[2] According to Romanin (I. 321) the lira dei grossi was also called Lira d’imprestidi, and if the lire here are to be so taken, the sum will be 10,000 ducats, the largest amount by far that occurs in any of these Polo documents, unless, indeed, the 1000 lire in § 5 of Maffeo Junior’s Will be the like; but I have some doubt if such lire are intended in either case.
[3] “(Resolved) That grace be granted to the respectable Marco Paulo, relieving him of the penalty he has incurred for neglecting to have his water-pipe examined, seeing that he was ignorant of the order on that subject.” (See Appendix C. No. 3.) The other reference, to M. Polo, of S. Geremia, runs as follows:—
[MCCCII. indic. XV. die VIII. Macii q̄ fiat grā Gūillō aurifici q̄ ipe absolvat a pena ī qua dicit icurisse p̄ uno spōtono sibi iūeto veuiēdo de Mestre p̄p̄e domū Macī Pauli de Canaregio ūi descenderat ad bibendū.]
“That grace be granted to William the Goldsmith, relieving him of the penalty which he is stated to have incurred on account of a spontoon (spontono, a loaded bludgeon) found upon him near the house of Marco Paulo of Cannareggio, where he had landed to drink on his way from Mestre.” (See Cicogna, V. p. 606.)
[4] Sansovino, Venezia, Città Nobilissima e Singolare, Descritta, etc., Ven. 1581, f. 236 v.; Barbaro, Alberi; Coronelli, Allante Veneto, I. 19.
[5] The word Millio occurs several times in the Chronicle of the Doge Andrea Dandolo, who wrote about 1342; and Milion occurs at least once (besides the application of the term to Polo) in the History of Giovanni Villani; viz. when he speaks of the Treasury of Avignon:— “diciotto milioni di fiorini d’oro ec. che ogni milione è mille migliaja di fiorini d’oro la valuta.” (xi. 20, § 1; Ducange, and Vocab. Univ. Ital.). But the definition, thought necessary by Villani, in itself points to the use of the word as rare. Domilion occurs in the estimated value of houses at Venice in 1367, recorded in the Cronaca Magna in St. Mark’s Library. (Romanin, III. 385).
[6] “Also; that Pardon be granted to Bonocio of Mestre for that 152 lire in which he stood condemned by the Captains of the Posts, on account of wine smuggled by him, in such wise: to wit, that he was to pay the said fine in 4 years by annual instalments of one fourth, to be retrenched from the pay due to him on his journey in the suite of our ambassadors, with assurance that anything then remaining deficient of his instalments should be made good by himself or his securities. And his securities are the Nobles Pietro Morosini and Marco Paulo Milion̄.” Under Milion̄ is written in an ancient hand “mortuus.” (See Appendix C, No. 4.)
[7] Humboldt tells this (Examen, II. 221), alleging Jacopo d’Acqui as authority; and Libri (H. des Sciences Mathématiques, II. 149), quoting Doglioni, Historia Veneziana. But neither authority bears out the citations. The story seems really to come from Amoretti’s commentary on the Voyage du Cap. L. F. Maldonado, Plaisance, 1812, p. 67. Amoretti quotes as authority Pignoria, Degli Dei Antichi.
An odd revival of this old libel was mentioned to me recently by Mr. George Moffatt. When he was at school it was common among the boys to express incredulity by the phrase: “Oh, what a Marco Polo!”
[8] Thibault, according to Ducange, was in 1307 named Grand Master of the Arblasteers of France; and Buchon says his portrait is at Versailles among the Admirals (No. 1170). Ramon de Muntaner fell in with the Seigneur de Cepoy in Greece, and speaks of him as “but a Captain of the Wind, as his Master was King of the Wind.” (See Ducange, H. de l’Empire de Const. sous les Emp. François, Venice ed. 1729, pp. 109, 110; Buchon, Chroniques Etrangères, pp. lv. 467–470.)