Note 4 — EXPLANATORY LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOLUME I. (continued 3)
Henry Yule translation
See
Del Reggimento e de’ Costumi delle donne di Messer Francesco da Barberino
, Roma, 1815, pp. 166 and 271. The latter passage runs thus, on
Slavery
:—
“E fu indutta prima da Noé, E fu cagion lo vin, perchè si egge: Ch’egli è un paese, dove Son molti servi in parte di Cathay: Che per questa cagione Hanno a nimico il vino, E non ne beon, nè voglion vedere.”
The author was born the year before Dante (1264), and though he lived to 1348 it is probable that the poems in question were written in his earlier years. Cathay was no doubt known by dim repute long before the final return of the Polos, both through the original journey of Nicolo and Maffeo, and by information gathered by the Missionary Friars. Indeed, in 1278 Pope Nicolas III., in consequence of information said to have come from Abaka Khan of Persia, that Kúblái was a baptised Christian, sent a party of Franciscans with a long letter to the Kaan Quobley, as he is termed. They never seem to have reached their destination. And in 1289 Nicolas IV. entrusted a similar mission to Friar John of Monte Corvino, which eventually led to very tangible results. Neither of the Papal letters, however, mentions Cathay. (See Mosheim, App. pp. 76 and 94.)