Marco Polo
Chapter One
Chapter One: The Merchants of Venice
Then all the charm
Is broken—all that phantom-world so fair
Vanishes, and a thousand circlets spread. . . .
She hid from her enemies amid a seductive array of islands, 118 in all. Damp, dark, cloistered, and crowded, she perched on rocks and silt. Fortifications and spectacular residences rose on foundations of pinewood piles and Istrian stone. In Marco Polo's Venice, few edifices—with the exception of one huge Byzantine basilica and other large churches—stood entirely straight; most structures seemed to rise uncertainly from the water.
Marco Polo came of age in a city of night edging toward dawn; it was opaque, secretive, and rife with transgressions and superstitions. Even those who had lived their entire lives in Venice became disoriented as ... read full excerpt from Marco Polo (E-Book) ebook
