols. 4to, Florenc. . 

 entitled 'II Milione di Measer Marco Polo \ . n. /.iuno,' with notes and 

 illustrations, and a biography of Pulo : it is also accompanied by a 

 history of the intercourse between Europe and Asia in the middle 

 age, with the following title : ' Storia delle Relazioni 

 dell' Europa o dell' A fia dalla Decadenza di Kouia t'mo alia I listnuioue 

 del Califfato.' Baldelli'e work is illustrated by a map of Africa, drawn 

 in 135 1, and by another map with all the itineraries of the three Polo 

 traced upon it. It U altogether a work of great research and very 

 interesting. For a long time Polo was considered a liar and not 

 worthy of confidence. But more accurate investigations have < . 

 strated his veracity in relating what he saw himself. Klaproth, in 

 several articles in the French 'Asiatic Journal,' has proved Polo's 

 accuracy with regard to China. Polo's narrative was of great uue to 

 the pope's missionaries and the Venetian travellers who followed his 

 track in the eastern parts of Asia ; and the Chinese and Arabian JH.IJ.M 

 which he brought home encouraged and assisted the Portuguese navi- 

 gators in finding a passage to India round the Cape of Good Hope. 

 Marsden has published a translation of Marco Polo's narrative, accom- 

 panied by a commentary. 



POLY. EN US was the author of a work called STpanryitparuict, or 

 ZrpaTirrrinaTa ('Stratagems of War'), in eight books. He lived about 

 the middle of the second century of our era. Inspecting the circum- 

 stances of his life wo know nothing except what he himself tells us in 

 the introduction to his work, which he dedicated to the en 

 M. Aurelius Antoninus and L. Verus. He there says that he was a 

 native of Macedonia, and at an advanced age when he wrote bis book. 

 It contains an account of the various stratagems of war from the 

 remotest times down to his own, and is a compilation made without 

 any taste or judgment : it is however not confined to real stratagems ; 

 it contains sayings, apophthegms, and many other things which are 

 anything but what tho title-page promises. But as the author collected 

 bis materials from sources which are now lost, we have reason to be 

 grateful for the preservation of many facts whicli would otherwise bo 

 unknown to us, though it is evident in many passages that Po 

 must have misunderstood or misrepresented his authorities. His style 

 U rhetorical, but notwithstanding its numerous solecisms and errors, 

 it U better than that of many other writers of the samo ago. The first 

 edition of Pol) ton us was published by Cosuubonus at Lyou in 

 The best edition is that by Coraes, Paris, 1809. Polyicnus has been 

 translated into English by It. Shepherd, 4 to, London, 1793; and into 

 German by Seybold, iu 2 vols., Frankfurt, 1793 and 1794. 



POLY'BIUS, the son of Lycortas, was born at Megalopolis in 

 Arcadia. The exact year of his birth is not stated by any good 

 authority, and the account of Suidas, who places it iu the reign of 

 PtoletnajUB Euergetes (who died about n.u. 222), is irreconcilable with 

 what Polybius himself (xxv. 7) relates, that in the reign of Ptolenucus 

 Epiphanes, when he was to have accompanied his father on an embassy 

 to that king, he had not attained the legal age, which, according to 

 Polybius himself, was thirty, previous to which the law did not allow 

 any one to take part in public affairs. According to the statement of 

 Suidos however, Polybius at this time would have been about forty 

 years old. Now the year in which the Acha-ans intended to send him 

 with his father to Egypt was u.u. ISO; and as at that time h 

 not attained his thirtieth year, we shall not be much mistaken in 

 supposing, with Cosaubon, that be was born about u.c. 204, so that at the 

 time of the intended embassy he must have been about twenty-five. 



He seems to have acquired the principles of political and military 

 science at an early age, for his father was a distinguished general and 

 one of the heads of tlie Achaoans, and it is expressly mentioned that he 

 enjoyed the practical training of Philopcomen, the greatest general of 

 the Achataos. When Philopoamuu died, Polybius is said to have been 

 one of those who carried the urn containing the ashes of the deceased 

 to the grave. (Plut., ' i'hilop.,' c. 21.) During the war of the Roman* 

 against Perseus, king of Macedonia, he advised his countrymen to 

 observe a strict neutrality; but when they determined to lend their 

 assistance to the liomaus he was intrusted with the command of the 

 cavalry (B.C. 109), and was sent as ambassador to the consul (j. Marcius 

 to declare that the Acuouns were ready to give their assistance as soon 

 a* might be required. (Polyb., xxviii. 8, 6.) The year following, 

 when the two Ptolemwi, kings of E.-ypt, asked the Acbicaus for sup- 

 port against Autioohus, it was particularly stipulated that Polybius 

 ihould be appointed commander of the horse, which shows that lie 

 bad already distinguished himself in a military capacity. After the 

 destruction of the kingdom of Macedonia, tho liomaus, not satisfied 

 with having token cruel vengeance on those Achaeau states which tin y 

 suspected of having secretly supported the cause of Perseus, made out 

 i list of 10UO distinguished Aclneau.f, and sent them to Italy to be 

 tried ; but instead of being brought to trial, they were distributed 

 among the towns of Italy. Polybius, who waa oue of the number, 

 was more fortunate than his fellow- prisoners for his genius and talents 

 attracted the attention of . Emiliua Paulus, who made him the instructor 

 of hi* two sou*, Fabiu* and bcipio. Those young men, who became 

 greatly attached to him, requested and obtained permiaion for Polybiu* 

 M remain at Rome. Polybius himself (xxxii. 9, 10) relates a charming 

 anecdote of the tenderness which Scipio, the younger of the two 

 brother*, showed to him ; and he adds that Scipio never left him 

 afterwards, but preferred his company to everything obi. 



