BOOKS OF THE ANNALS.
I. The descriptive powers of Bracciolini and Tacitus.—II. The different mode of writing of both.—III. Their different manners of digressing.—IV. Two Statements in the Fourth Book of the Annals that could not have been made by Tacitus.—V. The spirit of the Renaissance1 shown in both parts of the Annals.—VI. That both parts proceeded from the same hand shown in the writer pretending to know the feelings of the characters in the narrative2.—VII. The contradictions in the two parts of the Annals and in the works of Bracciolini.—VIII. The Second Florence MS. a forgery3.—IX. Conclusion.
I. The graphic4 powers possessed5 by Tacitus and Bracciolini were considerably6 influenced by their respective characters, which were widely different: no one can read the works of Tacitus, and not come to the conclusion that he was unassuming; whereas no one can read the works of Bracciolini, without being struck by his inordinate7 vanity, no matter what he maybe doing, describing the Ruins of Rome, discoursing8 on the Unhappiness of Princes, moralizing on Avarice9 or wailing10 in rhetorical magniloquence over the remains11 of friends: still he displays himself for admiration12. The same thing occurs throughout the Annals. From the first to the last the author stands before his reader on account of the extraordinary manner of his narrative which is ever filling one with surprize from Emperors and Generals, like Tiberius and Germanicus, weeping like Homer's heroes, and Queens and captive women, like Boadicea and the wife of Armin, exhibiting none of the frailties13 of their sex, being above the timorous14 passions, and not shedding a tear even when they are made prisoners, but conducting themselves with all the insolence15 of conquerors16. Roman knights17 and senators, of the stamp of Lucanus, Senecio and Quinctianus (XV. 49-57) betray the dearest pledges they have in blood and friendship, while slaves, and wantons such as Epicharis, undergo the fury of stripes and tortures to protect those not bound to them by ties of kindred and not even personally known to them. Not only do we find the heroic in malefactors and the criminal in heroes;—the spirited where we expect to come across the sordid18, and the mean where we look for the grand, but the supernatural and magical mingle19 with the real and practical;—the sound of trumpets20 comes from hills where it is known there are no musical instruments; shrieks21 of departed ghosts issue from the tombs of mothers; incidents by sea and land are accompanied by wonderfully sublime22 circumstances; shipwrecks24 have whatever make up such scenes in their worst appearances.
The whole of this proceeds from Bracciolini indulging his fancy in a latitude25 which is denied the historian, and allowed only to the poet; hence he sometimes carries circumstances to bounds that border upon extravagance. Tacitus, on the other hand, always maintains his dignity; holding command over his fancy he carries circumstances to their due length, and only to their due extent.
This will be seen in the passages which I shall now select to illustrate26 the correctness of this remark; and beginning with Bracciolini, I will take his account of a marine27 disaster in the second book of the Annals.
The picture opens with a scene of beauty: "a thousand ships propelled by creaking oars28 or flapping sails float over a calm sea: all of a sudden a hailstorm bursts from a circular rack of clouds: simultaneously29 billows rolling to uncertain heights before shifting squalls that blow from every quarter shut out the view and impede30 navigation: the soldiers, in their alarm and knowing nothing of the dangers of the deep, get in the way of the sailors, or rendering31 services not required, undo32 the work of the skilful33 seaman34: from this point the whole welkin and the whole sea are given up to a hurricane that rages from an enormous mass of clouds sweeping35 down from the swelling36 hilltops and deep rivers of Germany: the hurricane made more dreadful by freezing blasts from the neighbouring North, lays hold of the ships which it scatters38 into the open ocean or among islands perilous39 with precipitous cliffs or hidden shoals; the fleet, narrowly escaping shipwreck23 among them, is borne onwards, after the change of tide, in the direction whither the wind is blowing."
The reader is now left to the resources of his imagination; he has to supply a missing link in the chain of the description,—the mooring41 of the ships; though how or where that could be done it is impossible to conceive; we are, nevertheless, told that the vessels42 "cannot hold by their anchors"—("non adhaerere anchoris … poterant"), "nor draw off the water that rushes into them. Horses, beasts of burden, baggage and even arms are thrown overboard to lighten the hulls43 with their leaking sides and seas breaking over them."
Here the terrible character of the calamity44 is poetically45 heightened by the writer observing that, "though there might be greater tempests in other parts of the Ocean, and Germany was unsurpassed for its convulsions of the elements, yet this disaster was worse than those for the novelty and magnitude of its dangers —the surrounding shores being inhabited by enemies, and the sea so boundless47 and unfathomable that it was taken to be without a shore, and the last in the world": whence we way infer that the ships had got well out into the Atlantic, which must have presented to the eyes of the Romans pretty much the same appearance that it presented to Bracciolini's contemporaries, the English, Flemings and Spaniards, when, sailing for days together out of sight of land, they were making their way for the first time to (in the language in the Annals) "islands situated48 a very long way off":—"insulas longius sitas",—Madeira, the Azores and the Canaries.
On such far-away islands described as deserted49, "the majority of the ships are cast ashore50, the remainder having foundered51 in the deep; there the soldiers, deprived of the means of existence, perish from starvation, except those who survive by eating the dead horses that are thrown up on the sands"; though it is beyond the reach of the mind to conjecture52 whence the dead horses could have come after such a description.
"Germanicus, whose galley53 alone is saved by being thrown on the country of the Chauci, roams about the rocky coast and promontories54 all those days and nights, bitterly blaming himself as the guilty cause of the mighty55 catastrophe56, and is with difficulty prevented by his friends from casting himself into the sea, and thus putting an end to a life made miserable58 by such self-accusation. At length the swell37 subsides59; a favourable60 breeze springs up; the shattered ships return, with few oars and garments spread for sails; some are towed by others more efficient; these being hastily repaired are sent to search the distant islands; by these means several" of the surviving soldiers "are with great pains recovered; the Angrivarii, newly received into alliance with the Romans, return others, who had found their way into the interior of their country; and the petty British princes send back the remainder who had been cast upon their shores." Thus all ends as happily as a comedy; everybody and everything are saved; men and ships return: meanwhile Bracciolini has entertained his reader with a pretty, exciting episode, (what British sailors call "a yarn"), without making himself absolutely ridiculous by placing on record that the Romans in the days of Tiberius lost "a thousand ships"; though he certainly gives credit to his reader for considerable credulity by inviting62 him to believe that the Romans at any time ever had a fleet amounting to such an enormous number of vessels. [Endnote 401]
"Ac primo placidum aequor mille navium remis strepere, aut velis impelli: mox atro nubium globo effusa grando, simul variis undique procellis incerti fluctus prospectum adimere, regimen impedire: milesque pavidus, et casuum maris ignarus, dum turbat nautas, vel intempestive juvat, officia prudentium corrumpebat. omne dehine coelum, et mare63 omne in austrum cessit, qui tumidis Germaniae terris, profundis amnibus, immenso nubium tractu validus, et rigore vicini septemtrionis horridior, rapuit disjecitque naves64 in aperta Oceani, aut insulas saxis abruptis vel per occulta vada infestas. quibus paulum aegreque vitatis, postquam mutabat aestus, eodemque quo ventus ferebat; non adhaerere anchoris, non exhaurire inrumpentis undas poterant: equi, jumenta, sarcinae, etiam arma praecipitantur, quo levarentur alvei manantes per latera, et fluctu superurgente.
"Quanto violentior cetero mari Oceanus, et truculentia coeli praestat Germania, tantum illa clades novitate et magnitudine excessit, hostilibus circum litoribus, aut ita vasto et profundo, ut credatur novissimum ac sine terris, mari. pars65 navium haustae sunt; plures, apud insulas longius sitas ejectae: milesque, nullo illic hominum cultu, fame absumptus, nisi quos corpora equorum eodem elisa toleraverant. sola Germanici triremis Chaucorum terram adpulit, quem per omnes illos dies noctesque apud scopulos et prominentis oras, cum se tanti exitii reum clamitaret, vix cohibuere amici, quo minus eodem mari oppeteret. Tandem66 relabente aestu, et secundante vento, claudae naves raro remigio, aut intentis vestibus, et quaedam a validioribus tractae, revertere: quas raptim refectas misit, ut scrutarentur insulas. collecti ea cura plerique: multos Angrivarii nuper in fidem accepti, redemptos ab interioribus reddidere: quidam in Britanniam rapti, et remissi a regulis" (An. II. 24, 25).
We have no means of testing by minute and accurate comparison the descriptive powers which Tacitus possessed in dealing67 with such a subject, because he has no account of a marine disaster in any of his works. We must then do the next best we can, see how he deals with a military calamity,—for, though in the account we are about to give, the Romans had been victorious68, we must remember the sentiment of the Duke of Wellington, that next to a defeat there is nothing so miserable as a victory. The passage we shall give is that of the visit of Vitellius to the plains of Bedriacum forty days after a battle had been fought and a victory had been won by the Romans.
"Thence Vitellius turned aside to Cremona, and, after he had seen Caecina's contest of gladiators, longed to visit the plains of Bedriacum, and view the field where a victory had been lately won. Horrible and ghastly spectacle! Forty days after the battle,—and the mangled69 bodies, lacerated limbs and putrefying corpses70 of men and horses,—the ground stained with gore,—the trees and the corn levelled;—what a dismal71 devastation72!—nor less painful the part of the road which the people of Cremona,—as if they were the subjects of a king,—had strewn with roses and laurels73, altars they had raised and victims they had slain,—signs of gratulation for the moment, which very soon afterwards occasioned their destruction. Valens and Caecina were there, and told the points of the battle:—'Here the columns of the legions rushed to the fray74: here the cavalry75 charged: there the bands of the auxiliaries76 routed the foe77.' The tribunes and prefects then began each to praise his own deeds, and utter a medley78 of truths and falsehoods,—or exaggerations. The rank and file, too, of the troops with shouts that showed their joy turned from the line of march to behold79 again the field of battle, and wonder as they looked at the piles of arms and the heaps of bodies. And some, when the various turns of chance occurred to their minds, melted into tears and were heavy at heart from sorrow, but Vitellius did not turn aside his eyes nor shudder80 at so many thousands of his unburied countrymen: he was even glad, and ignorant of his all but impending81 fate made an offering to the gods of the place."
"Inde Vitellius Cremonam flexit, et spectato munere Caecinae, insistere Bedriacensibus campis, ac vestigia recentis victoriae lustrare oculis concupivit. Foedum atque atrox spectaculum! Intra quadragesimum pugnae diem lacera corpora, trunci artus, putres virorum equorumque formae, infecta tabo humus, protritis arboribus ac frugibus—dira vastitas: nec minus inhumana pars viae, quam Cremonenses lauro rosisque constraverant, exstructis altaribus caesisque victimis, regium in morem: quae, laeta in praesens, mox perniciem ipsis fecere. Aderant Valens et Caecina, monstrabantque pugnae locos: 'Hinc irrupisse legionum agmen: hinc equites coortos: inde circumfusas auxiliorum manus.' Jam tribuni praefectique, sua quisque facta extollentes; falsa, vera, aut majora vero miscebant. Vulgus quoque militum, clamore et gaudio deflectere via, spatia certaminum recognoscere, aggerem armorum, strues corporum intueri, mirari. Et erant, quos varia fors rerum, lacrimaeque et misericordia subiret; at non Vitellius deflexit oculos, nec tot millia insepultorum civium exhorruit: laetus ultro, et tam propinquae sortis ignarus, instaurabat sacrum diis loci" (Hist. II. 70).
It must be obvious even to the most careless and least perspicacious82 what a striking contrast there is in the descriptive powers of the two; the objects that Tacitus depicts83 are not only few in number and telling in character, but seem to be presented to us on the principle of truth, as of actual occurrences; the method he adopts reminds one of that pursued by Sir Walter Scott, no matter whether the descriptive passage occur in one of his poems, as The Lady of the Lake, or in one of his romances, as The Heart of Mid-Lothian: Bracciolini, on the other hand, appears to be inventing,—or, at least, heaping together a number of real circumstances, one or two of which might have happened together, but scarcely all of them at the same time, while he so arranges them as to produce a highly poetic46 effect: he writes as Lord Byron made up his shipwreck in Don Juan,—as Moore shows us in his Life of the eminent84 poet,—by selecting here and there a telling incident from the narrative of this or that shipwrecked mariner85.
II. Not only in description did Bracciolini fail to imitate the writing of Tacitus; he failed to imitate it also in sequence of ideas. There is unquestionably resemblance in the absence of circumlocution86; in such considerable conciseness87 that words are as sentences; in there being no hyperbole, and in judicious89 language at all times consonant90 with the solidity of the instructions conducive91 to wisdom in political and civil life. But in order to effect this Bracciolini clipped his sentences as a gardener clips hedges: a sentence is now and then like an amputated limb; a word is wanting, like a hand or a foot cut off from an arm or a leg: sometimes the reader sees, what was evidently made with mischievous92 intent, a great gap in thought, at which he is stopped and disturbed,—as a farmer, when walking in his fields, is brought to a stand-still and overcome with annoyance93 to see an opening which his cattle have made in his fences, and which he must be at the pains of repairing: so these vacuities in thought require to be botched by the fancy of the reader; the patching may not be the requisite94 thing to be done: accordingly the gaps cause difficulties in rightly apprehending95 the meaning of the writer, who, in some passages may, possibly, never be properly understood.
The consequence of this is that no remark is so common as to hear people, especially young persons, say of Tacitus, "How difficult his Latin is!" Even Messrs. Church and Brodripp say so in the Preface to their translation of the "History." Certainly, it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to reproduce in another language the smooth style and polished phrases of Tacitus; but his Latin is easy to follow, whatever he maybe doing,—describing a battle, a riot or a flight;—recording the success of a party, the death of an Emperor, or a disturbance97 in the Forum98. Notwithstanding his fiery99, rapid style, he is regular in his connection of thought,— logical in his sequence of ideas, thereby100 he is always alluring101 and attractive, while crisp, clear and comprehensible, he dazzles and delights with his picturesque102 images and glittering beauties. It is otherwise with the author of the Annals, whose style is occasionally enveloped103 in such Cimmerian obscurities from deficiencies of expression as to beset104 his work with a formidable opaqueness—anything but Milton's "darkness visible". [Endnote 408]
Many specimens105 of this might be given, but as the mist is impenetrable, we will turn to one where the light can be seen—the story of the peasant of Termes, who assassinates107 a praetor, while that officer is passing along a road unattended. The assassin, being on the back of a fleet horse, gallops108 off to a wood, entering which, after turning his horse loose, he baffles pursuit by clambering over steep and stony109 parts into the pathless wilderness110, "where," continues the writer, "he did not remain long concealed111; FOR" (mark the sequence), "his horse having been caught and shown through all the towns round, the people knew whose it was, and that led to his apprehension":—"pernicitate equi profugus, postquam saltuosos locos adtigerat, dimisso equo, per derupta et avia sequentis frustratus est, neque diu fefellit; NAM prehenso ductoque per proximos pagos equo, eujus foret cognitum, et repertus" (An. IV. 45).
The context is not seen. A man who has committed a murder unseen by anybody effects his escape from pursuit by getting into a wood. Of what consequence was it whether his horse was known or not? for how could that help his pursuer to catch him, if, like a maroon112 negro, having run away safely into the impenetrable thicket113, he staid in the bush for the remainder of his days,—or as long as he was not wanted for a breakfast by a hungry wild beast? The author means us to understand, after the fugitive114 had baffled pursuit by getting into the depth of the forest, that he lay hidden there for a certain number of days, after which, deeming that all was safe, he returned into the towns to his home: then should come the words: "where he did not remain long concealed, for his horse having been caught," &c.
This obscurity increases when the author of the Annals is in the palace of Tiberius, or in the Senate amid the deliberations of the Patres Conscripti. From his inadequate115 mode of speech he then outstrips116 the comprehension of the reader; certainly he quite baffles the intelligence of the very young, his meaning being penetrable106 only by the keen sagacity of ripe age, for he enters into the recesses117 of the heart, and reveals the secret workings of the bad passions,—envy, hatred118, malice119 and ambition.
As before, we cannot give one of his best gems120, because those are hidden in clouds of darkness, through which nobody can see, only one of them that is shrouded121 in a light mist through which the eye can dimly peer. So take the passage where Tiberius leaves it to the Senate to choose whether Lepidus or Blaesus shall have the government of Africa. Lepidus refuses in very unmistakable terms, alleging122 as his reasons the bad state of his health, the tender age of his children, and the marriageable condition of his daughter: the writer then goes on: "another reason that Lepidus had, he kept to himself, though it was understood, Blaesus being the uncle of Sejanus, and that was a very powerful reason with him." "Tum audita amborum verba, intentius excusante se Lepido, cum valetudinem corporis, aetatem liberum, nubilem filiam obtenderet: intelligereturque etiam, (quod silebat), avunculum esse Sejani Blaesum, atque eo praevalidum." (An. III. 35). Of course, that was the most powerful reason for Lepidus refusing the honour, because he knew that if he stood in the way of the promotion123 of the uncle, the nephew, in those corrupt124 times, would seek a way of wreaking125 his vengeance126 upon him. That is easily enough understood, and certainly did not require any further explanation from the historian. But how about the next sentence? "Blaesus in his reply to the Senate made, (but not in the same resolute127 tone as Lepidus), a show of refusal, and by the assent128 of the sycophants129 he was not supported"; and, without another syllable130, the author leaves the subject and passes on to another matter. "Respondit Blaesus specie recusantis, sed neque eadem adseveratione; et consensu adulantium haud jutus est." (ibid.) In what was he not supported? And whom were the "sycophants," that is the Senators, flattering? Blaesus? They had no cause to care whether they pleased or displeased131 him. Tiberius? The Emperor was perfectly132 indifferent as to which of the two men the Senate selected. The author of the Annals, in order that his full meaning may be brought out, wants the reader to supply, after the words "a show of refusal," some such as the following:—"the Senators could see from the sham133 of Blaesus that the promotion to the office would be highly acceptable to him, and, as they knew it would please Sejanus, they were desirous of doing what would gratify the minister": then should come the words: "and by the assent of the sycophants he was not supported," that is, in his refusal: accordingly the writer leaves his reader to infer that the Senators gave their universal approval to the appointment of Blaesus as the Proconsul of Africa.
There is no such writing as this in any of the works of Tacitus, who, though curt134 and concise88, is always remarkable135 for concinnity and clearness of expression as well as for perspicuity136 and consecutiveness137 of idea. This can be instanced by any passage in the "History": take this where Galba admonishes138 Piso whom he has adopted to be careful of himself as the successor to the empire, and beware of the perils139 to which he was exposed by his new position:—
"You are at the age which shuns140 the passions of youth: your past life has been such you have nothing to regret. You have endured hardship up to this point: prosperity tries our dispositions142 with sharper probes; because misfortune is borne, we are spoilt by a brilliant position. With your determined143 character you will preserve those most precious boons144 of the human soul, honourable145 principles, an independent spirit and friendly feelings; but others will undermine these by obsequiousness146. Flattery, —fawning,—that worst bane of virtuous147 inclinations148,—will assail149 you:—everybody seeks his own advancement150. To-day you and I converse151 together quite disinterestedly152; others all selfishly pay their court to our fortunes in preference to ourselves. Now to counsel an Emperor what he ought to do is a task of much difficulty: humouring the whims153 of this or that Emperor does not cost the slightest trouble." "Ea aetas tua, quae cupiditates adolescentiae jam effugerit: ea vita, in qua nihil praeteritum excusandum habeas. Fortunam adhuc adversam tulisti: secundae res acrioribus stimulis animos explorant, quia miseriae tolerantur, felicitate corrumpimur. Fidem, libertatem, amicitiam, praecipua humani animi bona, tu quidem eadem constantia retinebis: sed alii per obsequium imminuent. Irrumpet adulatio,—blanditiae, pessimum veri adfectus venenum,—sua cuique utilitas. Ego154 ac tu simplicissime inter61 nos hodie loquimur; ceteri libentius cum fortuna nostra, quam nobiscum. Nam suadere principi quod oporteat multi laboris: adsentatio erga principem quemeunque sine adfectu peragitur." (Hist. I. 15).
It will be seen from this literal version of his text, that, notwithstanding his epigrammatic brevity, Tacitus writes with a precision of thought that leaves nothing to be supplied. It may be that the author of the Annals found it impossible to write thus: at any rate he resorts to quite another kind of composition in order to be on a level with his prototype by making his book hard reading, for he gives his reader as much difficulty in following him by leaving gaps in thought, as Tacitus gives his reader by uncommon155 terseness156. The difference of exertion157 to which the mind is subjected in understanding the two is pretty much like the difference of exerting the legs which a traveller experiences when moving about a most mountainous region, between toiling158 painfully up steep but smooth acclivities and taking violent leaps over a succession of ravines.
III. The Rev57. Thomas Hunter, in the opening portion of his work entitled "Observations on Tacitus," (to which I have so often referred, and to which I am so much indebted),—misled by giving his assent, as a matter of necessity, to the universal belief that Tacitus and Bracciolini were one,—errs in ascribing to them both a perfect similarity in ambition of pomp and ornament159 to display learning; Bracciolini bears little or no resemblance in this respect to Tacitus, as may be seen by comparing, or rather contrasting them in any one thing,—say in their digressions. Whenever Tacitus digresses, it is always appropriately,—with taste and judgment160. What, for instance, can be more fitting than that he should fall into a little digression about the Temple of Venus in Cyprus, when Titus visits that island (Hist. II. 2 & 3), because Titus had an amorous161 disposition141? or, when he is about to relate such an important event and turning point in the history of the Jews as the destruction of Jerusalem, that he should recount the whole origin of that most mysterious and romantic people (Hist. V. 2)? or, when the Capitol was burnt, give a history of it (ib. III. 71)? On these and other occasions, his digressions are seemly, and afford satisfaction as appertaining closely to the subject.
It is not so with the author of the Annals; he cannot speak about a law, but straightway must tell his reader about laws in general, as he does when speaking of the Lex Poppaea, of which had Tacitus spoken, he would have merely mentioned its qualification, then passed on; or, if digressing, confined his statement to the other laws of a similar kind which had been enacted162 by his countrymen; but the author of the Annals starts off to talk about laws of all kinds that the whole world had witnessed from the Flood of Deucalion to the time of which he is writing,—consequently he talks about the legislation of Minos, Lycurgus and Solon, the law-making of Numa and Tullus Hostilius, Ancus Martius and Servius Tullius, down to what was done in that way by the Emperor Augustus Caesar (III. 26); and when the cities of Asia contend for the honour of building a temple, away he rambles163 into a discourse164 about things in general, the wars of Perseus and Aristonicus; the great antiquity165 of Troy, proclaimed to be the mother of Rome; the love of home of the Lydians; the first names and settlements of the Tyrrhenians; the Sardinians and Etrurians being of the same descent; the divine origin of Tantalus and Theseus; and the Amazons being the founders166 of some of the cities in Asia (IV. 55 and 56).
This, it must be admitted, is not in the style of Tacitus; it is, however, exactly in the style of Bracciolini—in proof of which I need only point to the historic details which abound167 in the Dialogue on the Unhappiness of Princes;—the introduction of the particulars into which he enters when drawing up a comparison for a young friend of Ferrara between Julius Caesar and Scipio Africanus, on the question submitted to him, "which was the greater man" (Op. 357 seq.); and when in the Discourse on Nobility he refers to the statues that adorned168 the garden of a villa169, he enters into remarks on the passion possessed by the ancient Romans of ornamenting170 their homes with the images of their ancestors (Op. 64-83).
IV. Bodinus, in his "Method to an Easy Knowledge of History," first published in 1566, seems to be very much struck at two statements in the Fourth Book of the Annals; in the 33rd chapter the words occur: "we link together cruel orders, continual prosecutions171, treacherous172 alliances, the destruction of the innocent, and trials terminating in similar issues": in the chapter preceding the writer says that he does not narrate173 "wars, sieges of cities, routings of armies and struggles of politicians and plebeians": Bodinus observes, Tacitus "carefully describes all the wars that occurred in his time; they were conflicts in which he was usually engaged or acted as commander, nor was there after the battle of Actium a single historian who treated so copiously174 of military and civil affairs":—"Libro quarto profitetur se 'nec bella, nec urbium expugnationes, nec fusos exercitus, nec certamina plebis et optimatium' narrare … et paulo post: 'nos saeva jussa, continuas accusationes, fallaces amicitias, perniciem innocentium, et easdem exitu causas conjungimus', quanquam omnia bella, quae illis temporibus contigerunt, et quibus fere interfuit aut praefuit, studiose describit: nec post Actiacam victoriam ullus est historicus qui militarem aut forensem rationem copiosius tractavit" (Jo. Bodinus. Methodus ad facilem Historiarum Cognitionem. p. 66. Geneva Ed. 1610).
Can anything be stronger than these simple words of the French Doctor of Civil Law of the sixteenth century towards drawing further the attention of the reader to the truth of the theory maintained in this book? It is not possible that, though Bracciolini thus, as we see, forgot himself for a moment as the imitator of another, Tacitus could have made a slip of this kind. He is always describing battles; he takes a special delight in doing so; it is a species of description in which he particularly excelled, even as it is a species of description in which Bracciolini just as particularly showed weakness; Tacitus could do nothing better, because, as Bodinus says, he was actually engaged in the battles, or else acted in them as a commander. Nor is it true of his History, as it is of the Annals, that it is one perpetual tissue of prosecutions and trials that end in the conviction of innocent persons, treacherous alliances and tyrannical decrees; nor that it avoids all narration175 of the contentions176 between the people and the nobles.
V. We seem to be looking at a picture of the middle ages or the Renaissance and not of the first or second century of the Christian177 aera, when we read the story of Caius Silanus, the Proconsul of Asia, who, accused of malversation and peculation178, is first banished179 to the island of Gyarus, but when the Prince pleads for him, and he is backed by the intercession of a Vestal Virgin180 of sanctity,—corresponding to a Christian nun181 or abbess of exemplary piety,—Silanus is removed to the more bearable place of exile, the island of Cythaera (III. 66-9).
Just as we find in the first part of the Annals this picture marking the mediaeval period, we find in the last part a sentiment that strongly denotes the time of the Renaissance, because it is morally wrong: with the greatest coolness Bracciolini states in the eleventh book of the Annals that "employment of stratagem182 against a deserter and violator of his oath reflects no dishonour183 on the Roman character": "nec irritae aut degeneres insidiae fuere adversus transfugam et violatorem fidei" (XI. 19): the sentiment would never have proceeded from Tacitus nor any other high-minded Roman of antiquity; but it is strictly184 in accord with the views and feelings of the Renaissance, or fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century: in reading the best writers of that period we every now and then come across maxims185 which a strict morality condemns186: Machiavelli, who better reflects the spirit of his age and Italy than anybody else, except the author of the Annals, occasionally shocks us by such utterances187 in his Treatise188 on Livy, as, "it is permissible189 to deceive for the good of the State, provided that advantage be gained by it"; it is a proper thing "to violate one's word for the good of one's country"; "cruelty which tends to a beneficial end is not blamable and that which profits is praiseworthy"; or in his work entitled "The Prince",—"it is quite enough for a Prince to be virtuous in show, and not in fact"; he should "dissemble to reign190 well," and "the justice of war is in its utility."
VI. Bracciolini, who was inventing history as well as forging a production, did not deem it necessary to be actuated at all times in his representations by the love of truth: in putting forth191 supposititious matters as matters of fact, he advanced his own opinions and conjectures192 as the conjectures and opinions of the persons who figured in his narrative: to give an example: —"Tiberius and Augusta abstained193 from appearing in public" on the day when the remains of Germanicus were borne to the tomb of Augustus: that may be history; but we are certain that it is not history when we are told what their supposition was about going abroad: "I do not know," says the writer, "whether they supposed that a public expression of sorrow on their part would be derogatory to their imperial dignity, but I rather suspect it was fear that their hypocrisy194 would be detected when their looks were scrutinised by the eyes of all": "Tiberius atque Augusta publico abstinuere; inferius majestate sua rati, si palam lamentarentur, an ne, omnium oculis vultum eorum scrutantibus, falsi intelligerentur" (Ann. III. 4).
We have another proof here that the whole Annals proceeded from the same hand; this sort of thing goes on as well in the last, as in the first part of that work; in the fourteenth chapter (10), the writer undertakes to describe the state of Nero's punishment after (what may or may not be history) the murder of his mother: we are told, as if Bracciolini possessed the magic of peering into the inmost recesses of the soul, that it was only "at length after Nero had completed the monstrous195 deed that he became conscious of its enormity": "perfecto demum scelere magnitudo ejus intellecta est". We then follow the Emperor into the privacy of his locked chamber196; in the dead of night, we see what he does, when he is hidden from the eyes of all: everybody can pretty well guess (but only guess not positively197 know) how it fared with him; an evil conscience like a hidden torture wracks the criminal as the vulture fed on the liver of the rock-tied Titan;—the Furies come, causing the guilty to pass sleepless198 nights, for the Furies are the Demons199 sent to torture the impious: accordingly Bracciolini thus continues the description:—"during the remainder of the night, he would at one time remain in silence with his eyes fixed200 immovably, very often springing up out of terror, and with a distracted soul watch for the dawn of day, as if it were to bring death to him":—"reliquo noctis, modo, per silentium defixus soepius pavore exurgens et mentis inops lucem opperiebatur, tanquam exitium allaturam" (L. c.).
Though we all know that investigations201 of this kind must necessarily be attended with uncertainty203, yet in watching Bracciolini's bold proceedings204 in unfolding the mazes205 of the human heart by the passions of famous men, we assent readily to his delineations, because the feelings he represents, if not true, seem to be true on account of their being natural and obvious.
This kind of guesswork, nowhere to be found in the pages of Tacitus, has been considered in these days a great improvement in historical composition,—by none more so than by Lord Macaulay, who made Bracciolini, (supposing him to be Tacitus), the object of his adoration206. Modern historians reject what Thucydides, Xenophon, Herodotus, Livy, Sallust, Tacitus, and other ancient writers of history, Greek and Roman, did,—ascribing probable words and phrases to eminent persons on grand occasions, as violations207 of truth and daring assumptions;—nevertheless, they imitate the practice set by Bracciolini of knowing the motives208 that influenced illustrious characters.
The cause of a memorable209 matter of fact,—Luther casting off his allegiance to the Pope,—remains hidden in impenetrable mystery: notwithstanding that, Protestant historians as confidently maintain it was the love of truth, as Catholic biographers boldly assert it was the passion of resentment210.
We have the same rash conjectures as to James the Second: after he abdicated211 the throne of England, he lived to the end of his days in quietness and seclusion212, never making an attempt to regain213 the goodwill214 of his people, nor breathing a wish for a reconciliation215: though that monarch216 kept his feelings to himself, Lord Macaulay in his History of England (IV. 380), with a comprehensiveness of discernment that is amazing, writes thus: "in his view," that is, King James's, "there could be between him and his subjects no reciprocity of obligation. Their duty was to risk property, liberty, life, in order to replace him on the throne, and then to bear patiently whatever he chose to inflict217 upon them. They could no more pretend to merit before him than before God. When they had done all they were still unprofitable servants. The highest praise due to the Royalist who shed his blood on the field of battle or on the scaffold for hereditary218 monarchy219 was simply that he was not a traitor220." When such intimate acquaintance is shown with the senti- ments of the fallen king, one wonders who knew better his intentions and inclinations, Lord Macaulay, his historian, or Peters, his father confessor. In writing thus Lord Macaulay merely imitated the example set by Bracciolini, who, on almost every occasion, pretends to know motives, detect inclinations, explore the causes of events as well as look into the soul, reveal the passions and determine the judgments221 of powerful men. It is very pretty, but it is not history; and any one who considers how beyond his power it is to ascertain222 the principles which regulate his own conduct or the behaviour of those with whom he is in familiar and daily intercourse,—whose peculiar223 habit, too, he knows well,—must see that the task is not only difficult, but superhuman,—comprised in one plain and simple word —impossible.
VII. A thousand authors may be read, and in vain contradictions looked for in any of them. When, therefore, a writer is found contradicting himself, it is a peculiarity224 to be noted225 as uncommonly226 striking; one contradiction being found, several may be looked for. Bracciolini is one of these writers; his contradictions, too, are most remarkable: they are to be found just as well in his acknowledged productions as in both parts of the Annals. Many instances might be given; the following may suffice:—
In the fourth book of the Annals, Tiberius is represented so full of hatred that a man who had been for a long time in exile does not escape his memory, as occurs with Serenus—"non occultante Tiberio vetus odium adversus exulem Serenum" (IV. 29). In the sixth book, however, Tiberius, though still actuated by hatred, is so forgetful that Rubrius Fabatus remains unharmed through oblivion:—"mansit tamen incolumis oblivione magis quam elementia" (VI. 14). What then is the characteristic of Tiberius? Forgetfulness or remembrance in his hatreds227?
So in his acknowledged works, Bracciolini speaks in one of his letters, as we have seen, of not having such a very high opinion of the Papacy as the world believed: "Ego minus existimo Pontificatum quam credunt" (Ep. I. 17). But in another of his works, "De Infelicitate Principum," (Op. p. 392), he expresses his belief that "all Princes were in the enjoyment228 of a large amount of happiness, more particularly the Pope, who was considered the greatest of men, and yet gained his position without any anxiety or any labour, any pains or any peril40." "Nam cum omnes principes magna existimem felicitate frui, tum vero maxime Pontifices, cum nulla cura, nullo labore, nulla opera, nullo periculo eum statum adipiscuntur, qui habetur maximus apud mortales." What are we then to suppose? that Bracciolini had formed a very lofty, or a very indifferent estimate of the Papacy?
In both parts of the Annals, he displays the same spirit of contradiction; first he praises, then condemns the same things; in the last part he defends Popular Revels229 (XIV. 20) and objects to them immediately afterwards (ibid); so in the first part he lauds230 luxury in the second book (33) and censures231 it in the third (53).
We find the same contradiction with respect to Augustus and deification; in the first book of the Annals we are told that if a man has temples reared to him and is worshipped in the likeness232 of a god, he commits a grievous wrong, because he deprives divine beings of all their honours: this it is stated was done by Augustus:—"Nihil Deorum honoribus relictum cum se templis et effigie numinum coli vellet" (An. I. 10). After this we should be mightily233 surprised, did we not know of the humour of the writer with whom we are dealing, to find it asserted in the fourth book, when the people of Lusitania and Boetica (now Portugal, Andalusia and Granada), offer to erect234 a temple to Tiberius, and he refuses (IV. 37, 38), that that Emperor "showed degeneracy of spirit, because men of the highest virtue235 have ever sought the greatest honours: thus Hercules and Bacchus were added to the number of the Gods among the Greeks, and Romulus among the Romans: accordingly that Augustus who hoped for deification chose the nobler part, for when we scorn fame we scorn the virtues:—"quidam, ut degeneris animi, interpretabantur: optumos quippe mortalium altissima cupere. Sic Herculem et Liberum apud Graecos; Quirinum apud nos, deum numero, additos. Melius Augustum, qui speraverit … contemtu famae, contemni virtutes" (IV. 38).
VIII. A few words, in conclusion, may be said about the oldest manuscript containing the first six, and, consequently, all the books of the Annals. This, which, it has been stated, is the First Florence MS., I take to be the identical one that came out of the Abbey of Corvey through the hands of Arcimboldi, because, like its mendacious236 brother, the Second Florence, it bears upon it the unmistakable stamp of an impudent237 forgery. Just as the Second Florence pretends to be of the fourth century, if not earlier, from having the attestation238 of Salustius the Philosopher, so the First Florence professes239 to be as old as, at the very least, the twelfth century, from being written in characters, which, Taurellus says (Praef. ad Pand. Floren.), are the same as those in the Florentine MS. of the Pandects of Justinian. Now, the Florentine Pandects, which were found at Amalfi, were plundered240 from that town and taken to Pisa in 1137 by Lotharius Saxe after his successful war with Pope Innocent II., though the two costly241 volumes were not first deposited in the Grand Duke's Library at Florence until 1406.
Danesius, Bishop242 of Lavaur (in Languedoc), also bears testimony243 to the great antiquity of the First Florence MS. But this was nineteen years after the first publication of all the Annals in Rome, it being in 1534 that Danesius, examining it with other ancient works, pronounced upon its very old age.
Ernesti, in his preface to the works of Tacitus, quotes a passage from a letter of Graevius to his friend Heinsius where the great Hellenist is of opinion that the MS. bore the marks of being copied from a supposititious and half learned original; "exemplar, unde illud fluxit, mendosum et ab semidocto interpolatum" (Tom. IV. Coll. Burm. p. 496). But suppose that the manuscript is no copy, but, as I maintain, an original, then the opinion of Graevius becomes extremely valuable in this inquiry244, because it actually corroborates245 what I have said about the manuscript,—that it was transcribed246 by an ignorant monk247, and that it is an audacious forgery.
We have, then, no evidence whatsoever248 that can be relied upon of the great antiquity of this manuscript: on the contrary what we do know about it as a fact is utterly249 subversive250 of such an assumption: this copy in the Mediceo-Laurentian Library in Florence of all the Annals of Tacitus cannot be traced further back than to the possession of a man who flourished in the days of Leo X. and the Emperor Maximilian I.,—Johannes Jocundus of Verona; so that it turns out, on careful investigation202 that all positive knowledge of this MS. stops at the commencement of the sixteenth century, exactly as all positive knowledge of the other Florentine MS. stops at the commencement of the fifteenth century.
IX. I have now done; and think that I have said quite enough for the spuriousness of the Annals never to be hereafter argued as a moot96 point, but accepted as an established fact. I need not go into further consideration; because further consideration cannot give more weight to what has been put forward. I, therefore, pause, assured that with only these few facts and observations placed before him, the reader has come to the same conclusion as myself, that, strange as it may be, yet, nevertheless, there is truth in the theory now started for the first time, I dare say, to the amazement251 of the reader, as to the amazement of everybody, that Tacitus is, and has been, for century after century, wrongly accredited252 with the authorship of the Annals. It is to dispel253 all cavil254 about this, that I have examined the History and the Annals from every imaginable point of view, so as to enable the reader to see the two works as clearly as they can be seen—not that the reader has seen them as clearly as objects are seen under the open sky by the blaze of the noontide sun; still I hope that he has seen them, as objects in broad day are seen,—where there must he some shadows in corners,—in a room, when all the blinds are drawn255 up and all the windows are thrown open.
The End
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renaissance
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| n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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forgery
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graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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considerably
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| adv.极大地；相当大地；在很大程度上 | |
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inordinate
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discoursing
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avarice
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| n.贪婪；贪心 | |
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wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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frailties
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| n.脆弱( frailty的名词复数 )；虚弱；（性格或行为上的）弱点；缺点 | |
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timorous
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insolence
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conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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knights
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| 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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sordid
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mingle
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| vt.使混合，使相混；vi.混合起来；相交往 | |
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trumpets
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| 喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花 | |
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shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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shipwreck
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| n.船舶失事，海难 | |
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shipwrecks
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| 海难，船只失事( shipwreck的名词复数 )； 沉船 | |
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latitude
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illustrate
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marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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oars
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simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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impede
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止 | |
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rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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skilful
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| (=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的 | |
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seaman
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sweeping
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swelling
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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scatters
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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mooring
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| n.停泊处；系泊用具，系船具；下锚v.停泊，系泊（船只）(moor的现在分词) | |
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vessels
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hulls
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calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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poetically
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| adv.有诗意地，用韵文 | |
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poetic
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boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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situated
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deserted
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ashore
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foundered
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conjecture
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galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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promontories
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mighty
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catastrophe
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| n.大灾难，大祸 | |
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rev
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miserable
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subsides
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favourable
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inter
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inviting
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mare
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naves
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pars
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tandem
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dealing
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victorious
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mangled
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corpses
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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72
devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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73
laurels
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| n.桂冠，荣誉 | |
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74
fray
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| v.争吵；打斗；磨损，磨破；n.吵架；打斗 | |
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75
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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76
auxiliaries
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| n.助动词 ( auxiliary的名词复数 )；辅助工，辅助人员 | |
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77
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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78
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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79
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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80
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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81
impending
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| a.imminent, about to come or happen | |
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82
perspicacious
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| adj.聪颖的，敏锐的 | |
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83
depicts
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| 描绘，描画( depict的第三人称单数 )； 描述 | |
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84
eminent
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| adj.显赫的，杰出的，有名的，优良的 | |
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85
mariner
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| n.水手号不载人航天探测器，海员，航海者 | |
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86
circumlocution
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| n. 绕圈子的话，迂回累赘的陈述 | |
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87
conciseness
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| n.简洁，简短 | |
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88
concise
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| adj.简洁的，简明的 | |
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89
judicious
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|
| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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90
consonant
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|
| n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的 | |
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91
conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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92
mischievous
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|
| adj.调皮的，恶作剧的，有害的，伤人的 | |
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93
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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94
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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95
apprehending
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的现在分词 )； 理解 | |
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96
moot
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| v.提出；adj.未决议的；n.大会；辩论会 | |
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97
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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98
forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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99
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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100
thereby
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|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
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101
alluring
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| adj.吸引人的，迷人的 | |
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102
picturesque
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|
| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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103
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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104
beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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105
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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106
penetrable
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| adj.可穿透的 | |
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107
assassinates
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的第三人称单数 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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108
gallops
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| （马等）奔驰，骑马奔驰( gallop的名词复数 ) | |
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109
stony
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| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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110
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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111
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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112
maroon
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| v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的 | |
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113
thicket
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| n.灌木丛，树林 | |
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114
fugitive
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| adj.逃亡的，易逝的；n.逃犯，逃亡者 | |
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115
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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116
outstrips
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| v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的第三人称单数 ) | |
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117
recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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118
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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119
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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120
gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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121
shrouded
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| v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 )；保密 | |
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122
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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123
promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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124
corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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125
wreaking
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| 诉诸（武力），施行（暴力），发（脾气）( wreak的现在分词 ) | |
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126
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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127
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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128
assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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129
sycophants
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| n.谄媚者，拍马屁者( sycophant的名词复数 ) | |
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130
syllable
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| n.音节；vt.分音节 | |
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131
displeased
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| a.不快的 | |
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132
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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133
sham
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| n./adj.假冒(的)，虚伪(的) | |
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134
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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135
remarkable
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|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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136
perspicuity
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| n.（文体的）明晰 | |
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137
consecutiveness
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| Consecutiveness | |
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138
admonishes
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| n.劝告( admonish的名词复数 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责v.劝告( admonish的第三人称单数 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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139
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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140
shuns
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的第三人称单数 ) | |
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141
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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142
dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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143
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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144
boons
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| n.恩惠( boon的名词复数 )；福利；非常有用的东西；益处 | |
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145
honourable
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|
| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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146
obsequiousness
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| 媚骨 | |
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147
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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148
inclinations
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| 倾向( inclination的名词复数 )； 倾斜； 爱好； 斜坡 | |
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149
assail
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| v.猛烈攻击，抨击，痛斥 | |
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150
advancement
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| n.前进，促进，提升 | |
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151
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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152
disinterestedly
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153
WHIMS
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| 虚妄，禅病 | |
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154
ego
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| n.自我，自己，自尊 | |
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155
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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156
terseness
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| 简洁，精练 | |
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157
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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158
toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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159
ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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160
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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161
amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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162
enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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163
rambles
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| （无目的地）漫游( ramble的第三人称单数 )； （喻）漫谈； 扯淡； 长篇大论 | |
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164
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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165
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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166
founders
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| n.创始人( founder的名词复数 ) | |
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167
abound
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| vi.大量存在；(in，with)充满，富于 | |
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168
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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169
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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170
ornamenting
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| v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的现在分词 ) | |
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171
prosecutions
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| 起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事 | |
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172
treacherous
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|
| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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173
narrate
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| v.讲，叙述 | |
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174
copiously
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| adv.丰富地，充裕地 | |
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175
narration
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| n.讲述，叙述；故事；记叙体 | |
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176
contentions
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| n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点 | |
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177
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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178
peculation
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| n.侵吞公款[公物] | |
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179
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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180
virgin
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| n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的 | |
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181
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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182
stratagem
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| n.诡计，计谋 | |
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183
dishonour
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|
| n./vt.拒付（支票、汇票、票据等）；vt.凌辱，使丢脸；n.不名誉，耻辱，不光彩 | |
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184
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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185
maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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186
condemns
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| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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187
utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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188
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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189
permissible
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| adj.可允许的，许可的 | |
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190
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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191
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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192
conjectures
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| 推测，猜想( conjecture的名词复数 ) | |
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193
abstained
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| v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票） | |
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194
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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195
monstrous
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|
| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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196
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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197
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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198
sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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199
demons
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| n.恶人( demon的名词复数 )；恶魔；精力过人的人；邪念 | |
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200
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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201
investigations
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| （正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究 | |
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202
investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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203
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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204
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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205
mazes
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| 迷宫( maze的名词复数 )； 纷繁复杂的规则； 复杂难懂的细节； 迷宫图 | |
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206
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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207
violations
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| 违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸 | |
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208
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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209
memorable
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| adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的 | |
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210
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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211
abdicated
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| 放弃（职责、权力等）( abdicate的过去式和过去分词 )； 退位，逊位 | |
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212
seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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213
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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214
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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215
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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216
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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217
inflict
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| vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担 | |
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218
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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monarchy
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| n.君主，最高统治者；君主政体，君主国 | |
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220
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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221
judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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222
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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223
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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224
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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225
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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226
uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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227
hatreds
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| n.仇恨，憎恶( hatred的名词复数 )；厌恶的事 | |
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228
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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229
revels
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| n.作乐( revel的名词复数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉v.作乐( revel的第三人称单数 )；狂欢；着迷；陶醉 | |
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230
lauds
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| v.称赞，赞美( laud的第三人称单数 ) | |
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231
censures
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| v.指责，非难，谴责( censure的第三人称单数 ) | |
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232
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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233
mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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234
erect
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| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
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235
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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236
mendacious
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| adj.不真的，撒谎的 | |
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237
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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238
attestation
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| n.证词 | |
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239
professes
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| 声称( profess的第三人称单数 )； 宣称； 公开表明； 信奉 | |
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240
plundered
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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241
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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242
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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243
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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244
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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245
corroborates
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| v.证实，支持（某种说法、信仰、理论等）( corroborate的第三人称单数 ) | |
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246
transcribed
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| （用不同的录音手段）转录( transcribe的过去式和过去分词 )； 改编（乐曲）（以适应他种乐器或声部）； 抄写； 用音标标出（声音） | |
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247
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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248
whatsoever
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| adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么 | |
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249
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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250
subversive
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| adj.颠覆性的，破坏性的；n.破坏份子，危险份子 | |
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251
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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252
accredited
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| adj.可接受的；可信任的；公认的；质量合格的v.相信( accredit的过去式和过去分词 )；委托；委任；把…归结于 | |
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253
dispel
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| vt.驱走，驱散，消除 | |
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254
cavil
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| v.挑毛病，吹毛求疵 | |
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255
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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