Iduna and Nic?|us had hitherto prosecuted17 their sorrowful journey almost in silence. Exhausted18 with anxiety, affliction, and bodily fatigue19, with difficulty the daughter of Hunniades could preserve her seat upon her steed. One thought alone interested her, and by its engrossing20 influence maintained her under all her sufferings, the memory of Iskander. Since she first met him, at the extraordinary interview in her father’s pavilion, often had the image of the hero recurred21 to her fancy, often had she mused22 over his great qualities and strange career. His fame, so dangerous to female hearts, was not diminished by his presence. And now, when Iduna recollected23 that she was indebted to him for all that she held dear, that she owed to his disinterested24 devotion, not only life, but all that renders life desirable, honour and freedom, country and kindred, that image was invested with associations and with sentiments, which, had Iskander himself been conscious of their existence, would have lent redoubled vigour25 to his arm, and fresh inspiration to his energy. More than once Iduna had been on the point of inquiring of Nic?|us the reason which had induced alike him and Iskander to preserve so strictly26 the disguise of his companion. But a feeling which she did not choose to analyse struggled successfully with her curiosity: she felt a reluctance27 to speak of Iskander to the Prince of Athens. In the meantime Nic?|us himself was not apparently28 very anxious of conversing29 upon the subject, and after the first rapid expressions of fear and hope as to the situation of their late comrade, they relapsed into silence, seldom broken by Nic?|us, but to deplore30 the sufferings of his mistress, lamentations which Iduna answered with a faint smile.
The refreshing31 scene wherein they had now entered, and the cheering appearance of the Eremite, were subjects of mutual32 congratulation; and Nic?|us, somewhat advancing, claimed the attention of the holy man, announcing their faith, imprisonment33, escape, and sufferings, and entreating34 hospitality and refuge. The Eremite pointed35 with his staff to the winding path, which ascended36 the bank of the river to the cavern, and welcomed the pilgrims, in the name of their blessed Saviour37, to his wild abode38 and simple fare.
The cavern widened when they entered, and comprised several small apartments. It was a work of the early Christians39, who had found a refuge in their days of persecution40, and art had completed the beneficent design of nature. The cavern was fresh, and sweet, and clean. Heaven smiled upon its pious41 inmate42 through an aperture43 in the roof; the floor was covered with rushes; in one niche44 rested a brazen45 cross, and in another a perpetual lamp burnt before a picture, where Madonna smiled with meek46 tenderness upon her young divinity.
The Eremite placed upon a block of wood, the surface of which he had himself smoothed, some honey, some dried fish and a wooden bowl filled from the pure stream that flowed beneath them: a simple meal, but welcome. His guests seated themselves upon a rushy couch, and while they refreshed themselves, he gently inquired the history of their adventures. As it was evident that the Eremite, from her apparel, mistook the sex of Iduna, Nic?|us thought fit not to undeceive him, but passed her off as his brother. He described themselves as two Athenian youths, who had been captured while serving as volunteers under the great Hunniades, and who had effected their escape from Adrianople under circumstances of great peril47 and difficulty; and when he had gratified the Eremite’s curiosity respecting their Christian brethren in Paynim lands, and sympathetically marvelled48 with him at the advancing fortunes of the Crescent, Nic?|us, who perceived that Iduna stood in great need of rest, mentioned the fatigues49 of his more fragile brother, and requested permission for him to retire. Whereupon the Eremite himself, fetching a load of fresh rushes, arranged them in one of the cells, and invited the fair Iduna to repose50. The daughter of Hunniades, first humbling51 herself before the altar of the Virgin52, and offering her gratitude53 for all the late mercies vouchsafed54 unto her, and then bidding a word of peace to her host and her companion, withdrew to her hard-earned couch, soon was buried in a sleep as sweet and innocent as herself.
But repose fell not upon the eye-lids of Nic?|us in spite of all labours. The heart of the Athenian Prince was distracted by two most powerful of passions—Love and Jealousy—and when the Eremite, pointing out to his guest his allotted55 resting-place, himself retired56 to his regular and simple slumbers57, Nic?|us quitted the cavern, and standing58 upon the bank of the river, gazed in abstraction upon the rushing waters foaming59 in the moonlight. The Prince of Athens, with many admirable qualities, was one of those men who are influenced only by their passions, and who, in the affairs of life, are invariably guided by their imagination instead of their reason. At present all thought and feeling, all considerations, and all circumstances, merged60 in the overpowering love he entertained for Iduna, his determination to obtain her at all cost and peril, and his resolution that she should never again meet Iskander, except as the wife of Nic?|us. Compared with this paramount61 object, the future seemed to vanish. The emancipation62 of his country, the welfare of his friend, even the maintenance of his holy creed63, all those great and noble objects for which, under other circumstances, he would have been prepared to sacrifice his fortune and his life, no longer interested or influenced him; and while the legions of the Crescent were on the point of pouring into Greece to crush that patriotic64 and Christian cause over which Iskander and himself had so often mused, whose interests the disinterested absence of Iskander, occasioned solely65 by his devotion to Nic?|us, had certainly endangered, and perhaps, could the events of the last few hours be known, even sacrificed, the Prince of Athens resolved, unless Iduna would consent to become his, at once to carry off the daughter of Hunniades to some distant country. Nor indeed, even with his easily excited vanity, was Nic?|us sanguine66 of obtaining his purpose by less violent means. He was already a rejected suitor, and under circumstances which scarcely had left hope. Nothing but the sole credit of her chivalric67 rescue could perhaps have obtained for him the interest in the heart of Iduna which he coveted68. For while this exploit proffered69 an irresistible70 claim to her deepest gratitude, it indicated also, on the part of her deliverer, the presence and possession of all those great qualities, the absence of which in the character and conduct of her suitor, Iduna had not, at a former period, endeavoured to conceal71 to be the principal came of his rejection72. And now, by the unhappy course of circumstances, the very deed on which he counted, with sanguine hope, as the sure means of his success, seemed as it were to have placed him in a more inferior situation than before. The constant society of his mistress had fanned to all its former force and ardour, the flame which, apart from her, and hopeless, he had endeavoured to repress; while, on the other hand, he could not conceal from himself, that Iduna must feel that he had played in these rest proceeding73 but a secondary part; that all the genius and all the generosity74 of the exploit rested with Iskander, who, after having obtained her freedom by so much energy, peril, sagacity and skill, had secured it by a devoted courage which might shame all the knights75 of Christendom; perhaps, too, had secured it by his own life.
What if Iskander were no more? It was a great contingency76. The eternal servitude of Greece, and the shameful77 triumph of the Crescent, were involved, perhaps, in that single event. And could the possession of Iduna compensate78 for such disgrace and infamy79? Let us not record the wild response of passion.
It was midnight ere the restless Nic?|us, more exhausted by his agitating80 reverie than by his previous exertions81, returned into the cavern, and found refuge in sleep from all his disquietudes.
点击收听单词发音
1 adventurous | |
adj.爱冒险的;惊心动魄的,惊险的,刺激的 | |
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2 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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3 winding | |
n.绕,缠,绕组,线圈 | |
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4 mule | |
n.骡子,杂种,执拗的人 | |
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5 chestnut | |
n.栗树,栗子 | |
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6 tempting | |
a.诱人的, 吸引人的 | |
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7 shrubs | |
灌木( shrub的名词复数 ) | |
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8 aromatic | |
adj.芳香的,有香味的 | |
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9 jaded | |
adj.精疲力竭的;厌倦的;(因过饱或过多而)腻烦的;迟钝的 | |
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10 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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11 emblem | |
n.象征,标志;徽章 | |
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12 consolation | |
n.安慰,慰问 | |
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13 omen | |
n.征兆,预兆;vt.预示 | |
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14 descending | |
n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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15 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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16 cavern | |
n.洞穴,大山洞 | |
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17 prosecuted | |
a.被起诉的 | |
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18 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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19 fatigue | |
n.疲劳,劳累 | |
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20 engrossing | |
adj.使人全神贯注的,引人入胜的v.使全神贯注( engross的现在分词 ) | |
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21 recurred | |
再发生,复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 ); 治愈 | |
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22 mused | |
v.沉思,冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 );沉思自语说(某事) | |
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23 recollected | |
adj.冷静的;镇定的;被回忆起的;沉思默想的v.记起,想起( recollect的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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24 disinterested | |
adj.不关心的,不感兴趣的 | |
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25 vigour | |
(=vigor)n.智力,体力,精力 | |
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26 strictly | |
adv.严厉地,严格地;严密地 | |
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27 reluctance | |
n.厌恶,讨厌,勉强,不情愿 | |
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28 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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29 conversing | |
v.交谈,谈话( converse的现在分词 ) | |
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30 deplore | |
vt.哀叹,对...深感遗憾 | |
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31 refreshing | |
adj.使精神振作的,使人清爽的,使人喜欢的 | |
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32 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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33 imprisonment | |
n.关押,监禁,坐牢 | |
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34 entreating | |
恳求,乞求( entreat的现在分词 ) | |
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35 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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36 ascended | |
v.上升,攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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37 saviour | |
n.拯救者,救星 | |
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38 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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39 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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40 persecution | |
n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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41 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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42 inmate | |
n.被收容者;(房屋等的)居住人;住院人 | |
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43 aperture | |
n.孔,隙,窄的缺口 | |
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44 niche | |
n.壁龛;合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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45 brazen | |
adj.厚脸皮的,无耻的,坚硬的 | |
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46 meek | |
adj.温顺的,逆来顺受的 | |
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47 peril | |
n.(严重的)危险;危险的事物 | |
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48 marvelled | |
v.惊奇,对…感到惊奇( marvel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49 fatigues | |
n.疲劳( fatigue的名词复数 );杂役;厌倦;(士兵穿的)工作服 | |
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50 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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51 humbling | |
adj.令人羞辱的v.使谦恭( humble的现在分词 );轻松打败(尤指强大的对手);低声下气 | |
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52 virgin | |
n.处女,未婚女子;adj.未经使用的;未经开发的 | |
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53 gratitude | |
adj.感激,感谢 | |
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54 vouchsafed | |
v.给予,赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 );允诺 | |
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55 allotted | |
分配,拨给,摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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56 retired | |
adj.隐退的,退休的,退役的 | |
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57 slumbers | |
睡眠,安眠( slumber的名词复数 ) | |
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58 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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59 foaming | |
adj.布满泡沫的;发泡 | |
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60 merged | |
(使)混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 ); 相融; 融入; 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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61 paramount | |
a.最重要的,最高权力的 | |
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62 emancipation | |
n.(从束缚、支配下)解放 | |
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63 creed | |
n.信条;信念,纲领 | |
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64 patriotic | |
adj.爱国的,有爱国心的 | |
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65 solely | |
adv.仅仅,唯一地 | |
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66 sanguine | |
adj.充满希望的,乐观的,血红色的 | |
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67 chivalric | |
有武士气概的,有武士风范的 | |
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68 coveted | |
adj.令人垂涎的;垂涎的,梦寐以求的v.贪求,觊觎(covet的过去分词);垂涎;贪图 | |
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69 proffered | |
v.提供,贡献,提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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70 irresistible | |
adj.非常诱人的,无法拒绝的,无法抗拒的 | |
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71 conceal | |
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽 | |
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72 rejection | |
n.拒绝,被拒,抛弃,被弃 | |
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73 proceeding | |
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报 | |
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74 generosity | |
n.大度,慷慨,慷慨的行为 | |
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75 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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76 contingency | |
n.意外事件,可能性 | |
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77 shameful | |
adj.可耻的,不道德的 | |
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78 compensate | |
vt.补偿,赔偿;酬报 vi.弥补;补偿;抵消 | |
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79 infamy | |
n.声名狼藉,出丑,恶行 | |
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80 agitating | |
搅动( agitate的现在分词 ); 激怒; 使焦虑不安; (尤指为法律、社会状况的改变而)激烈争论 | |
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81 exertions | |
n.努力( exertion的名词复数 );费力;(能力、权力等的)运用;行使 | |
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