likewise, to reduce the whole to writing; and this befell in the year 1298
from the birth of Jesus.

CHAPTER I.

HOW THE TWO BROTHERS POLO SET FORTH FROM CONSTANTINOPLE TO TRAVERSE THE
WORLD.

It came to pass in the year of Christ 1260, when Baldwin was reigning at
Constantinople,[NOTE 1] that Messer Nicolas Polo, the father of my lord
Mark, and Messer Maffeo Polo, the brother of Messer Nicolas, were at the
said city of CONSTANTINOPLE, whither they had gone from Venice with their
merchants' wares. Now these two Brethren, men singularly noble, wise, and
provident, took counsel together to cross the GREATER SEA on a venture of
trade; so they laid in a store of jewels and set forth from
Constantinople, crossing the Sea to SOLDAIA.[NOTE 2]

NOTE 1.--Baldwin II (de Courtenay), the last Latin Emperor of
Constantinople, reigned from 1237 to 1261, when he was expelled by Michael
Palaeologus.

The date in the text is, as we see, that of the Brothers' voyage across
the Black Sea. It stands 1250 in all the chief texts. But the figure is
certainly wrong. We shall see that, when the Brothers return to Venice in
1269, they find Mark, who, according to Ramusio's version, was _born after
their departure_, a lad of fifteen. Hence, if we rely on Ramusio, they
must have left Venice about 1253-54. And we shall see also that they
reached the Volga in 1261. Hence their start from Constantinople may well
have occurred in 1260, and this I have adopted as the most probable
correction. Where they spent the interval between 1254 (if they really
left Venice so early) and 1260, nowhere appears. But as their brother,
Mark the Elder, in his Will styles himself "_whilom of Constantinople_,"
their headquarters were probably there.

[Illustration: Castle of Soldaia or Sudak]

NOTE 2.--In the Middle Ages the Euxine was frequently called _Mare Magnum_
or _Majus_. Thus Chaucer:--

"In the GRETE SEE,
At many a noble Armee hadde he be."

The term Black Sea (_Mare Maurum_ v. _Nigrum_) was, however, in use, and
Abulfeda says it was general in his day. That name has been alleged to
appear as early as the 10th century, in the form [Greek: Skoteinae], "The
Dark Sea"; but an examination of the passage cited, from Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, shows that it refers rather to the Baltic, whilst that
author elsewhere calls the Euxine simply Pontus. (_Reinaud's Abulf._ I.
38, _Const. Porph. De Adm. Imp._ c. 31, c. 42.)

+ _Sod