“Factions3 alone are the cause of our great ills.”—Prato.
So wrote a Milanese chronicler in the sixteenth century. Had the people but one mind, he adds, assuredly no city would be more pleasant and fortunate than theirs. His complaint holds equally good for the thirteenth century. The presence of a foreign invader4 did indeed produce a temporary union of heart and hand, and so far the earlier generations show a noble contrast to their descendants of three hundred years later. But even while Frederick II. was still in the land, and in response to opportunities of selfish advantage offered by alliance with him, there were constant defections from the League, and we find the whole of North Italy seething5 with the warfare6 of city against city. After his death, when the mutual7 rage and hate was no longer checked by any fear of a general oppressor, the strife8 was continued with worse fury under the diabolical9 names of Guelf and Ghibelline, to use the expression of a contemporary writer, the divisions between city and city being repeated within each community itself. The Lombard scene dissolves into a whirling confusion of fratricidal war, in which beneath the cross-currents and blind purposes of individual passion and greed, we may distinguish the two steady principles of the Church and democracy on the one side, and the aristocratic and feudal10 element, deriving12 its right from the Empire, on the other. In Milan the issue, which had long before 63defined itself as a struggle between nobles and people, remains13 fairly clear. The plebeians14 had forced their way more and more into the government. Their right to share in the election of the Consuls15 had been long conceded, and some among them had even taken a place in that august body. In 1198 they had acquired the strength of union and organisation16 by forming themselves into an association calling itself the Credenza di Saint Ambrogio, with elective magistrates17 and officers of its own, and a certain share in the government and the revenues of the community. This body consisted of the lesser18 trades and guilds19, but excluded the mass of poorer artisans and labourers. The merchants, bankers, traders in wool, etc., had their corporation also; the lesser nobles were banded in a society called the Motta, and the great nobles formed the Società dei Gagliardi, so that no less than four factions existed in Milan at the opening of the thirteenth century, besides the populace, which threw its weight on one side or another, with the quick inconsistency of irresponsibility and impulse. Each faction had its separate claims and ambitions, but the tendency of the three lower ones was to unite against the great nobles, who, amid continual uproar20 and conflict, were gradually stripped of their exclusive power and privileges. And in 1258 the last and most sacred enclosure of their caste was stormed and carried by the Vulgar: a decree of the Republic threw open the highest offices of the Ambrosian Church to plebeians. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries were, in fact, the Epoch21 of the People, and though all classes, high and low, fought loyally together against Barbarossa and Frederick II., it was the democratic preponderance in the city which determined22 its steady opposition23 to the imperial pretensions24. The same principle threw Milan on the Guelf side, which she upheld with ardour in the general Lombard warfare, 64manifesting her party zeal25 especially in a fierce intermittent26 war with Pavia. That city was as necessarily Ghibelline, though the party cry on either side was but the excuse for the efforts of the one to hasten and the other to delay the inevitable27 absorption of the lesser by the greater.
With the power of the people was associated as of old the predominance of papal influence in the city and the depression of the archiepiscopal See. St. Peter had now completely subjected St. Ambrose. The assumption of supremacy28 in temporal as well as spiritual matters on the part of the Popes, their constant interference by means of legates, the activity of their innumerable and ubiquitous agents, the friars, had indeed reduced the seat of Ariberto to comparative insignificance29, while the decay of feudal power and the depression of the aristocracy had robbed it of its wealth. But even assisted by the Pope, and at the height of their strength and triumph, the popular forces were impotent to establish any enduring order in the city. The nobles were still too powerful to submit peaceably to political inferiority. Moreover, as the offices and honours once confined to them became open to all, the successful and wealthy plebeians tended to join the upper class, which began to lose distinction of race in that of wealth and ability. The aristocracy, thus continually replenished32 with new blood, received fresh vigour33 and life, and the old divisions gradually merged34 into two classes, the milites, who fought on horseback and in armour35, and the plebs, or general mass of citizens, who, little trained and lightly armed, accompanied the horsemen into battle on foot. The struggle between these two radical36 orders transformed Milan’s short period of republican liberty into a scene of anarchy37 and civil warfare, leading to the inevitable end of faction and strife, the tyranny of an individual.
65Already by the end of the twelfth century the struggle of the factions over the annual election of the Consuls occasioned so much tumult38 and bloodshed, that the citizens in despair agreed with one accord to submit themselves to the government of a Podestà chosen from outside. But this device for peace ended by aggravating39 the strife. The faction uppermost for the time appointed a fierce partisan40 from another city, perhaps the leader of an exiled faction, who embroiled41 Milan with his own Commune, and exalted42 his sympathisers within her walls at the expense of the other party. The general discontent and disorder43 was reflected in constant changes in the Constitution. In the absence of any stable principle of government the power tended to fall into the hands of individuals. This was the opportunity of the nobles, from whose order the leaders of men naturally sprang. Taking advantage of the forces ready to their hands, these put themselves at the head of aristocrats44 or plebs, without much regard for principle, and in so doing resumed their ancient pre-eminence in the community, and initiated45 the new Epoch of Great Men, which was to succeed the failing Epoch of the People.
This process, at work throughout Lombardy, is shown in the second half of the thirteenth century in Milan by the gradual narrowing of the general party issue into a struggle for predominance between two great Houses, who represent and sum up in their mutual quarrel the diverse aims of the factions, and divide the community into two sharply defined and bitterly hostile bands, which fall inevitably46, though by no means very precisely47, into the wide general division of Guelf and Ghibelline. These were the Houses of the Della Torre, or Torriani, and of the Visconti.
In the race for supremacy the first far outstripped48 the second. The Della Torre were country nobles, 66who had, however, long been subjects and citizens of Milan, and though living usually on their estates in the Valsassina, they often appeared in the city and took part in its government and politics. They are named among the Capitani—the great secular49 nobles of Milan—from early in the twelfth century. They had from the first aided and protected the cause of the people against their own order, and it was this sympathy which lifted them to greatness on the democratic wave of the thirteenth century.
The power of this House in Milan arose first out of the gratitude50 of the city for the compassionate52 succour which Pagano della Torre, head of the House in 1237, gave to the wounded and starving fugitives54 from the disastrous55 battle of Cortenuova, whom he sheltered and tended in the Valsassina, and afterwards helped to get back safely to Milan. The Commune rewarded him with offices and with gifts of houses, and from that time the Torriani became regular inhabitants of the city and the principal leaders of the people’s faction.
Pagano the Good himself died in 1241, but left a numerous kindred to inherit his popularity. In this year Frate Leone da Perego was elected Archbishop of Milan. The new Primate56 secretly aspired57 to raise his See to its old power and importance, and to shake off the tutelage of the Pope, and though but a year or two before he had fought loyally, as we have seen, beside the papal legate in the ranks marshalled against Frederick II., he now put himself at the head of the aristocratic party, and even invoked58, it may be suspected, the aid of the powerful forces of heresy59. But against the nobles was ranged Martino della Torre, nephew of Pagano, as leader of the people, who, in 1249, elected him their head with the title of Anziano,—Ancient—of the Credenza, and the Franciscan Leone was more than matched by the Dominican Pietro da 67Verona, whose zeal, sanctity, and awful inquisitorial powers were the strongest support of the Papacy in Milan. The murder of the Inquisitor in 1252 was almost certainly prompted by partisan motives60. But it failed signally in its political as in its sectarian purpose, and for Papacy, people, and the Dominican Order alike, the bloody61 crown of the Martyr62 became an emblem63 of united strength and triumph. His death was followed by insurrections of the people. After a few years of comparative peace under the strong Podestà Manfredo Lancia, the feud11 between the two parties broke out afresh, and the Archbishop and nobles were driven out of the city. The following year a reconciliation64 took place (1257), and was solemnly confirmed in a treaty called the ‘Peace of St. Ambrose.’ In this the privileges already won by the popular party were formally conceded to them. All dignities and offices in the Commune, from the highest minister down to the town-trumpeter, were to be equally divided between the nobles and the Plebeians. Both sides swore to observe the peace in perpetuity. Yet two months later it was broken, and the nobles once more banished65 by the all-powerful Della Torre. They united with the Ghibellines of the other cities, and even treated with the terrible Ezzelino da Romano, whom the trembling populations of North Italy believed to be the son of the Devil. They promised him the Lordship of Milan if he would aid them, and in 1259, the last desperate year of his evil course, the Trevisan chief, issuing forth66 from Brescia, made a sudden stealthy dash with his famous horsemen upon the city. Martino della Torre, deceived as to the invader’s movements, had led the Milanese to meet him in another direction, and the city was undefended for the moment, and must have fallen into Ezzelino’s hands had not warning reached Martino just in time for him 68to hasten home and man the walls, thus defeating Ezzelino’s purpose.
The growing power of the Della Torre began before long to rouse suspicion and distrust in Rome, in spite of their steady championship of the popular cause. The hold of the Papacy upon Milan was in fact somewhat uncertain. The people still remembered with pride the ancient tradition of their Church, and were inclined at times to resent the constant interference of the Pope and his inquisitorial friars. In this feeling lay the possibility of a union between the Archbishop and the democratic party, which it was the policy of Rome to avert68, even at the cost of prolonging and aggravating the miserable69 state of civil war in Milan. On the death of Frate Leone in 1257, the Della Torre sought to raise Raimondo, a son of Pagano the Good, to the archiepiscopal throne. Their intention was defeated by the opposition of the nobles, secretly instigated70 by Urban IV., and after some years of controversy71 over the vacant seat, Urban, thinking to hold the balance of parties in his own hands, appointed to it Otto Visconte (1263). The paradoxical spectacle of the Pope raising a Ghibelline noble to power, and the noble accepting it from the Pope—one of those strange eddies72 constantly occurring in the political current of the day—was completed by the alliance of the Della Torre with the celebrated73 Captain, Oberto da Pellavicino, protector of heretics, close comrade once of Ezzelino and the Ghibellines, and mortal foe74 of the Church. Into the hands of this typical figure of the North Italian drama, Martino, pressed by the hostility75 of the nobles and the secret machinations of the Pope, had in 1259 surrendered the Lordship of Milan for five years. Under his leadership the Torriani oppressed the friars, drove out the papal legate, Cardinal76 Ottaviano da Ubaldino, and on the elevation77 of Otto Visconte to 69the See, seized upon all the episcopal territories and revenues, and kept the new prelate for years out of his ecclesiastical capital. Pope Urban retaliated78 with spiritual thunders, and Milan lay long under the heavy spell of the papal interdict79.
The Visconti and the Torriani were already deadly foes80. The House of the Snake, which in Archbishop Otto, was now about to begin its great ascent81, to the overthrow82 and destruction of the Tower of its rivals, probably derived83 its origin and name from one of the Viscounts of the Carlovingian rule, who had succeeded in converting the territory entrusted84 to his administration into an hereditary85 appanage. It was, in any case, of great antiquity86 in the city. The famous cognizance which its later career invested with a peculiar87 terror, is said to have been won by a noble crusader of the House, also an Otto, in single combat with a Saracen, who carried a shield emblazoned with the device of a seven-coiled serpent devouring88 a child. Otto slew89 the Saracen and adopted the device, which he transmitted to his descendants, and with it who knows what mysterious and persistent90 curse of guile91 and cruelty?
It is with Archbishop Otto, however, that the real fortunes of the House begin. Strong, crafty92 and determined, with a power of biding93 his time observable in a singular degree in all the notable members of his race, Otto was the right man to foster and direct the gradually reviving power of the nobles in Milan and lead them to victory over the Della Torre and the people. But for fifteen years he fought and intrigued94 in vain, leading his fellow-exiles and the forlorn hope of the Ghibelline party in Lombardy against the swelling95 tide of Guelf success, which the death of Ezzelino da Romano, the overthrow of the House of Suabia in Manfred and Corradino, and the ascendency of Anjou in the South, had brought to the full. The domination of 70the Torriani seemed to become every day more assured. Heads of the Lombard League, Martino and his family were all-powerful in North Italy. They drove the Ghibellines out of the surrounding cities, and established their own sympathisers in power everywhere. Many of the Communes accepted the actual sway of the great House. Martino died in 1263, and was buried in the Monastery96 of Chiaravalle. He was succeeded by his brother Filippo, on whose death, two years later, Napo, a son of the good Pagano, assumed the chieftainship.
CHIARAVALLE
Meanwhile the capital itself, spared, under the protection 71of these great lords, the bloody succession of sieges and captures which laid waste its neighbours, where the more evenly balanced parties caused revolutions with bewildering frequency, increased rapidly in wealth and luxury. The narrow, tortuous97 streets overflowed98 with the full, rich-coloured, sharply chequered life of the thirteenth century. Some terrible scene of Ghibelline prisoners slaughtered99 in the market-place, and dragged, mangled100 and bleeding, at the tails of horses through the streets, with yelling crowds of children after them, is succeeded by a May-Day holiday, when the most illustrious youths and maidens101 of the city, splendidly adorned102, ‘weave joyful103 dances’ beneath pavilions spread in all the open spaces. And the blue sky roofing the sunny squares is suddenly darkened by the smoke ascending104 from the death-pyre of a heretic, while lean mendicant105 Brothers look on with triumph, certain that the cry which comes from that breaking chrysalis is the voice of the Devil discomfited106. Now troops, knights107 and men-at-arms in clanking armour, with tattered108 banners held high, trample109 in over the drawbridge, returning from some exploit against the Ghibellines. Or it is a multitude of moaning Flagellants, in white shrouds110 stained with blood, whose self-inflicted lashes111 can scarcely fall fast enough to keep time with the pangs112 of their guilty consciences, as they hurl113 themselves against the gates, which the stout114 captains of the city keep shut, judging that fifteen different sects115 within their walls are enough, without admitting these crazy penitents116 to upset the unsteady minds of the people.
The narrow streets were filled with the hum of busy industries. Fine palaces and comfortable dwellings117 abounded118, with wells and mills and all the necessaries of a prosperous existence. But wealth and its pleasant habits were causing the Milanese to forget the liberty for which they had once made all sacrifice. That word 72of sinister119 omen67—Signore—was heard without protest among them. They had granted the title voluntarily to Martino della Torre, and both he and Filippo called themselves Perpetual Lords of Milan. The people preferred a domination which at least secured them peace, to the loss and suffering caused by continual civil struggles. Moreover, absorbed in trade and in peaceful industry, they had no time or inclination120 for the rapidly developing art of war, and a class of highly trained professional soldiers, fully121 equipped with weapons and armour, who engaged themselves for hire to any Commune, were superseding122 more and more the old city militia123, composed of all the able-bodied men. These mercenaries, who owned no allegiance except to the master who paid them, lent enormous power to the ruler of a city, who, by means of them, was able to overawe discontent in the people. Thus, aided by the conditions of the times, the Torriani gradually established a virtual despotism over Milan, though careful not to alarm the popular mind by any grander sounding titles. It was not long, however, before they abandoned even this degree of caution, and in 1273 Napo persuaded the Emperor Rudolph to grant him the title of Imperial Vicar of Milan, thus obtaining a legal sanction for his usurpation124.
73
VIA DEL PESCE
74Napo was a wise and prudent125 man, but in this step he went too far. The Della Torre fortune was even then on the wane126. The Milanese might rejoice in the peace which despotism bestowed127, but they loudly resented being called upon to pay for it by new and heavy taxation128, and all the lovers of liberty feared the novel and arrogant129 title of Imperial Vicar. Among the supporters of the ruling House themselves, the long course of power enjoyed by the Torriani had bred envy and enmity. Dissensions arose, and the discontented were punished by spoliation and banishment130. Numbers abandoned 75the party and joined Otto Visconte. Tumults131 shook the city once more, and sedition132 secretly gathered head. Napo, feeling his power slipping from him, used the cruel and tyrannous measures of despair to save himself and his House. Otto and the exiles, on the other hand, braced133 by adversity and clinging together in a determined band, were daily gaining strength. They were aided by the other Ghibellines of Lombardy, especially by the Pavesi, and with continual attacks and raids upon the Milanese territory they strove to vex134 and weaken the party in power. Nevertheless, for some years still their cause seemed hopeless. The Della Torre, who had cast off Oberto da Pellavicino when they were strong enough to do without him, had reconciled themselves with the Papacy in 1274, and their great prestige was apparently135 strong enough to defy defections and subdue136 discontent.
But time and circumstance were steadily137 undermining the great House, and with a sudden crash it fell. On a certain January night in 1277, the wife of Matteo Visconte was delivered, we are told, of her first son, who, because he was born ad cantu galli, as the cocks were crowing—heralding a false dawn, as their habit is in winter midnights—was named Galeazzo, first of the many of that name who were to crow over Milan. It was at this very moment that Otto Visconte—who, with his great-nephew, father of the new-born babe, and the rest of his kinsmen138, had been making desperate attacks upon various points in the Milanese country, with little success so far—was creeping stealthily in the darkness, at the head of a strong body of fighting men, towards Desio, a village ten miles from Milan, where the Della Torre, disdainful of their oft-beaten foe, were sleeping encamped, with but a small force and under a careless watch. Awakened140 by the noise of attack, these latter rushed to arms; but too late. The 76enemy was in their midst. Francesco della Torre, son of Napo, fell pierced with wounds. The chief himself, overthrown141 in his weighty armour, lay grieving helplessly upon the ground, and with a crowd of sons and kinsmen was made captive. All was over. Otto Visconte rode victorious142 at last into Milan, where the citizens, who had heard of the discomfiture143 of their lords as they were starting with the Caroccio to the rescue, suited their faith to the occasion, and with immense applause and jubilee144 proclaimed the prelate Lord of Milan.
Thus, by the hazard of a moment’s battle, the long supremacy of the Torriani was overthrown. Napo was imprisoned145 in the terrible Tower of Baradello, whose ruins still crest146 a hill a mile or two on the Milanese side of Como. Here, within the bars of a cage, the once mighty147 chief languished148 for a year and a half till he died.
Meanwhile, the change of ruler had brought the city none of the relief from war and its burdensome cost, which the people had fondly expected. The kinsmen and adherents149 of the exiled family in the city were very numerous and strong, and the whole Guelf party in Lombardy was anxious to bring about the restoration of the Torriani. The new Lord of Milan was attacked with fury, and could only maintain himself by the energetic use of the sword, and by those same methods of proscription150 and banishment with which his predecessors151 had made themselves odious152.
Otto was now, however, an old man, and worn out by the ceaseless struggles of his life. His mind was beset153 with the fears and suspicions of one who, under the stress of ambition, had himself practised overmuch deceit and treachery, and some years before his death, in 1295, he had surrendered the chieftainship to the young and ambitious Matteo. With extraordinary prudence154 and sagacity, Matteo steered155 his way amid the rocks and stormy waves of his 77course, beating back the open attacks of his enemies, matching their plots and snares156 with an invincible157 subtlety158, and so ingratiating himself with the citizens by a show of moderation, piety159 and benevolence160, that in a few years his somewhat unstable161 authority had transmuted162 itself, in accordance with the apparent will of the people, into virtual sovereignty. By force of craft rather than arms he had made himself master in Como, Alexandria, Novara and the Montferrat territory, and his conciliatory policy towards the opposite party won for him enormous influence as arbitrator in the disputes which ever racked Lombardy. He even propitiated163 Pope Boniface VIII. by politic31 concessions164, which in no way lessened165 his own power. In 1294 his gifts and flattery prevailed upon the Emperor Adolfo to grant him the potent30 title of Imperial Vicar of Lombardy.
But the stealthy march of the Visconte’s ambition did not go unchecked. His pretensions roused the Guelf party to new efforts against him, and the impetuosity and recklessness of his sons as they grew up wrecked166 his careful plans, and excited once more to fiery167 heat those party passions which it was his aim to smooth and allay168. His love for the splendid Galeazzo, born at the cock-crow of the Viscontean day, was the father’s undoing169. In pursuance of his policy of tranquillising the party strife which forbade all stable and settled government in North Italy, Matteo made a marriage for this son with Beatrice d’Este, widow of Nino Visconte, Judge of Gallura, and sister of the Marquis of Ferrara, recognised chief of the Guelf party in Lombardy. The marriage was of evil omen for the Visconti. We all know those sad words on the little durability170 of woman’s love which fall from the ghost of the forgotten husband in the Purgatorio.[1]
1. Canto171 viii., vv. 73-81.
78The foreboding of disaster which they contain was justified172; for though in the end the Viper173 was able to give Beatrice as fine a sepulture as the Cock of Gallura could have done, yet the events which soon fell out might well have made her regret the bende bianche which she had exchanged for the bridal garland. The marriage, far from reconciling the two political parties, had only thrown together a pair of extremely hot and indiscreet heads in Galeazzo and Azzo VIII. of Ferrara. The vast ambitions which both were suspected of nourishing roused the fear of Guelfs and Ghibellines alike. Appointed Captain of the Milanese people, Galeazzo only succeeded in alienating174 the citizens and strengthening his enemies by his injudicious and unfortunate military enterprises. The Torriani and their partisans175, who had long suffered eclipse, had begun to regain176 influence and allies, and a formidable league was formed in Lombardy to overthrow the Visconti. A long struggle followed, and day by day Matteo’s power waned177 in the city. The people, whose inveterate178 distrust of the nobles his sagacity and conciliatory measures had been unable to overcome, grew more and more discontented. Jealousy179 of the Visconte’s power, and resentment180 at his policy towards the Guelfs, had alienated181 many of the nobles themselves. The day came when Matteo perceived that his position was no longer tenable. Without waiting for a catastrophe182 which might have ruined his House for ever, he quietly abandoned the city to his foes and took his departure (1302).
The Guelf supporters of the Della Torre now entered Milan, and were received with a great outburst of popular joy. A short period of anarchy followed, caused by the nobles, who had helped to drive out the Visconti, but had no desire to see the Della Torre in their place. After a few months, however, the sons of Napo succeeded by the favour of the lower classes, to whom their 79name was still dear, in restoring themselves to power, while in all the surrounding cities, whose fortunes were always bound up with Milan’s, their partisans drove out the Ghibellines and reinstated the Guelfs.
Mosca, Guido, and Enrico della Torre now ruled the city, at first with a show of deference183 to the will of the Republic, but after a few years with a sovereignty fuller than that which the Visconti had enjoyed. The people were, in fact, accustoming184 themselves to a single rule. In 1307 Mosca died, and Guido assumed sole authority. Meanwhile the Visconti were dispersed185 in various directions. Galeazzo and his wife Beatrice had taken refuge with her kindred at Ferrara, and the other sons of Matteo had found places of safety where the powerful alliances of the family secured them from pursuit by the Della Torre. The shrewd chief himself, after vainly attempting to reverse the fortune of war, had withdrawn186 to a remote country villa139 on the Lake of Garda, and having apparently renounced187 all public activity, was passing his time in the innocent pastimes of fishing and thinking. But his keen eye watched every movement on the field of politics. He had spies and agents everywhere, and was but waiting the moment for a spring upon his foes. With cynical188 satisfaction he noted189 the inevitable course of the new tyranny in Milan; the jealousy and suspicion awaking within the city itself, and in the subjects and allied190 communities around at the growth of Guido’s despotism, the disloyalty of his near kindred and dependants192, greedy for a share of power, and all the embarrassments193 of a chief in whom a noble and generous temper was not seconded by the sagacity and self-control which distinguished194 the observer himself. An oft-told story relates that Guido, at the height of his prosperity, sent a messenger to his fallen rival to ask him derisively195 how he fared, and when he hoped to see Milan again. 80Matteo was wandering beside the lake, discoursing196 with a companion. ‘You see how I live,’ he said to the envoy197, ‘suiting myself to my fortunes. Tell your Lord that I am waiting till the sins of the Torriani have reached the measure of mine to return to my country.’ The expectation of the philosopher was justified as time went on, and Guido began to resort to cruel and oppressive means of preserving his power. In 1309 he imprisoned his cousin Cassone, Archbishop of Milan, and his nephews, the sons of Mosca, on suspicion of plotting against him, and was only withheld198 from further revenge by the protests of his own friends. The subsequent banishment of these kinsmen, who thenceforth sought his ruin, helped to prepare the disasters which were soon to fall upon his House.
The Guelf party was indeed fast losing its hold once more on Lombardy, owing to the hostile feeling in the cities towards King Robert of Naples, who, as champion of the Church and head of the Guelfs, was seeking to establish his sovereignty over North Italy. At the same time a new turn of the wheel was preparing in Germany, where, in 1310, Henry of Luxemburg was elected Emperor, and immediately manifested his intention of descending199 into Italy to exercise the imperial authority for the purpose of restoring order and peace in the factious200 Communes.
Matteo Visconte in his hut of exile saw that his moment was come. With characteristic insight he gauged201 the noble soul of the new Emperor, with its lofty ideals and conviction of a divine mission as peacemaker. His agent, Francesco Garbagnate, made his way to the imperial Court, where he insinuated202 himself into Henry’s favour, and ever at his ear whispered of the woes203 of Lombardy, and of Milan, the splendid city, groaning204 under a despotic oppressor; of thousands of exiles languishing205 in poverty; of their chief, patiently enduring 81his evil fortunes without attempting retaliation206 or revenge.
The anticipation207 of the Emperor’s coming was by no means so pleasing to Guido della Torre and his friends. The mere208 thought of this spectre of imperialism209, which, when men believed it was well laid at last, ever rose to disturb the settlement of the turbid210 elements of Italian life, seems to have stirred the Republican chief to uncontrollable indignation. ‘What have I to do with Henry of Luxemburg?’ he cried, stamping furiously, in a great assembly of his party convoked211 to deal with the situation. To his experienced and unillusioned mind the Emperor’s purpose was simply the exaltation of the Ghibellines and the destruction of the Guelfs. With passionate53 entreaties212 and prophecies of impending213 peril214, he sought to raise a league against Henry, but nearly all his former supporters and allies, tired of his ascendency and afraid of the King of Naples, had pledged themselves to welcome the new-comer.
In November 1310 the Emperor arrived at Asti, whither almost all the magnates of North Italy, both Guelf and Ghibelline, hastened to do him homage215. One day there entered the Court a man who, by the simplicity216 of his attire217 and following, appeared a person of little consequence. Throwing off his hood218 and cloak, he ran and knelt before the Emperor, and kissing his feet, saluted219 him as the longed-for peacemaker and consolation220 of the exiles, and implored221 his compassion51. The suppliant222 was Matteo Visconte, who, for fear of his enemies, had come thus disguised and secretly. Henry welcomed him with the greatest kindness, and having listened earnestly to his recital223 of the wrongs which he and his had suffered, promised to give them speedy relief. Matteo then turned to some of the Guelf nobles present, his fiercest enemies, and with the most admirable display of a meek224 and forgiving spirit, offered to 82embrace them. But they, knowing well the perfidy225 of his fair seeming, repulsed226 him with scorn and heaped revilements upon him. To all of which the Visconte replied with perfect mildness and goodwill227, pointing to the Emperor—‘Here is our king, who is come to give us peace; the end of all our woes is at hand.’ His foes, perceiving how completely he had put them in the wrong and won the Emperor’s confidence by his show of magnanimity, began to misdoubt them of the future and wish that they had heeded228 Guido della Torre’s warnings. The game was now, in fact, despite Henry’s good intentions, in the hands of the wily Ghibelline chief. Besides all the barons229 and magnates of his own faction, the exiled Archbishop Cassone della Torre and a number of other Milanese Guelfs, whom Guido had offended by his tyranny, ranged themselves under Matteo’s leadership, and by the advice of this greatly preponderating230 section of his Italian vassals231, Henry was persuaded to turn his steps early towards Milan.
He sent officers before him to prepare for his reception in the ruler’s palace, which as sovereign he expected to occupy. But he had forgotten Milan’s traditional privilege of keeping the Emperor outside her gates. Relying upon this, Guido della Torre refused to give up the palace. Nevertheless Henry proceeded on his way, and as he neared the city, the Milanese, who had heard the rumour232 of his great goodness, came forth in multitudes to meet him. At his right hand rode Matteo Visconte. The obsequious233 bearing of the Ghibelline chief contrasted strangely with the grudging234 welcome offered by the Lord of the city, who appeared last of all to greet the monarch235, and forgot to lower his standard before the Imperial Eagles. This omission236 was roughly remedied by some of the German soldiers, who seized the defiant237 banner and flung it in the mud. His pride met only a mild rebuke238 from the Emperor, who, having 83entered in state with his queen, took up his abode239 in the archiepiscopal palace. At first all went well. The Archbishop and all the other exiles were restored to their homes and possessions, and Henry made the Visconti and Torriani swear perpetual peace. The reconciliation was celebrated in the eyes of all the people by a ceremony in the Piazza240 of St. Ambrogio, where the Emperor appeared seated on a great throne, with the members of the two rival Houses placed side by side at his feet. An Imperial Vicar was appointed to keep peace in the city, and the factions in the neighbouring Communes having been pacified241 in like manner, Henry was crowned in Milan by Archbishop Cassone, amid extraordinary joy and festivity.
Not for long, however, did the lion and the lamb thus couch together. Even while the Emperor still lingered in Milan, suspicion and discontent began to seethe242 among the citizens. The old fear and hatred243 of the Empire, which still lived in the descendants of Barbarossa’s victims, was fanned by the heavy exactions of the imperial officers, who demanded an enormous sum as a coronation gift from the already exhausted244 citizens. The German troops were also a continual vexation to the people. The Torriani did all they could to foster the growing spirit of revolt. Guido and his cousin the Archbishop forgot their feud in their common desire to get rid of the Emperor, and the Visconti themselves were found ready to sympathise with the general discontent. It was rumoured245 in the imperial palace that Galeazzo Visconte and Francesco della Torre had been seen joining hands in sign of amity246 at a meeting outside the gates. But whatever the other members of his House might be doing, the Head of the Visconti sat aloof247, peacefully unconscious, apparently, of what was going forward.
Henry and his ministers grew uneasy, as the hostility 84of the city became ever more visible and menacing. At last, on a day in February, the storm burst. The whole of Milan rose suddenly in wild tumult, crowding and clamouring round their old leaders, the Torriani, who appeared with all their followers248 in full armour in the market-place. Before long Galeazzo Visconte also arrived upon the scene, mounted on his war-horse and arrayed for battle. But to the surprise and dismay of the conspirators249 he ranged himself with the imperial troops, who came charging down upon the Torriani and their disorderly host. Meanwhile, at the first sound of tumult, the Emperor, suspecting treachery, had despatched officers to arrest Matteo Visconte. They found that veteran sitting in the quiet loggia of his palace, most innocently occupied in reading a book. Hastening with them to the Court, he cast himself down before the Emperor, protesting his perfect loyalty191 and innocence250 of all offence, and offered his best services to aid in subduing251 the rebellion. The adherence252 of the Visconti was the Emperor’s salvation253. By the powerful assistance of Galeazzo and his followers, the Germans, after a brief, fierce battle, completely overcame the rebels. The Torriani perceived too late that they had been outwitted and ruined by the cunning of the rival House, on whose help they had been led to depend. Simone and Francesco, Guido’s sons, fled at a gallop254 out of the city, while the old chief himself rose with difficulty from a bed of sickness and crept over a garden wall into the precincts of a nunnery, whence he was able after a while to escape into safety. Their adherents were put to the sword, and their houses were sacked and utterly255 destroyed by the Germans, who with vindictive256 fury, swept through the streets, slaying257 and spoiling without mercy.
Thus was the power of the Della Torre in Milan for ever overthrown. The Visconti, having cleverly 85disposed of their rivals, had now to rid themselves of the Emperor, in order to regain their old sovereignty. Henry, vexed258 at the bloodshed which had already stained his fair white banner of peace, and beginning to realise the secret strength of the spirit of faction, sent Matteo and Galeazzo into exile, lest he should appear to have favoured the Ghibellines in the late affair. But the fall of the Torriani had filled the Guelfs with distrust and fear of him. He passed on his way, to find the cities of Lombardy arming against him and his task of peace-making growing more and more difficult of accomplishment259. Hardly was he gone from Milan before the Visconti returned, and in a very short time Matteo succeeded in making himself once more all-powerful. A year later the wisdom of the Milanese Serpent appeared to have completely charmed the Imperial Eagle, when in return for a timely supply of gold to support the Emperor’s enterprise, Matteo won the legal confirmation260 of his authority over the city, with the title of Imperial Vicar of Milan.
点击收听单词发音
1 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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2 faction | |
n.宗派,小集团;派别;派系斗争 | |
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3 factions | |
组织中的小派别,派系( faction的名词复数 ) | |
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4 invader | |
n.侵略者,侵犯者,入侵者 | |
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5 seething | |
沸腾的,火热的 | |
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6 warfare | |
n.战争(状态);斗争;冲突 | |
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7 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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8 strife | |
n.争吵,冲突,倾轧,竞争 | |
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9 diabolical | |
adj.恶魔似的,凶暴的 | |
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10 feudal | |
adj.封建的,封地的,领地的 | |
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11 feud | |
n.长期不和;世仇;v.长期争斗;世代结仇 | |
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12 deriving | |
v.得到( derive的现在分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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13 remains | |
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹 | |
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14 plebeians | |
n.平民( plebeian的名词复数 );庶民;平民百姓;平庸粗俗的人 | |
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15 consuls | |
领事( consul的名词复数 ); (古罗马共和国时期)执政官 (古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长,同时共有两位,每年选举一次) | |
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16 organisation | |
n.组织,安排,团体,有机休 | |
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17 magistrates | |
地方法官,治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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18 lesser | |
adj.次要的,较小的;adv.较小地,较少地 | |
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19 guilds | |
行会,同业公会,协会( guild的名词复数 ) | |
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20 uproar | |
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸 | |
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21 epoch | |
n.(新)时代;历元 | |
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22 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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23 opposition | |
n.反对,敌对 | |
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24 pretensions | |
自称( pretension的名词复数 ); 自命不凡; 要求; 权力 | |
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25 zeal | |
n.热心,热情,热忱 | |
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26 intermittent | |
adj.间歇的,断断续续的 | |
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27 inevitable | |
adj.不可避免的,必然发生的 | |
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28 supremacy | |
n.至上;至高权力 | |
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29 insignificance | |
n.不重要;无价值;无意义 | |
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30 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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31 politic | |
adj.有智虑的;精明的;v.从政 | |
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32 replenished | |
补充( replenish的过去式和过去分词 ); 重新装满 | |
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33 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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34 merged | |
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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35 armour | |
(=armor)n.盔甲;装甲部队 | |
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36 radical | |
n.激进份子,原子团,根号;adj.根本的,激进的,彻底的 | |
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37 anarchy | |
n.无政府状态;社会秩序混乱,无秩序 | |
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38 tumult | |
n.喧哗;激动,混乱;吵闹 | |
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39 aggravating | |
adj.恼人的,讨厌的 | |
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40 partisan | |
adj.党派性的;游击队的;n.游击队员;党徒 | |
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41 embroiled | |
adj.卷入的;纠缠不清的 | |
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42 exalted | |
adj.(地位等)高的,崇高的;尊贵的,高尚的 | |
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43 disorder | |
n.紊乱,混乱;骚动,骚乱;疾病,失调 | |
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44 aristocrats | |
n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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45 initiated | |
n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始,创始,启蒙,介绍加入 | |
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46 inevitably | |
adv.不可避免地;必然发生地 | |
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47 precisely | |
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地 | |
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48 outstripped | |
v.做得比…更好,(在赛跑等中)超过( outstrip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 secular | |
n.牧师,凡人;adj.世俗的,现世的,不朽的 | |
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50 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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51 compassion | |
n.同情,怜悯 | |
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52 compassionate | |
adj.有同情心的,表示同情的 | |
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53 passionate | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,激昂的,易动情的,易怒的,性情暴躁的 | |
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54 fugitives | |
n.亡命者,逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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55 disastrous | |
adj.灾难性的,造成灾害的;极坏的,很糟的 | |
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56 primate | |
n.灵长类(目)动物,首席主教;adj.首要的 | |
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57 aspired | |
v.渴望,追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58 invoked | |
v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 );行使(权利等);祈求救助;恳求 | |
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59 heresy | |
n.异端邪说;异教 | |
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60 motives | |
n.动机,目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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61 bloody | |
adj.非常的的;流血的;残忍的;adv.很;vt.血染 | |
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62 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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63 emblem | |
n.象征,标志;徽章 | |
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64 reconciliation | |
n.和解,和谐,一致 | |
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65 banished | |
v.放逐,驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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67 omen | |
n.征兆,预兆;vt.预示 | |
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68 avert | |
v.防止,避免;转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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69 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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70 instigated | |
v.使(某事物)开始或发生,鼓动( instigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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71 controversy | |
n.争论,辩论,争吵 | |
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72 eddies | |
(水、烟等的)漩涡,涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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73 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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74 foe | |
n.敌人,仇敌 | |
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75 hostility | |
n.敌对,敌意;抵制[pl.]交战,战争 | |
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76 cardinal | |
n.(天主教的)红衣主教;adj.首要的,基本的 | |
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77 elevation | |
n.高度;海拔;高地;上升;提高 | |
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78 retaliated | |
v.报复,反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79 interdict | |
v.限制;禁止;n.正式禁止;禁令 | |
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80 foes | |
敌人,仇敌( foe的名词复数 ) | |
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81 ascent | |
n.(声望或地位)提高;上升,升高;登高 | |
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82 overthrow | |
v.推翻,打倒,颠覆;n.推翻,瓦解,颠覆 | |
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83 derived | |
vi.起源;由来;衍生;导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 );(从…中)得到获得;源于;(从…中)提取 | |
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84 entrusted | |
v.委托,托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85 hereditary | |
adj.遗传的,遗传性的,可继承的,世袭的 | |
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86 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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87 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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88 devouring | |
吞没( devour的现在分词 ); 耗尽; 津津有味地看; 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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89 slew | |
v.(使)旋转;n.大量,许多 | |
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90 persistent | |
adj.坚持不懈的,执意的;持续的 | |
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91 guile | |
n.诈术 | |
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92 crafty | |
adj.狡猾的,诡诈的 | |
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93 biding | |
v.等待,停留( bide的现在分词 );居住;(过去式用bided)等待;面临 | |
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94 intrigued | |
adj.好奇的,被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式);激起…的兴趣或好奇心;“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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95 swelling | |
n.肿胀 | |
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96 monastery | |
n.修道院,僧院,寺院 | |
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97 tortuous | |
adj.弯弯曲曲的,蜿蜒的 | |
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98 overflowed | |
溢出的 | |
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99 slaughtered | |
v.屠杀,杀戮,屠宰( slaughter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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100 mangled | |
vt.乱砍(mangle的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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101 maidens | |
处女( maiden的名词复数 ); 少女; 未婚女子; (板球运动)未得分的一轮投球 | |
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102 adorned | |
[计]被修饰的 | |
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103 joyful | |
adj.欢乐的,令人欢欣的 | |
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104 ascending | |
adj.上升的,向上的 | |
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105 mendicant | |
n.乞丐;adj.行乞的 | |
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106 discomfited | |
v.使为难( discomfit的过去式和过去分词);使狼狈;使挫折;挫败 | |
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107 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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108 tattered | |
adj.破旧的,衣衫破的 | |
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109 trample | |
vt.踩,践踏;无视,伤害,侵犯 | |
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110 shrouds | |
n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 );寿衣;遮蔽物;覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 );保密 | |
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111 lashes | |
n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 );鞭子;突然猛烈的一击;急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 );煽动;紧系;怒斥 | |
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112 pangs | |
突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 ); 悲痛 | |
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113 hurl | |
vt.猛投,力掷,声叫骂 | |
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115 sects | |
n.宗派,教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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116 penitents | |
n.后悔者( penitent的名词复数 );忏悔者 | |
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117 dwellings | |
n.住处,处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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118 abounded | |
v.大量存在,充满,富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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119 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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120 inclination | |
n.倾斜;点头;弯腰;斜坡;倾度;倾向;爱好 | |
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121 fully | |
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地 | |
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122 superseding | |
取代,接替( supersede的现在分词 ) | |
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123 militia | |
n.民兵,民兵组织 | |
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124 usurpation | |
n.篡位;霸占 | |
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125 prudent | |
adj.谨慎的,有远见的,精打细算的 | |
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126 wane | |
n.衰微,亏缺,变弱;v.变小,亏缺,呈下弦 | |
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127 bestowed | |
赠给,授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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128 taxation | |
n.征税,税收,税金 | |
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129 arrogant | |
adj.傲慢的,自大的 | |
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130 banishment | |
n.放逐,驱逐 | |
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131 tumults | |
吵闹( tumult的名词复数 ); 喧哗; 激动的吵闹声; 心烦意乱 | |
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132 sedition | |
n.煽动叛乱 | |
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133 braced | |
adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 );撑牢;使自己站稳;振作起来 | |
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134 vex | |
vt.使烦恼,使苦恼 | |
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135 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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136 subdue | |
vt.制服,使顺从,征服;抑制,克制 | |
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137 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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138 kinsmen | |
n.家属,亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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139 villa | |
n.别墅,城郊小屋 | |
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140 awakened | |
v.(使)醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 );(使)觉醒;弄醒;(使)意识到 | |
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141 overthrown | |
adj. 打翻的,推倒的,倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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142 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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143 discomfiture | |
n.崩溃;大败;挫败;困惑 | |
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144 jubilee | |
n.周年纪念;欢乐 | |
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145 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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146 crest | |
n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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147 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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148 languished | |
长期受苦( languish的过去式和过去分词 ); 受折磨; 变得(越来越)衰弱; 因渴望而变得憔悴或闷闷不乐 | |
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149 adherents | |
n.支持者,拥护者( adherent的名词复数 );党羽;徒子徒孙 | |
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150 proscription | |
n.禁止,剥夺权利 | |
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151 predecessors | |
n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 );前辈;(被取代的)原有事物;前身 | |
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152 odious | |
adj.可憎的,讨厌的 | |
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153 beset | |
v.镶嵌;困扰,包围 | |
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154 prudence | |
n.谨慎,精明,节俭 | |
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155 steered | |
v.驾驶( steer的过去式和过去分词 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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156 snares | |
n.陷阱( snare的名词复数 );圈套;诱人遭受失败(丢脸、损失等)的东西;诱惑物v.用罗网捕捉,诱陷,陷害( snare的第三人称单数 ) | |
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157 invincible | |
adj.不可征服的,难以制服的 | |
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158 subtlety | |
n.微妙,敏锐,精巧;微妙之处,细微的区别 | |
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159 piety | |
n.虔诚,虔敬 | |
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160 benevolence | |
n.慈悲,捐助 | |
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161 unstable | |
adj.不稳定的,易变的 | |
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162 transmuted | |
v.使变形,使变质,把…变成…( transmute的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163 propitiated | |
v.劝解,抚慰,使息怒( propitiate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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164 concessions | |
n.(尤指由政府或雇主给予的)特许权( concession的名词复数 );承认;减价;(在某地的)特许经营权 | |
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165 lessened | |
减少的,减弱的 | |
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166 wrecked | |
adj.失事的,遇难的 | |
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167 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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168 allay | |
v.消除,减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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169 undoing | |
n.毁灭的原因,祸根;破坏,毁灭 | |
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170 durability | |
n.经久性,耐用性 | |
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171 canto | |
n.长篇诗的章 | |
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172 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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173 viper | |
n.毒蛇;危险的人 | |
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174 alienating | |
v.使疏远( alienate的现在分词 );使不友好;转让;让渡(财产等) | |
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175 partisans | |
游击队员( partisan的名词复数 ); 党人; 党羽; 帮伙 | |
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176 regain | |
vt.重新获得,收复,恢复 | |
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177 waned | |
v.衰落( wane的过去式和过去分词 );(月)亏;变小;变暗淡 | |
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178 inveterate | |
adj.积习已深的,根深蒂固的 | |
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179 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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180 resentment | |
n.怨愤,忿恨 | |
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181 alienated | |
adj.感到孤独的,不合群的v.使疏远( alienate的过去式和过去分词 );使不友好;转让;让渡(财产等) | |
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182 catastrophe | |
n.大灾难,大祸 | |
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183 deference | |
n.尊重,顺从;敬意 | |
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184 accustoming | |
v.(使)习惯于( accustom的现在分词 ) | |
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185 dispersed | |
adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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186 withdrawn | |
vt.收回;使退出;vi.撤退,退出 | |
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187 renounced | |
v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 );宣布放弃;宣布与…决裂;宣布摒弃 | |
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188 cynical | |
adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的,不信世道向善的 | |
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189 noted | |
adj.著名的,知名的 | |
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190 allied | |
adj.协约国的;同盟国的 | |
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191 loyalty | |
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
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192 dependants | |
受赡养者,受扶养的家属( dependant的名词复数 ) | |
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193 embarrassments | |
n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 );难堪;局促不安;令人难堪或耻辱的事 | |
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194 distinguished | |
adj.卓越的,杰出的,著名的 | |
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195 derisively | |
adv. 嘲笑地,嘲弄地 | |
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196 discoursing | |
演说(discourse的现在分词形式) | |
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197 envoy | |
n.使节,使者,代表,公使 | |
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198 withheld | |
withhold过去式及过去分词 | |
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199 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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200 factious | |
adj.好搞宗派活动的,派系的,好争论的 | |
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201 gauged | |
adj.校准的;标准的;量规的;量计的v.(用仪器)测量( gauge的过去式和过去分词 );估计;计量;划分 | |
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202 insinuated | |
v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 );巧妙或迂回地潜入;(使)缓慢进入;慢慢伸入 | |
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203 woes | |
困境( woe的名词复数 ); 悲伤; 我好苦哇; 某人就要倒霉 | |
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204 groaning | |
adj. 呜咽的, 呻吟的 动词groan的现在分词形式 | |
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205 languishing | |
a. 衰弱下去的 | |
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206 retaliation | |
n.报复,反击 | |
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207 anticipation | |
n.预期,预料,期望 | |
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208 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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209 imperialism | |
n.帝国主义,帝国主义政策 | |
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210 turbid | |
adj.混浊的,泥水的,浓的 | |
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211 convoked | |
v.召集,召开(会议)( convoke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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212 entreaties | |
n.恳求,乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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213 impending | |
a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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214 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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215 homage | |
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬 | |
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216 simplicity | |
n.简单,简易;朴素;直率,单纯 | |
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217 attire | |
v.穿衣,装扮[同]array;n.衣着;盛装 | |
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218 hood | |
n.头巾,兜帽,覆盖;v.罩上,以头巾覆盖 | |
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219 saluted | |
v.欢迎,致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 );赞扬,赞颂 | |
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220 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
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221 implored | |
恳求或乞求(某人)( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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222 suppliant | |
adj.哀恳的;n.恳求者,哀求者 | |
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223 recital | |
n.朗诵,独奏会,独唱会 | |
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224 meek | |
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的 | |
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225 perfidy | |
n.背信弃义,不忠贞 | |
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226 repulsed | |
v.击退( repulse的过去式和过去分词 );驳斥;拒绝 | |
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227 goodwill | |
n.善意,亲善,信誉,声誉 | |
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228 heeded | |
v.听某人的劝告,听从( heed的过去式和过去分词 );变平,使(某物)变平( flatten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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229 barons | |
男爵( baron的名词复数 ); 巨头; 大王; 大亨 | |
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230 preponderating | |
v.超过,胜过( preponderate的现在分词 ) | |
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231 vassals | |
n.奴仆( vassal的名词复数 );(封建时代)诸侯;从属者;下属 | |
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232 rumour | |
n.谣言,谣传,传闻 | |
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233 obsequious | |
adj.谄媚的,奉承的,顺从的 | |
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234 grudging | |
adj.勉强的,吝啬的 | |
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235 monarch | |
n.帝王,君主,最高统治者 | |
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236 omission | |
n.省略,删节;遗漏或省略的事物,冗长 | |
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237 defiant | |
adj.无礼的,挑战的 | |
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238 rebuke | |
v.指责,非难,斥责 [反]praise | |
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239 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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240 piazza | |
n.广场;走廊 | |
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241 pacified | |
使(某人)安静( pacify的过去式和过去分词 ); 息怒; 抚慰; 在(有战争的地区、国家等)实现和平 | |
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242 seethe | |
vi.拥挤,云集;发怒,激动,骚动 | |
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243 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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244 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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245 rumoured | |
adj.谣传的;传说的;风 | |
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246 amity | |
n.友好关系 | |
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247 aloof | |
adj.远离的;冷淡的,漠不关心的 | |
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248 followers | |
追随者( follower的名词复数 ); 用户; 契据的附面; 从动件 | |
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249 conspirators | |
n.共谋者,阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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250 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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251 subduing | |
征服( subdue的现在分词 ); 克制; 制服; 色变暗 | |
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252 adherence | |
n.信奉,依附,坚持,固着 | |
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253 salvation | |
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困 | |
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254 gallop | |
v./n.(马或骑马等)飞奔;飞速发展 | |
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255 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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256 vindictive | |
adj.有报仇心的,怀恨的,惩罚的 | |
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257 slaying | |
杀戮。 | |
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258 vexed | |
adj.争论不休的;(指问题等)棘手的;争论不休的问题;烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 );使苦恼;使生气;详细讨论 | |
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259 accomplishment | |
n.完成,成就,(pl.)造诣,技能 | |
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260 confirmation | |
n.证实,确认,批准 | |
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