courts, and under promise of a speedy return. After eighteen

months spent in navigating the Indian ocean, they arrived at Ormuz in the Persian gulf, but found the prince whose bride they accompanied had been dead some time. They remained some time at the court of the regent, and at length, by way of Trebizond and Constantinople, they reached Venice in 1295, laden with riches. Hearing shortly afterwards of the death of their old protector, Cublai Khan, they seem to have considered themselves absolved from their promise to return. Their immense wealth and romantic adventures raised them to distinction in their native city, although few, even of their kinsmen, at first recognized them. Marco Polo, some time after his arrival, took command of a galley in an expedition against the Genoese fleet, was taken prisoner, and spent a considerable time in the prison of Genoa. Here it was that he found leisure to compose an account of his travels. His fame as a traveller procured his liberation. He returned to Venice, married, and died at the age of seventy. His work entitled "Marco Polo, delle Meraviglie del Mondo da lui descritte," otherwise, "Il milione di Marco Polo," was inserted in Ramusio's collection, Venice, 1559. There is also an excellent edition, Florence, 1827, and an English version with admirable notes by Mr. Marsden. Like many early travellers, Marco Polo was long exposed to the sneers of the incredulous in matters where subsequent knowledge has proved his correctness. Where he writes from personal observation he is always conscientious, and generally more accurate than could have been expected; and many of the apparent absurdities are attributable either to his having relied on second-hand information, or to the blunders of copyists and translators. It was the hope of reaching the golden lands so vividly described by Marco Polo which inspired Columbus to undertake the expedition which led to the discovery of the New World.—F. M. W. POLWHELE, Richard, an English antiquary and topographer, was born at Truro on the 6th January, 1760. While a schoolboy in his native town he wrote two small poems, which were published. He entered Christ Church college, Oxford, in 1778; but, as he preferred writing verse to hard study, he took no degree. He was ordained and obtained a curacy at Kenton, where he subsequently planned his "History of Devonshire," of which the second volume appeared in 1793, and the first in 1797. The work has very little value as a record of facts, but abounds in proofs of Mr. Polwhele's ambition to be thought a poet. In 1794 he obtained the small living of Manaccan in Cornwall, where he passed his happiest days and wrote his best poetry. In 1803 he published a "History of Cornwall," 7 vols., 4to, containing a valuable mass of materials for future historians. He became honorary secretary to the Royal Society of Literature in 1823, and in 1826 he published his "Traditions and Recollections," which was followed ten years later by "Reminiscences in Prose and Verse," both works being in a certain degree autobiographical. He died at Truro, 12th March, 1838.—R. H. POLYÆNUS, the Macedonian, a rhetorician and pleader, who flourished about the middle of the second century, is the author of a collection of nine hundred military stratagems. It was dedicated to the Emperors M. Aurelius and Verus about 163, at a time when they were engaged in the Sarthian war. The first six books are devoted to an explanation of the stratagems of famous Greek generals, the seventh to those of barbarous peoples, and the eighth to those of the Romans and celebrated women. A Latin translation was published at Basle in 1549; the Greek text first appeared at Lyons in 1589. An English translation, by R. Shepherd, was published at London in 1793.—D. W. R. POLYÆNUS, Julius, the author of four epigrams in the Greek Anthology, is believed to have flourished in the time of Julius Cæsar.—D. W. R. POLYBIUS, the historian, was the son of Lycortas, one of the most distinguished statesmen of the Achæan league. He was a native of Megalopolis in Arcadia, and was born about 204 b.c. He early took a prominent part in the politics of his country, but the encroaching power of Rome rendered free action impossible for the Greeks, and Polybius was one of the thousand Achæans who were carried to Italy as hostages for the obedience of their countrymen after the conquest of Macedonia, 167 b.c. Polybius had the good fortune to obtain the friendship of Scipio, afterwards the destroyer of Carthage, who procured leave for him to reside at Rome in his house. This friendship was highly advantageous to Polybius, as besides finding a liberal patron and protector in his exile he was enabled by his means to get access to public documents and accumulate materials for his great historical work. After seventeen years the Achæan exiles were set at liberty by the senate, and Polybius returned to his native country. During his stay in Greece, which, however, was not long, he exhorted his countrymen to peace and unanimity, and strove to counteract the mad projects of the party who were about to hurry the Achæans into a hopeless struggle with Rome. When it was too late the Achæans saw and acknowledged the justice and wisdom of his advice, and erected a statue to his honour with the inscription, that "Hellas would have been saved if the advice of Polybius had been followed." He soon left Greece to join Scipio in Africa, on the commencement of the third Punic war. He probably found that his intimacy with Scipio, and the favour by which he had been distinguished at Rome, were so many barriers which intercepted his prospects of honour, authority, and useful activity in his native land. It is likely also that he was an object of suspicion with the so-called independent party, and his position in Greece may thus have become unpleasant and dangerous. He was also anxious to be a spectator of the final struggle then in progress between Rome and Carthage, the history of which he intended to write. He has been harshly and unjustly censured for abandoning his country in its hour of need; but there is no reason to suppose that he could have effected any good purpose by remaining in Greece at that time, and it is certain that on his return after the completion of the Roman conquest he was enabled to render most important services to his fellow-citizens. Polybius was present with Scipio at the destruction of Carthage, after which he hastened back to Greece, and endeavoured by every means in his power to alleviate the misery which the Achæans had brought on themselves by their fatal and suicidal war with Rome. As the friend of Scipio, he was received with marked distinction, and he prevailed on the Romans to abstain from selling the Achæans for slaves, as had been contemplated. The statues of Philopœmen and Aratus which the Roman commissioners had ordered to be conveyed to Italy were allowed, at his intercession, to remain in Peloponnesus. He was even allowed to frame political institutions and laws (of course, under strict regulations) for the cities of the Achæan confederacy; and he was directed to make a circuit through the cities to explain and decide doubtful points until the people should have become familiar with the new constitution. He further obtained from Rome a relaxation of some of the most severe enactments which had been made against the conquered Achæans. During this period of distress he fulfilled the bitterest of duties; he returned to his country to obtain by his mediation tolerable terms for those who survived the war, and to save many a relic dear to his feelings. The lot of Polybius was that of a physician who has to make a desperate cure on his own wife or children. Love indeed inspired him; but that very love causes such an operation to rend the heart far more painfully than if a stranger performed it. Such courage is more than heroism: to endure such things in the country where he had formerly lived in happiness, to retain hope in the midst of despair, to induce tyrants to be moderate, and to obtain a measure of toleration for his unhappy countrymen—these were the works of a great man. All concessions from Rome to Greece were granted solely through the exertions of Polybius. He now devoted himself to the composition of his great historical work, and undertook journeys in search of information to Gaul, Spain, Africa, and even as far as the Atlantic. In these travels he received every assistance from his friend and benefactor, Scipio. He died at an advanced age about 122 b.c. In the first two books of his history Polybius gave a brief account of the history of Rome from the taking of the city by the Gauls, 390 b.c., to the beginning of the second Punic war, 218 b.c. He then proceeded to narrate at length the growth and progress of the Roman power, from 218 b.c. to the downfall of the independence of Greece, 143 b.c. But while the history of Rome thus formed the principal subject of this work, the history of the nations with whom she came in contact (for example the Greeks and Carthaginians) was given with equal care, so that Polybius justly entitled his work a "Universal History." It was divided into forty books, of which only the first four have come down to us entire, but considerable fragments of the rest (amounting in quantity to about as much more) have also been preserved. The merits of this work are very great: it is distinguished by singular impartiality, a wide personal experience of both civil and military affairs, eminent accuracy in details, and a thoroughly practical turn of