Marco Polo was wounded and in an alarming condition when taken to prison; but so much admired was he, and so capable of fascinating enemies as well as friends, that {100} he was cared for in such a way as to insure his recovery, and was even visited by Genoese gentlemen. All who came near him listened to his stories of travels and adventures with rapt attention and delight; and especially a fellow-prisoner, a Pisan, Rusticiano, who had been a writer in his day, and was seized with a desire to write out all the wonderful tales which Marco repeated again and again. Through the kindly offices of a Genoese noble the necessary materials were furnished, and three months were devoted to writing, in curious antique French seasoned with Italian idioms, the tales of the modern Herodotus. We can imagine the supreme felicity with which Rusticiano began: "Oh, emperors and kings, oh, dukes, princes, marquises, barons, and cavaliers, and all who delight in knowing the different races of the world and the variety of countries, take this book and read it!" The first perfect copy was presented to the Republic of Genoa. The length of Polo's imprisonment is not positively known; but he probably returned to Venice in 1299, just when the "Serrata" and the insurrections convulsed the city. But his public life was finished; and his marriage, the making of his will in 1323, and such personal matters are the only records of his remaining life. The Venetians at once set about the building and organization of a new fleet of one hundred galleys, and rose from their defeat with an energy and spirit that astonished the world. They bought artillery in Spain, and built vessels with such rapidity that the Genoese were undoubtedly influenced to make their peace with Venice by the conviction that she would be ready again to attack much sooner than they to repel. At all events, within a few months, these rivals concluded a perpetual peace with all possible pledges of friendship and mutual respect. The Venetians now gradually turned their attention to what the Doge and his creatures had accomplished while {101} all eyes had been directed elsewhere; and great excitement and discontent were soon manifested. The populace had seemed childish and almost worse than that in the simple and unreasoning way in which they had cherished the fallacy that they retained any political power worthy of the name; but of late, in certain directions, notably by trying to elect their own Doge, they had evinced an awakening appreciation of the facts, and a determination to re-establish themselves.