The next journey which Marco Polo undertook, after his return from Tibet,
was into the kingdom of Mangi, or Southern China, subdued by the arms
of the khan in 1269. Fanfur, the monarch, who had reigned previous to
the irruption of the Mongols, is represented as a mild, beneficent,
and peaceful prince, intent upon maintaining justice and internal
tranquillity in his dominions; but wanting in energy, and neglectful
of the means of national defence. During the latter years of his reign
he had abandoned himself, like another Sardanapalus, to sensuality
and voluptuousness; though, when the storm of war burst upon him, he
exhibited far less magnanimity than that Assyrian Sybarite; flying
pusillanimously to his fleet with all his wealth, and relinquishing the
defence of the capital to his queen, who, as a woman, had nothing to fear
from the cruelty of the conqueror. A foolish story, no doubt invented
after the fall of the city, is said to have inspired the queen with
confidence, and encouraged her to resist the besiegers: the soothsayers,
or haruspices, had assured Fanfur, in the days of his prosperity, that no
man not possessing a hundred eyes should ever deprive him of his kingdom.
Learning, however, with dismay that the name of the Tartar general now
besieging the place signified “the Hundred-eyed,” she perceived the
fulfilment of the prediction, and surrendered up the city. Kublai Khan,
agreeably to the opinion of Fanfur, conducted himself liberally towards
the captive queen; who, being conveyed to Cambalu, was received and
treated in a manner suitable to her former dignity. The dwarf-minded
emperor died about a year after, a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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