I. The audacity2 of the forgery4 accounted for by the mean opinion Bracciolini had of the intelligence of men.—II. The character and tone of the last Six Books of the Annals exemplified by what is said of Sabina Poppaea, Sagitta, Pontia and Messalina.—III. A few errors that must have proceeded from Bracciolini about the Colophonian Oracle5 of Apollo Clarius, the Household Gods of the Germans, Gotarzes, Bardanes and, above all, Nineveh.—IV. The estimate taken of human nature by the writer of the Annals the same as that taken by Bracciolini.—V. The general depravity of mankind as shown in the Annals insisted upon in Bracciolini's Dialogue "De Infelicitate Principum".
I. There is a great difference between the first six books of the Annals and the last six books; the latter portion is more historical, and less biographical than the first portion: there is an obvious attempt to assimilate it as closely as possible to the work of Tacitus; and any material difference in the character of the two productions is not to be detected at a superficial glance. Hence many most intelligent readers are led astray in believing that the Annals and the History of Tacitus proceeded from the same hand, from not sufficiently7 bearing in mind that whatever a history may be, the general character must always be the same; plots and intrigues8 being alike, as well as stratagems9 and revolutions; also persons and passions: the reason is clear: man ever remains11 the same, affording the same examples of virtues12 and vices14, and carrying on wars in the same way, according to interest and ambition, while the most important events in which he plays a part resemble in having their origin from trivial causes, as rivers, even the mightiest16, take their source from insignificant17 springs.
But while nobody discerns any such material difference in the character of the Annals and the History of Tacitus as to be struck with wonder, everybody is filled with amazement18 at there being in the two works two such very different conceptions of historical composition. In the History only full light is thrown on important events and leading characters: that this may shine the brighter every common action is thrown into the shade, and every small individual passed over unmentioned. But the pages in the last six books of the Annals are crowded with incidents, great and small, and figures, good, bad and indifferent. Contrary also to Tacitus, who disposes materials in a just order, arranging those together that refer to the same thing at different times, the writer of the Annals speaks of cognate19 things, that should be associated, separately, as they occur from year to year, thus reducing his narrative20 from the height of a general history to the level of a mere21 diary.
The audacity of the forgery is here something absolutely marvellous;—and it never would have been attempted by any one who was not made of the stuff of Bracciolini: it was the stuff that makes a forger3: anyone with proper appreciation22 of men's intelligence would not have dared to do this; but, instead of regarding the majority of his kind as sagacious, or even more so than they are, and knowing much, or more than they do,—as is the case with well-disposed people,—Bracciolini, who was far from being of a benevolent23 nature, fell into the very opposite extreme, of looking upon men as remarkably24 stupid and ignorant. Nothing is more common than meeting in his works with contemptuous disparagements of his kind; he scoffs26 at human nature for its deficiency of understanding; he does not hesitate decrying27 its want of thought, as in his Essay "De Miseria Humanae Conditionis": "we must at times recollect," says he, "that we are men, silly and shallow in our nature":—"aliquando nos esse homines meminerimus, hoc est, imbecillis fragilisque naturae" (p. 130); or, "I admit the silliness of mankind to be great": "fateor—magnam esse humani generis imbecillitatem" (p. 90); or, "Knowledge is cultivated by a few on account of the general stupidity": "quoniam communi stultitia a paucis virtus colitur" (p. 9l): pretty well this for one work. Then opening his "Historia Disceptativa Convivalis," the reader lights on him sneering28 at the "shallowness and silliness of his age":—"haec fragilis atque imbecilla aetas" (p. 32). As in his elaborate and carefully conned29 works, so in his Epistles thrown off on the spur of the moment,—as when he is inviting30 his friend Bartolomeo Fazio to stay with him in Florence, he continues: "Though I have lived in this city now for a great many years, from my youth upwards31, yet every day as if a fresh resident I am overcome with amazement at the number of the remarkable32 objects, and very often am roused to enthusiasm at the sight of those public buildings which fools, from the stupidity of their understandings, speak of as erected33 by supernatural beings":—"quamvis in ea jam pluribus annis ab ipsa juventute fuerim versatus, tamen quotidie tamquam novus incola tantarum rerum admiratione obstupesco, recreoque persaepe animum visu eorum aedificiorum, quae stulti propter ingenii imbecillitatem a daemonibus facta dicunt" (Ep. IX. Bartol. Facii Epist. p. 79, Flor. Ed. 1745).
II. With such a low notion of men's intelligence and the stupidity of his age (though it was a clever one,—at least, so far as Italy was concerned, the country of which he had the closest knowledge and with which he had the most constant intercourse), it is to be expected,—quite natural, in fact, that he should have regarded lightly the difficulties he had to encounter in his endeavours to imitate Tacitus; and though he must have been thoroughly34 conscious that it was not in his power victoriously35 to surmount36 them, yet he cared not, for he did not fear detection, viewing, as he did, with such withering37 and lordly disdain38 the want of perspicacity39 which, in his fancy, characterized his species. He worked on, then, as best he could, with courage and confidence; every now and then doing things that never would have been done by Tacitus: the story, for example, of Sabina Poppaea in the 14th book; Tacitus would have surely passed it over as, though having some relation to the public, coming within the province of biography. Unquestionably, Tacitus would have rejected as strictly40 unhistorical the dark tale of murder and adultery of the tribune of the people, Sagitta, and the private woman, Pontia, which has no more to do with the historical affairs of the Romans, than a villainous case of adultery in the Divorce Court, or a monstrous41 murder tried at the Old Bailey is in any way connected with the public transactions of Great Britain. [Endnote 231]
What history, then, we have in the last six books of the Annals does not remind us in its character of the history taken note of by Tacitus.
The tone and treatment, too, are not his.
The Jesuit, Réné Rapin, in his Comparisons of the Great Men of Antiquity42 (Réflexions sur l'Histoire, p. 211), may, with a violent seizure43 of ecstacy, fall, like a genuine Frenchman, into a fit of enthusiasm over the description, as "exquisite44 in delicacy45 and elegance46" ("tout y est décrit dans une délicatesse et dans une élégance exquise" says he), of the lascivious47 dancing of Messalina and her wanton crew of Terpsichorean48 revellers when counterfeiting49 the passions and actions of the phrenzied women-worshippers of Bacchus celebrating a vintage in the youth of the world, when the age was considered to be as good as gold: the gay touches in the lively picture may be introduced with sufficient warmth to enrapture50 the chaste51 Jesuit priest, and judiciously52 enough to contrast boldly with the dreadful, tragic53 details of the shortly ensuing death of the Empress; but they are not circumstances that would have ever emanated54 with their emotional particularities from the solemn soul of Tacitus. The passage is only another powerful proof how absolutely ineffectual was the attempt of Bracciolini to render history after the style of the stern, majestic55 Roman.
III. Every now and then, too, the most extraordinary errors with respect to facts cannot be explained by the hypothesis that Tacitus wrote the Annals; for there could not have been such deviations56 from truth on the part of any Roman who lived in the time of the first Caesars: on the other hand, the errors are just of the character which makes it look uncommonly57 as if they were the unhappy blunders of a mediaeval or Renaissance58 writer such as Bracciolini. An instance or two will best illustrate59 what is meant.
In the Twelfth Book Lollia Paulina is made to consult the Colophonian Oracle of Apollo Clarius respecting the nuptials61 of the Emperor Claudius: "interrogatumque Apollinis Clarii simulacrum super nuptiis Imperatoris" (An. XII. 22). How could this be? when Strabo, who lived in the time of Augustus, tells us that in his day that oracle no longer existed, only the fame of it, for his words are: "the grove62 of Apollo Clarius, in which there used to be the ancient oracle":—[Greek: "alsos tou Klariou Apollonos, en ho kai manteion aen pote palaion"] (XIV. I. 27). This is quite convincing that Tacitus could not have written those words.
There is another reason against Tacitus having made the statement: he must have been aware from personal knowledge that his countrymen obtained all their oracular responses from water. Bracciolini might have known that this custom prevailed among the Romans during the time of the Caesars, had he consulted Lucian's Alexander or Pseudomantis, Melek (better known as Porphyry), and, above all, Jamblicus, who, in his book upon Egyyptian, Chaldaean and Assyrian Mysteries, speaks (III. 11) of the habit among the Romans of "interpreting the divine will by water": [Greek: di hudatos chraematizesthai], and explains the manner how, "for in a subterraneous temple" (by which, I presume, Jamblicus means a "sanctified cave or grotto") there was a fountain, from which the augur63 drank," [Greek: einai gar paegaen en oiko katageio, kai ap autaes pinein ton prophaetaen.] How can we believe that Tacitus was ignorant of such an ordinary native ceremony, and one, too, that must have come repeatedly within his ken6?
Another error is, apparently64, very trifling65, but it becomes quite startling when we are to suppose that it was made by Tacitus, an accepted authority upon the people in question,—the ancient Germans of the first century of our aera:—that people who (according to Sanson's Maps and Geographical66 Tables) inhabited what was then known as "Germany," namely, the country between the Danube and the Rhine, with Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the western portion of Poland and some part of the kingdom of Hungary,—are represented as having HOUSEHOLD GODS, for we are told that if Italicus had had the spirit of his father (Flavius, brother of Armin), he would have done what his parent did, wage war more rancorously than any man, against his country and his "Household Gods"; "Si paterna Italico mens esset, non alium infensius coutra patriam ac Deos Penates, quam parentes ejus exercuisse" (An. XV. 16). Into this mistake Tacitus could not possibly have fallen, from being thoroughly acquainted with the manners of the Germans, as he has shown in his work on that subject: he knew that that people had only one set of gods whom they worshipped publicly in sacred groves67 and woods, but none corresponding to the Roman Dei Penetrales, privately68 worshipped at home.
We have read scarcely more than a page from the commencement of that portion of the Annals where the forgery began,—the Eleventh Book,—before we find that a mistake is made about Gotarzes being the brother of Artabanus: for he is described as having "compounded poison for the particular purpose of killing69 his 'brother' Artabanus and his wife and son": "necem fratri Artabano conjugique ac filio ejus praeparaverat" (An. XI. 8). Artabanus was the father, as may be seen in Josephus: "not long after Artabanus died, leaving his kingdom to his son Vardanes: [Greek: "Met' ou polun de chronon Artabanos telueta, taen Basileian to paidi Ouardanae katalipon"] (Antiq. Jud. XX. 3, 4 in init). Vardanes (according to Josephus), but (according to other writers) Bardanes was the brother of Gotarzes; as was known to Bracciolini who speaks of "Gotarzes revealing to his brother," meaning Bardanes, "a conspiracy70 of their countrymen which had been disclosed to him": "cognitis popularium insidiis, quas Gotarzes fratri patefecerat" (An. XI. 9). It cannot be said that Bracciolini was unacquainted with Josephus; for he follows him closely in the last six books of the Annals; further he mentions him in his letters, for he says that he has been "a long while waiting for his works," (to make use of them in his forgery): "Jamdiu expectavi Josephi libros," &c. (Ep. III. 28): his memory, notwithstanding, entirely71 failed him with respect to the passage in question, or else he paid no heed72 to it.
While he makes this misstatement about Gotarzes and Artabanus he falls into another blunder with respect to Bardanes: he circumscribes73 the limit of his reign74 to less than one twelvemonth,—the year when the Secular75 Games were celebrated76 which, according to his own account, was the year 800 from the Foundation of Rome, or the year 47 of the Christian77 Aera ("Ludi Saeculares octingesimo post Romam conditam … spectati sunt." An. XI. 11).
Soon after his accession Bardanes, (according to the narrative we have of him in the Annals), found a rebel in his brother Gotarzes, who waged war against him, defeated him, and, gaining his kingdom, had him assassinated79 by a body of Parthians, who "killed him in his very earliest youth while he was engaged in hunting and not anticipating any harm:" "incautum venationique intentum interfecere primam intra juventam" (An. XI. 10). All these circumstances are made to occur in such rapid succession to each other that they occupied only one year, if so much; for they are all shown as taking place during the consulship81 of Valerius Asiaticus and Valerius Messalla.
Now let the reader turn to the Life of Apollonius of Tyana by Philostratus. He will there see that the Magician of Cappadocia on his arrival in Babylon was told that Bardanes had been reigning82 two years and as many months; Apollonius stopped in the palace of the king twenty months; then he started on a tour to India; he travelled about the Asiatic Peninsula for a considerable time; next he went on a visit to the Brahmins with whom he staid four months; after that he returned to Babylon, where he found Bardanes as he had left him, still king and in the enjoyment83 of excellent health. It is necessary that I should substantiate84 this by extracts from Philostratus. In a conversation with one of the king's courtiers Apollonius asks the question: "What year that was since Bardanes had recovered his kingdom?" and received the reply that it was "the third, two months of which they had already reached": [Greek: "poston de dae touto etos tae anaktaetheisae archae; pritou, ephae, haptometha duo aedae pou maenes"] (I. 28): in another conversation with Damis Apollonius says that he "is off to India"; that he has been staying at the court "already a year and four months"; though "the king will not let him take his departure until the completion of the eighth month": [Greek: age, o Dami, es Indous iomen … eniautos gar haemin aedae, kai tettares … oude anaesei haemas … ho Basilaeus proteron, ae ton ogdoon telesai maena]: the biographer then speaking of the visit to the Brahmins, says that Apollonius spent four months with them": [Greek: maenon tettaron ekei diatripsanti]: and "on his return to Babylon he found Bardanes as he had left him," that is, on the throne and in the enjoyment of health: [Greek: es Babylona … anapleusai para ton Ouardanon, kai tuchontes auton oion egignoskon] (III. 58).
We have proof positive here that Bardanes sat on the throne of Babylon for at least four years and a half; quite contrary to the account in the Annals. Philostratus is generally regarded as a most reliable writer of antiquity; we may be, therefore, tolerably certain, from the look out given us in the pages of the historian of Lemnos, that Bardanes did not die, as we are told in the Annals, in his earliest youth by assassination85 after a short reign of less than one year, but that he reigned86 long, lived to a good old age, and died a natural death.
One more example of this kind, which almost seems to bring home the forgery to Bracciolini; and then we will pass on to other matters (for the present).
Nowhere in his works do I find that Bracciolini makes any reference to Lucian or Strabo, or even mentions their names. I think if he had read them, he would have known better than to have spoken of Nineveh being in existence in the reign of the Emperor Claudius, because this is the reverse of what we are told by Lucian and Strabo. For all that, we hear in the Annals of troops "along their march capturing the City of Nineveh, that most ancient capital of Assyria": "Capta in transitu urbis Ninos vetustissima sedes Assyriae" (An. XII. 13). In Lucian's amusing Dialogue, entitled "Charon," when Mercury points out the tomb of Achilles on Cape87 Sigaeum and that of Ajax on the Rhoetaean promontory88, Charon wants to see Nineveh, with Troy, Babylon, Mycenae, and Cleone, the following being the conversation; "I want to point out to you," says Mercury, "the tomb of Achilles: you see it on the sea? That's Cape Sigaeum in the Troad: and on the Rhoetaean promontory opposite Ajax is buried. CHAR1. Those tombs, O Hermes, are no great sights. Rather point out to me those renowned89 cities, of which I have heard below,—Nineveh, the capital of Sardanapalus, Babylon, Mycenae, Cleone and that famous Troy, on account of which I remember ferrying across there such numbers that for ten whole years my skiff was never high and dry and never caught cold," (that being Charon's fun, according to Lucian's conception, in conveying that all that long time his boat was in the water (hence "catching90 cold") from being perpetually used: [Greek: "Thelo soi deixai ton tou Achilleos taphon, horas ton epi tae thalattae; Sigeion men ekeino to Troikon, antikru de ho Aias tethattai en to Rhoiteio. CHAR. Ou megaloi, o Hermae, oi taphoi tas poleis de tas episaemous deixon moi aedae, has kato akouomen taen Ninon taen Sardanapalou, kai Babulona, kai Mukaenas, kai Kleonas, kai taen Ilion autaen, pollous goun memnaemai diaporthmensas ekeithen, hos deka oloneon maede neolkaesai, maede diapsuxai to skaphidion."] The reply that then follows of Mercury shows that not a remnant was left of Nineveh in the very ancient time of Croesus, and that nobody even then knew of its site: "Nineveh, O Ferryman, is quite destroyed, and not a trace of it is left now, nor can you tell where it used to be": [Greek: "Hae Minos men, o porthmen, apololen aedae, kai ouden ichnos eti loipon autaes oud an eipois hopou pot' ae"] (Charon 23). Strabo says the same with respect to the destruction of Nineveh: "The city of Nineveh was thereupon demolished91 simultaneously92 with the overthrowal of the Syrians: [Greek: Hae men oun Ninos polis aephanisthae parachraema meta taen ton Suron katalusin"] (XVI. I.3), —though to speak of the inhabitants as "Syrians," at such a juncture94 is hardly correct language on the part of Strabo; it should have been "Assyrians," if Justin is right in saying that that people only took the name of Syrians after their empire was at an end: "for thirteen hundred years," says he, "did the Assyrians, who were afterwards called the Syrians, retain their empire": "Imperium Assyrii, qui postea Syri dicti sunt, mille trecentis annis tenuere" (Justin I. 2).
Had Bracciolini been acquainted with these things, they would have made such an impression upon his mind that he could never have forgotten them. But as he wrote ancient history in the fifteenth century, and did not know what Lucian and Strabo had said of Nineveh, he took as an authority for his statement a most indifferent historian who flourished towards the close of the fourth century of our aera, Ammianus Marcellinus; for I know of nobody but Marcellinus, who makes this statement; nor is there likely to be anybody else, because the statement is ridiculous. It will be remembered that Bracciolini recovered the work of Ammianus Marcellinus: it is then reasonable to presume that he had read, if not studied his history. Indeed, there can be very little doubt that it was Marcellinus who misled him: for when he was setting about the forgery and importunately95 soliciting96 Niccoli to supply him with books for that purpose in the autumn of 1423, Ammianus Marcellinus was one of these authorities: in the letter dated the 6th of November that year, he says he was "glad that his friend had done with Marcellinus, and would be still more glad if he would send him the book": "Gratum est mihi te absolvisse Marcellinum, idque gratius si me librum miseris" (Ep. II. 7). We may be certain the book, being "done with" by Niccoli, was sent to him on account of the importance of his having it, for the carrying out of his undertaking97; thus he makes Tacitus commit the same mistake as Marcellinus committed,—that Nineveh was in existence in the time of the Roman Emperors: "In Adiabena is the city of Nineveh, which in olden time had possessed98 an extensive portion of Persia"; "In Adiabena Ninus EST civitas quae olim Persidis magna possederat" (XXIII. 6). Tacitus lived a good three hundred years before that historical epitomist99 of not much note or weight; and could not, on his authority, have been dragged, like his "discoverer" and student, Bracciolini, into this monstrous error.
IV. But it is in the estimate of human nature, and the invariable disparagement25 pervading100 the delineation101 of the character of every individual, in the last six books of the Annals, that the Italian hand of Bracciolini is unmistakably detected, and the Roman hand of Tacitus not at all traceable. Shakespeare makes Iago say of himself: "I am nothing if not critical,"—meaning censorious. Bracciolini might have said the same of himself. He was never so much "at home," (by which I mean that he never seemed to have been so completely "happy"), as when lashing102 the anti-pope Felix, Filelfo, Valla, George of Trebizond, Guarino of Verona, or some other great literary rival of whose fame he was jealous; carping at others, whose intellectual attainments103 were at all commensurate to his own, and accusing of foul104 enormities persons who were possessors of rhetorical merit, as he accused the "Fratres Observantiae," for no other reason that one can see except that those interlopers in the monastic order (the "Brothers of Observance" being a new branch of the Franciscans) preached capital sermons.
There is no getting at any insight as to his nature from the biographies of him; they are all such faint and imperfect sketches105: we learn nothing of him from that curiosity of literature, L'Enfant's astonishing performance, "Poggiana"—in which the pages and the blunders contend for supremacy106 in number, and the blunders get it,—nor from that bald, cold business, entitled "Vita Poggii," which Recanati, flinging aside brilliancy and clinging fast to fidelity107 in facts and plainness of speech, prefixed to his edition of Bracciolini's "Historia Florentina," published at Venice in 1715, and which Muratori, sixteen years after, reprinted at Milan along with the said "History of Florence, in the 20th volume of his "Rerum Italicarum Scriptores;"—nor from the Rev10. William Shepherd's innocent affair, "The Life of Poggio Bracciolini"; but the deficiencies of the biographers have been supplied by a true man of genius, Poliziano, who has hit off his character in a noun substantive108 and an adjective in the superlative. In his History of the Pazzi and Salviati Conspiracy against Lorenzo de' Medici,—which plot to overthrow93 the government Bracciolini's third son, Jacopo, joined, and was hanged for his pains in front of the first floor windows of that Prince's palace,—Poliziano says that Jacopo Bracciolini was "specially109 remarkable for calumny110," in which respect," adds the historian, "he was exactly like his father, who was a MOST CALUMNIOUS111 MAN:"—"Ejus praecipua in maledicendo virtus, in qua vel patrem HOMINEM MALEDICENTISSIMUM referebat" (Politiani Opera, p. 637).
Such being the character of Bracciolini, I may glance aside for a moment to observe that nothing can be more incongruous than that his statue, which his countrymen originally placed in the portico112 of the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (because he had praised them in his history of their city and abused all foreigners), should have been transferred in 1560 by the reigning Duke of Tuscany into the interior of the sacred building and placed among the figures of the Twelve Apostles, where it still remains, the ungodly "Poggio" forming a grotesque113 portion of the saintly group.
If the son was such an exact counterpart of the father in evil- speaking, as borne testimony114 to by that admirable and accurate historian, Poliziano, it follows that Bracciolini confirmed by his tongue and pen the words put by Shakespeare into the mouth of the Duke in "Measure for Measure":
"Back-wounding calumny
The whitest virtue13 strikes: What king so strong
Can tie the gall115 up in a slanderous117 tongue?"
Indeed, if faith is to be placed in what Poliziano says, then Bracciolini was, like Thersites in the Iliad, a "systematic118 calumniator119 of kings and princes, while at the same time he must have indiscriminately inveighed120 against the characters of private individuals, run down the productions of all learned men, and, in fact, vilified121 everybody"; for that is exactly the estimate formed of him by Poliziano:—"Semper ille aut principes insectari passim, aut in mores122 hominum sine ullo discrimine invehi, aut eujusque docti scripta lacessere: nemini parcere" (Polit. Op. 1. c.).
If this was, really, the distinguishing characteristic of Bracciolini, we have then another very strong point in evidence that he forged the Annals, for the spirit of detraction123 stands forth124 in the boldest relief on every page of that production. From the beginning to the end of the last six books (with which we are at present dealing125, as we shall hereafter deal separately with the first six books), there is scarcely such a thing as a good man. Now though we are all perfectly126 conscious of our shortcomings and those of our kind, so that we spontaneously acknowledge the truthfulness127 of the smart, though not altogether decorous remark of Ovid's, that "if Jupiter were to strike men with lightning as often as they committed sins, he would in a short time be without his thunderbolts":—
"Si quoties peccant homines, sua fulmina mittat
Jupiter, exiguo tempore inermis erit;"
there is, nevertheless, no necessity for exaggerating those faults with the persistency128 met with in the Annals. Scandal without contradiction is admitted of all persons who are either thought good or who act properly. Every infamous129 slander116 is accepted that is cast on the eminent130 statesman and philosopher, Seneca (XIII. 20 and 42.—XIV. 52-3). Piso, who has the reputation of being a good man, is described as a hypocrite, pretending to have virtues (XV. 48). Fenius Rufus draws no gain nor advantage from his office of superintendent131 of the stores (XIV. 51), and is held in general esteem132 for his course of life (XIV. 51.—XV. 50); but he is described as immeasurably severe (XV. 58), harsh towards his associates (ib.), and wanting in spirit (XV. 61). Sylla's innocence133 is ascribed to despicable pusillanimity134 and cowardice135 (XIII. 47). Corbulo, though he took "the shortest route," and "sped his march day and night without intermission" (XV. 12), to relieve Poetus when distressed136 from the approach of Vologeses and the Parthian army, is said, contrary to these statements, to "have made no great haste in order that he might gain more praise from bringing relief when the danger had increased" (XV. 10). Because Flavius, the brother of the German hero, Armin, takes up his abode137 in Rome, he is accused of being a "spy." (XI. 16). This is, certainly, the writing of a malicious138, altogether spiteful man,—a man, too, irrational139 in his calumny,—revelling, in short, in the spirit of detraction.
V. It is, of course, (if there be any truth in the present theory), a thing by no means strange, but, on the contrary, to be thoroughly expected, when this temper and turn of mind are strongly enforced by Bracciolini in his Dialogue "De Infelicitate Principum"; his friend, Niccoli, one of the interlocutors, when asked "why he was more prone140 to blame than praise," replies that "there was no difficulty at all in giving an explanation, because he had been taught it by the experience of advanced age and the antecedents of a long life: he had too often been wrong in praising men, because he had found them worse than he had thought them; yet he had never been wrong when he had abused them, for there was such a multitude of rogues141 amongst men, such an amount of vices and crimes, such a superabundance of hypocrites, from people preferring to seem rather than be good, so many who threw such a veil of honesty over their rascalities, that it was perilous142, and akin80 to falsehood, to bestow143 laudation on anybody." "'Cur in vituperando sis quam in laudando proclivior.' 'Hoc facile est ad explicandum,' Nicolaus inquit, 'quod longa aetas et ante acta vita me docuit. Nam in laudandis hominibus saepius deceptus sum, cum hi deteriores essent quam existimarem, in vituperandis vero nunquam me fefellit opinio. Tanta enim inter15 homines versatur improborum copia,—ita sceleribus omnia inficiuntur, ita hypocritae superabundant, qui videri quam esse boni malunt,—ita quilibet sua vitia aliquo honesti velamento tegit, ut periculosum sit et mendacio proximum quempiam laudare'" (Pog. Op. 394). Though these words are ascribed to his friend Niccoli, they exactly expressed his own sentiments, as may be seen in the letter to his friend, Bartolommeo Fazio, from which we have already quoted, where he speaks of himself as being "always excessively averse144 to the language of praise," and further reproves it as "a species of vice":—"non adulandi causa loquor, nam abfuit a me longissime semper id vitii genus" (Ep. IX. Bartol. Facii Epistol).
In that strongly expressed sentiment of the world being filled with so many knaves145 that it was dangerous, and all but destructive of truth, to believe in honesty, we have the keynote to the whole of the Annals; and the last six books are marked by a universal cynical146 disbelief in human honesty; for from the first character, Asiaticus, who is accused of every kind of corruption147 and abomination (XI. 2), down to Egnatius, with his perfidy148, treachery, avarice149, lust60, and superficial virtues (XVI. 32), all are patterns of the vices, few, except the aged78 Thrasea, being bright examples of virtue. I have no doubt this description of the general depravity of Adam's descendants, the dwelling150 on which was so delectable151 to the disposition152 of Bracciolini, was a very correct portraiture153 of the human race in the fifteenth century, when, in Italy especially, and, above all, in Rome, the light from the lamp of Diogenes was, I suspect, very much wanted to find an honest man.
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4
forgery
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| n.伪造的文件等，赝品，伪造（行为） | |
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5
oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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6
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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7
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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8
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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9
stratagems
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| n.诡计，计谋( stratagem的名词复数 )；花招 | |
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10
rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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11
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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12
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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13
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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14
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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15
inter
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| v.埋葬 | |
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16
mightiest
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| adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 )；巨大的；强有力的；浩瀚的 | |
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17
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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18
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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19
cognate
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| adj.同类的，同源的，同族的；n.同家族的人，同源词 | |
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20
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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21
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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22
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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23
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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24
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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25
disparagement
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| n.轻视，轻蔑 | |
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26
scoffs
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的第三人称单数 ) | |
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27
decrying
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| v.公开反对，谴责( decry的现在分词 ) | |
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28
sneering
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| 嘲笑的，轻蔑的 | |
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29
conned
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| adj.被骗了v.指挥操舵( conn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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31
upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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32
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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33
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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34
thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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35
victoriously
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| adv.获胜地，胜利地 | |
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36
surmount
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| vt.克服；置于…顶上 | |
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37
withering
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| 使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的 | |
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38
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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39
perspicacity
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| n. 敏锐, 聪明, 洞察力 | |
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40
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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41
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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42
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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43
seizure
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| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
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44
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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45
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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46
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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47
lascivious
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| adj.淫荡的，好色的 | |
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48
terpsichorean
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| adj.舞蹈的；n.舞蹈家 | |
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49
counterfeiting
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| n.伪造v.仿制，造假( counterfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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50
enrapture
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| v.使狂喜，使高兴 | |
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51
chaste
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| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
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52
judiciously
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| adv.明断地，明智而审慎地 | |
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53
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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54
emanated
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| v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的过去式和过去分词 )；产生，表现，显示 | |
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55
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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56
deviations
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| 背离，偏离( deviation的名词复数 )； 离经叛道的行为 | |
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57
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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58
renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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59
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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60
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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61
nuptials
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| n.婚礼；婚礼( nuptial的名词复数 ) | |
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62
grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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63
augur
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| n.占卦师；v.占卦 | |
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64
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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65
trifling
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| adj.微不足道的；没什么价值的 | |
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66
geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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67
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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68
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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69
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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70
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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71
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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72
heed
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| v.注意，留意；n.注意，留心 | |
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73
circumscribes
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| v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的第三人称单数 )；划定…范围；限制；限定 | |
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74
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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75
secular
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|
| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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76
celebrated
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|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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77
Christian
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|
| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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78
aged
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|
| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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79
assassinated
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|
| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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80
akin
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|
| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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81
consulship
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| 领事的职位或任期 | |
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82
reigning
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| adj.统治的，起支配作用的 | |
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83
enjoyment
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|
| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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84
substantiate
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| v.证实；证明...有根据 | |
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85
assassination
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|
| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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86
reigned
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|
| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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87
cape
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|
| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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88
promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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89
renowned
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| adj.著名的，有名望的，声誉鹊起的 | |
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90
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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91
demolished
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|
| v.摧毁( demolish的过去式和过去分词 )；推翻；拆毁（尤指大建筑物）；吃光 | |
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92
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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93
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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94
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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95
importunately
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96
soliciting
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| v.恳求( solicit的现在分词 )；（指娼妇）拉客；索求；征求 | |
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97
undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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98
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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99
epitomist
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| n.写节录者，写摘要者 | |
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100
pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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101
delineation
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| n.记述；描写 | |
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102
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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103
attainments
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| 成就，造诣； 获得( attainment的名词复数 )； 达到； 造诣； 成就 | |
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104
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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105
sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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106
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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107
fidelity
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| n.忠诚，忠实；精确 | |
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108
substantive
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| adj.表示实在的；本质的、实质性的；独立的；n.实词，实名词；独立存在的实体 | |
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109
specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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110
calumny
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| n.诽谤，污蔑，中伤 | |
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111
calumnious
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| adj.毁谤的，中伤的 | |
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112
portico
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| n.柱廊，门廊 | |
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113
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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114
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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115
gall
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| v.使烦恼，使焦躁，难堪；n.磨难 | |
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116
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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117
slanderous
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| adj.诽谤的，中伤的 | |
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118
systematic
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| adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的 | |
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119
calumniator
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| n.中伤者，诽谤者 | |
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120
inveighed
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| v.猛烈抨击，痛骂，谩骂( inveigh的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
vilified
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| v.中伤，诽谤( vilify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122
mores
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| n.风俗，习惯，民德，道德观念 | |
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123
detraction
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| n.减损；诽谤 | |
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124
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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125
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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126
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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127
truthfulness
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| n. 符合实际 | |
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128
persistency
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|
| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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129
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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130
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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131
superintendent
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| n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长 | |
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132
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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133
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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134
pusillanimity
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| n.无气力，胆怯 | |
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135
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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136
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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137
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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139
irrational
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| adj.无理性的，失去理性的 | |
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140
prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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141
rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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142
perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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143
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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144
averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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145
knaves
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| n.恶棍，无赖( knave的名词复数 )；（纸牌中的）杰克 | |
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146
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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corruption
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| n.腐败，堕落，贪污 | |
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148
perfidy
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| n.背信弃义，不忠贞 | |
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149
avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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150
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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151
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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152
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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153
portraiture
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| n.肖像画法 | |
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