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Book of Ser Marco Polo
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General SummaryMARCO POLO was the most famous of medieval travelers. He spent nearly twenty years in the Far East and brought back to Europe much entertaining knowledge about lands and peoples previously almost unknown. About 1260 his father, Nicolo, and his uncle, Maffeo, set out from Constantinople on a trading venture, which led them, ultimately, to the court of the Mongol ruler, Kublai Khan. Kublai received the Venetians graciously and intrusted them with a message to the pope, requesting one hundred wise men of the West to teach the Mongols Christianity and the arts of civilization. The two brothers returned to Venice in 1269, but found no pope to comply with the Great Khan’s wishes. Tired of waiting for a new pope to be chosen, the Polos started out in 1271 on a second journey to the East. They took with them this time Nicolo’s son, Marco, then a lad of seventeen. It had been their intention, after reaching Ormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, to follow the sea route to China. But this plan was abandoned, and the Polos struck northward from Ormuz through Persia to the upper Oxus and the plateau of Pamir. These wild and inaccessible regions of central Asia were not again explored by European travelers till the nineteenth century. Crossing the desert of Gobi, the Polos at last reached China and the court of the Great Khan at Cambaluc, or Peking. Kublai took the young Marco into his service and sent him on important missions to different parts of the Mongol realm. In this way. Marco became familiar with a large extent of the Far East. All the Polos amassed much wealth, in consequence of the khan’s favor, but for a long time he was unwilling to let them return to Europe. It was not until 1292 that they started from Zaitun on the coast of China for the long journey homeward. They reached Venice at the end of 1295 and displayed to the astonished eyes of their kinsmen the huge quantities of precious stones, rubies, sapphires, diamonds and emeralds, into which they had converted their wealth. The story of their remarkable adventures was written down, at Marco’s dictation, by a certain Rusticano, who thus preserved it for all time. The original text was in French, but translations of it were made into the principal languages of western Europe.
220. Chinese Astrologers3
There are in the city of Cambaluc, what with Christians, Saracens, and Cathayans, some five thousand astrologers and soothsayers, whom the Great Khan provides with annual maintenance and clothing, and they are in the constant exercise of their art in this city.
They have a kind of astrolabe on which are inscribed the planetary signs, the hours, and critical points of the whole year. And every year these Christian, Saracen, and Cathayan astrologers, each sect apart, investigate by means of this astrolabe the course and character of the whole year, according to the indications of each of its months. They try to discover by the natural course and disposition of the planets, and the other circumstances of the heavens, what shall be the nature of the weather, and what peculiarities shall be produced by
each moon of the year; as, for example, under which moon there shall be thunderstorms and tempests, under which there shall be disease, wars, disorders, and treasons, and so on, according to the indications of each; but always adding that it lies with God to do less or more according to His pleasure. And they write down the results of their examination in certain little pamphlets for the year, and these are sold for a trifle to all who desire to know what is coming. Those astrologers whose predictions are found to be most exact are held to be the greatest adepts in their art, and get the greater fame.
If anyone having some great matter in hand, or proposing to make a long journey for traffic or other business, desires to know what will be the upshot, he goes to one of these astrologers and says, "Turn up your books and see what is the present aspect of the heavens, for I am going away on such and such a business." Then the astrologer will reply that the applicant must also tell the year, month, and hour of his birth; and when he has got that information he will see how the horoscope of his nativity combines with the indications of the time when the question is put, and then he predicts the result, good or bad, according to the aspect of the heavens.1
3 , bk. ii, ch. 33.
1 The Chinese are still much given to astrology. Their popular calendars classify all the days of the month as very lucky, lucky, neither lucky nor unlucky, unlucky, and very unlucky. In China there is also a government almanac, prepared at Peking by state astrologers, for the purpose of marking the days considered fortunate or unfortunate for various undertakings.
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Chicago: "Chinese Astrologers," Book of Ser Marco Polo in Readings in Early European History, ed. Webster, Hutton (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1926), 476. Original Sources, accessed May 4, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=7BNWUN8BP98DIKK.
MLA: . "Chinese Astrologers." Book of Ser Marco Polo, Vol. ii, in Readings in Early European History, edited by Webster, Hutton, Boston, Ginn and Company, 1926, page 476. Original Sources. 4 May. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=7BNWUN8BP98DIKK.
Harvard: , 'Chinese Astrologers' in Book of Ser Marco Polo. cited in 1926, Readings in Early European History, ed. , Ginn and Company, Boston, pp.476. Original Sources, retrieved 4 May 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=7BNWUN8BP98DIKK.
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