y over the whole
country. The subjugation of China was the work of Kublai, grandson
of Genghis, who came to the throne in 1260, inheriting an empire
more extensive than Alexander or Caesar had dreamed of. In 1264
the new khan fixed his court at Peking and proceeded to reduce the
provinces to subjection. Exhausted and disunited as they were the
task was not difficult, though it took fifteen years to complete.
Ambition alone would have been sufficient motive for the conquest,
but his hostility was provoked by perfidy--especially by the murder
of envoys sent to announce his accession. "Without good faith,"
says Confucius, "no nation can exist."

By the absorption of China the dominions of Kublai were made richer,
if not greater in extent, than those of his grandfather, while the
splendour of his court quite eclipsed that of Genghis Khan.

Unknown to the ancient Romans, China was revealed to their mediaeval
successors by the Mongol
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conquest. In 1261 two Venetian merchants, Nicolo and Matteo Polo,
made their way to Bokhara, whence, joining an embassy from India,
they proceeded to Kublai's capital at Xanadu (or Shangtu) near
the site of Peking. They were the first white men the Grand Khan
had ever seen, and he seems to have perceived at once that, if not
of superior race, they were at least more advanced in civilisation
than his own people; for, besides intrusting them with letters to
the Pope, he gave them a commission to bring out a hundred Europeans
to instruct the Mongols in the arts and sciences of the West.

In 1275 they returned to Peking without other Europeans, but accompanied
by Marco Polo, the son of Nicolo. They were received with more
honour than on their first visit, and the young man was appointed
to several positions of trust in the service of the monarch. After
a sojourn of seventeen years, the three Polos obtained permission
to join the escort of a Mongol princess who was going to the court
of Persia. In Persia they heard of the death of their illustrious
patron, and, instead of returning to China, turned their faces
homeward, arriving at Venice in 1295.

Having been captured by the Genoese, Marco Polo while in prison
dictated his wonderful story. At first it was looked on as a romance
and caused its author to receive the sobriquet of "Messer Millione";
but its general accuracy has been fully vindicated.

The chief effect of that narrative was to fire the imagination
of another Italian and