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 safely through so many dangers, advanced with his galley before the rest of the fleet, with the design of breaking the enemy's squadron. The Venetians, however, who were quickly defeated, wanted the energy to second his boldness; and Marco, who had been wounded in the engagement, was taken prisoner and carried to Genoa.

Here, as at Venice, the extraordinary nature of his adventures, the naïveté of his descriptions, and the amiableness of his character soon gained him friends, who not only delighted in his conversation, but exerted all their powers to soften the rigours of his captivity. Day after day new auditors flocked around this new Ulysses, anxious to hear from his own lips an account of the magnificence and grandeur of Kublai Khan, and of the vast empire of the Mongols. Wearied at length, however, with for ever repeating the same things, he determined, in pursuance of the advice of his new friends, to write the history of his travels; and sending to Venice for the original notes which he had made while in the East, compiled or dictated the brief work which has immortalized his memory. The work was completed in the year 1298, when it may also be said to have been published, as numerous copies were made and circulated.

Meanwhile, his father and uncle, who had hitherto looked to Marco for the continuation of the Polo family, and who had vainly endeavoured by the offer of large sums of money to redeem him from captivity, began to deliberate upon the course which they ought to adopt under the present circumstances; and it was resolved that Nicolo, the younger and more vigorous of the two, should himself marry. Four years after this marriage, Marco was set at liberty at the intercession of the most illustrious citizens of Genoa; but on returning to Venice he found that three new members had been added to the Polo family during his absence, his father having had so many sons by his young wife. Marco continued,