about the above date, probably in the Monastery of Lismore (county of Waterford).
From the extracts that have been translated for me, it is obvious that the version was made, with an astounding freedom certainly, from Friar Francesco Pipino's Latin.
Both beginning and end are missing. But what remains opens thus; compare it with Friar Pipino's real prologue as we give it in the Appendix![20]
"[Irish uncial text: riguib ocus tassech na cathar sin. bai bratair rigui anaibit san fnses inn cathr intansin. ba eoluc dano ss' nahilberlaib fransiscus aainm. bhur iarum du ambant na maste ucut ocus cuingst fair inleabor doclod fcula otengaid natartaired cg inteng laitanda]." &c.
—"Kings and chieftains of that city. There was then in the city a princely Friar in the habit of St. Francis, named Franciscus, who was versed in many languages. He was brought to the place where those nobles were, and they requested of him to translate the book from the Tartar (!) into the Latin language. 'It is an abomination to me,' said he, 'to devote my mind or labour to works of Idolatry and Irreligion.' They entreated him again. 'It shall be done,' said he; 'for though it be an irreligious narrative that is related therein, yet the things are miracles of the True God; and every one who hears this much against the Holy Faith shall pray fervently for their conversion. And he who will not pray shall waste the vigour of his body to convert them.' I am not in dread of this Book of Marcus, for there is no lie in it. My eyes beheld him bringing the relics of the holy Church with him, and he left [his testimony], whilst tasting of death, that it was true. And Marcus was a devout man. What is there in it, then, but that Franciscus translated this Book of Marcus from the Tartar into Latin; and the years of the Lord at that time were fifteen years, two score, two hundred, and one thousand" (1255).
It then describes Armein Bec (Little Armenia), Armein Mor (Great Armenia), Musul, Taurisius, Persida, Camandi, and so forth. The last chapter is that on Abaschia:—
"ABASCHIA also is an extensive country, under the government of Seven Kings, four of whom worship the true God, and each of them wears a golden cross on the forehead; and they are valiant in battle, having been brought up fighting against the Gentiles of the other three kings, who are Unbelievers and Idolaters. And the kingdom of ADEN; a Soudan rules over them.
"The king of Abaschia once took a notion to make a pilgrimage to the Sepulchre of Jesus. 'Not at all,' said his nobles and warriors to him, 'for we should be afraid lest the infidels through whose territories you would have to pass, should kill you. There is a Holy Bishop with you,' said they; 'send him to the Sepulchre of Jesus, and much gold with him'"—
The rest is wanting.
[1] In the following citations, the Geographic Text (G. T.) is quoted by page from the printed edition (1824); the Latin published in the same volume (G. L.) also by page; the Crusca, as before, from Bartoli's edition of 1863. References in parentheses are to the present translation:—
A. Passages showing the G. L. to be a translation from the Italian, and derived from the same Italian text as the Crusca.
Page
(1). G.T. 17 (I. 43). Il hi se laborent le souran tapis dou monde. Crusca, 17 .. E quivi si fanno i sovrani tappeti del mondo. G.L. 311 .. Et ibi fiunt soriani et tapeti pulcriores de mundo. (2). G.T. 23 (I. 69). Et adonc le calif mande par tuit les cristiez … que en sa tere estoient. Crusca, 27 .. Ora mandò lo aliffo per tutti gli Cristiani ch' erano di lá. G.L. 316 .. Or misit califus pro Christianis qui erant ultra fluvium (the last words being clearly a misunderstanding of the Italian di là). (3). G.T. 198 (II. 313). Ont sosimain (sesamum) de coi il font le olio. Crusca, 253 .. Hanno sosimai onde fanno l' olio. G.L. 448 .. Habent turpes manus (taking sosimani for sozze mani "Dirty hands"!). (4). Crusca, 52 (I. 158). Cacciare e uccellare v' è lo migliore del mondo. G.L. 332 .. Et est ibi optimum caciare et ucellare. (5). G.T. 124 (II. 36). Adonc treuve … une Provence qe est encore de le confin dou Mangi. Crusca, 162–3 .. L' uomo truova una Provincia ch' è chiamata ancora delle confine de' Mangi. G.L. 396 .. Invenit unam Provinciam quae vocatur Anchota de confinibus Mangi. (6). G.T. 146 (II. 119.) Les dames portent as jambes et es braces, braciaus d'or et d'arjent de grandisme vailance. Crusca, 189 .. Le donne portano alle braccia e alle gambe bracciali d'oro e d'ariento di gran valuta. G.L. 411 .. Dominae eorum portant ad brachia et ad gambas brazalia de auro et de argento magni valoris.
B. Passages showing additionally the errors, or other peculiarities of a translation from a French original, common to the Italian and the Latin.
(7). G.T. 32 (I. 97.) Est celle plaingne mout chaue (chaude). Crusca, 35 .. Questo piano è molto cavo. G.L. 322 .. Ista planities est multum cava. (8). G.T. 36 (I. 110). Avent por ce que l'eive hi est amer. Crusca, 40 .. E questo è per lo mare che vi viene. G.L. 324 .. Istud est propter mare quod est ibi. (9). G.T. 8 (I. 50.) Un roi qi est apelés par tout tens Davit Melic, que veut à dir en fransois Davit Roi. Crusca, 20 .. Uno re il quale si chiama sempre David Melic, ciò è a dire in francesco David Re. G.L. 312 .. Rex qui semper vocatur David Mellic, quod sonat in gallico David Rex.
These passages, and many more that might be quoted, seem to me to demonstrate (1) that the Latin and the Crusca have had a common original, and (2) that this original was an Italian version from the French.
[2] Thus the Pucci MS. at Florence, in the passage regarding the Golden King (vol. ii. p. 17) which begins in G. T. "Lequel fist faire jadis un rois qe fu apellés le Roi Dor," renders "Lo quale fa fare Jaddis uno re," a mistake which is not in the Crusca nor in the Latin, and seems to imply derivation from the French directly, or by some other channel (Baldelli Boni).
[3] In the Prologue (vol. i. p. 34) this class of MSS. alone names the King of England.
In the account of the Battle with Nayan (i. p. 337) this class alone speaks of the two-stringed instruments which the Tartars played whilst awaiting the signal for battle. But the circumstance appears elsewhere in the G. T. (p. 250).
In the chapter on Malabar (vol. ii. p. 390), it is said that the ships which go with cargoes towards Alexandria are not one-tenth of those that go to the further East. This is not in the older French.
In the chapter on Coilun (ii. p. 375), we have a notice of the Columbine ginger so celebrated in the Middle Ages, which is also absent from the older text.
[4] See vol. ii. p. 439. It is, however, remarkable that a like mistake is made about the Persian Gulf (see i. 63, 64). Perhaps Polo thought in Persian, in which the word darya means either sea or a large river. The same habit and the ambiguity of the Persian sher led him probably to his confusion of lions and tigers (see i. 397).
[5] Such are Pasciai-Dir and Ariora Kesciemur (i. p. 98.)
[6] Thus the MSS. of this type have elected the erroneous readings Bolgara, Cogatra, Chiato, Cabanant, etc., instead of the correcter Bolgana, Cocacin, Quiacatu, Cobinan, where the G. T. presents both (supra, p. 86). They read Esanar for the correct Etzina; Chascun for Casvin; Achalet for Acbalec; Sardansu for Sindafu, Kayteu, Kayton, Sarcon for Zaiton or Caiton; Soucat for Locac; Falec for Ferlec, and so on, the worse instead of the better. They make the Mer Occeane into Mer Occident; the wild asses (asnes) of the Kerman Desert into wild geese (oes); the escoillez of Bengal (ii. p. 115) into escoliers; the giraffes of Africa into girofles, or cloves, etc., etc.
[7]
