Beneath Aricia’s trees—
Those trees in whose dim shadow
MACAULAY.
§ 1. Diana and Virbius
The lake of Nemi.
WHO does not know Turner’s picture of the Golden Bough6? The scene, suffused7 with the golden glow of imagination in which the divine mind of Turner steeped and transfigured even the fairest natural landscape, is a dream-like vision of the little woodland lake of Nemi—“Diana’s Mirror,” as it was called by the ancients. No one who has seen that calm water, lapped in a green hollow of the Alban hills, can ever forget it. The two characteristic Italian villages which slumber9 on its banks, and the equally Italian palace whose terraced gardens descend10 steeply to the lake, hardly break the stillness and even the solitariness11 of the scene. Dian herself might still linger by this lonely shore, still haunt these woodlands wild.
In antiquity13 this sylvan14 landscape was the scene of a strange and recurring15 tragedy. In order to understand it aright we must try to form in our minds an accurate picture of the place where it happened; for, as we shall see later on, a subtle link subsisted16 between the natural beauty of the spot and the dark crimes which under the mask of religion were often perpetrated there, crimes which after the lapse18 of {p2} so many ages still lend a touch of melancholy19 to these quiet woods and waters, like a chill breath of autumn on one of those bright September days “while not a leaf seems faded.”
The Alban hills.
The Alban hills are a fine bold group of volcanic20 mountains which rise abruptly21 from the Campagna in full view of Rome, forming the last spur sent out by the Apennines towards the sea. Two of the extinct craters24 are now filled by two beautiful waters, the Alban lake and its lesser25 sister the lake of Nemi. Both lie far below the monastery-crowned top of Monte Cavo, the summit of the range, but yet so high above the plain that standing26 on the rim17 of the larger crater23 at Castel Gandolfo, where the Popes had their summer palace, you look down on the one hand into the Alban lake, and on the other away across the Campagna to where, on the western horizon, the sea flashes like a broad sheet of burnished27 gold in the sun.
The lake of Nemi is still as of old embowered in woods, where in spring the wild flowers blow as fresh as no doubt they did two thousand springs ago. It lies so deep down in the old crater that the calm surface of its clear water is seldom ruffled29 by the wind. On all sides but one the banks, thickly mantled30 with luxuriant vegetation, descend steeply to the water’s edge. Only on the north a stretch of flat ground intervenes between the lake and the foot of the hills. This was the scene of the tragedy. Here, in the very heart of the wooded hills, under the abrupt22 declivity31 now crested32 by the village of Nemi, the sylvan goddess Diana had an old and famous sanctuary, the resort of pilgrims from all parts of Latium. It was known as the sacred grove33 of Diana Nemorensis, that is, Diana of the Wood, or, perhaps more exactly, Diana of the Woodland Glade34.?[1] Sometimes the lake and grove were called, after the nearest town, the lake {p3} and grove of Aricia.?[2] But the town, the modern Ariccia, lay three miles away at the foot of the mountains, and separated from the lake by a long and steep descent. A spacious35 terrace or platform contained the sanctuary. On the north and east it was bounded by great retaining walls which cut into the hillsides and served to support them. Semicircular niches36 sunk in the walls and faced with columns formed a series of chapels37, which in modern times have yielded a rich harvest of votive offerings. On the side of the lake the terrace rested on a mighty38 wall, over seven hundred feet long by thirty feet high, built in triangular39 buttresses40, like those which we see in front of the piers41 of bridges to break floating ice. At present this terrace-wall stands back some hundred yards from the lake; in other days its buttresses may have been lapped by the water. Compared with the extent of the sacred precinct, the temple itself was not large; but its remains42 prove it to have been neatly43 and solidly built of massive blocks of peperino, and adorned44 with Doric columns of the same material. Elaborate cornices of marble and friezes46 of terra-cotta contributed to the outward splendour of the edifice47, which appears to have been further enhanced by tiles of gilt48 bronze.?[3] {p4}
The great wealth and popularity of the sanctuary in antiquity are attested50 by ancient writers as well as by the remains which have come to light in modern times. In the civil war its sacred treasures went to replenish52 the empty coffers of Octavian,?[4] who well understood the useful art of thus securing the divine assistance, if not the divine blessing53, for the furtherance of his ends. But we are not told that he treated Diana on this occasion as civilly as his divine uncle Julius Caesar once treated Capitoline Jupiter himself, borrowing three thousand pounds’ weight of solid gold from the god, and scrupulously54 paying him back with the same weight of gilt copper55.?[5] However, the sanctuary at Nemi recovered from this drain on its resources, for two centuries later it was still reputed one of the richest in Italy.?[6] Ovid has described the walls hung with fillets and commemorative tablets;?[7] and the abundance of cheap votive offerings and copper coins, which the site has yielded in our own day, speaks volumes for the piety56 and numbers, if not for the opulence57 and liberality, of the worshippers. Swarms58 of beggars used to stream forth59 daily from the slums of Aricia and take their stand on the long slope up which the labouring horses dragged well-to-do pilgrims to the shrine; and according to the response which their whines60 and importunities met with they blew kisses or hissed61 curses after the carriages as they swept rapidly down hill again.?[8] {p5} Even peoples and potentates62 of the East did homage63 to the lady of the lake by setting up monuments in her sanctuary; and within the precinct stood shrines64 of the Egyptian goddesses Isis and Bubastis, with a store of gorgeous jewellery.?[9]
The retirement66 of the spot and the beauty of the landscape naturally tempted67 some of the luxurious68 Roman nobles to fix their summer residences by the lake.?[10] Here Lucius Caesar had a house to which, on a day in early summer, only two months after the murder of his illustrious namesake, he invited Cicero to meet the assassin Brutus.?[11] The emperors themselves appear to have been partial to a retreat where they could find repose70 from the cares of state and the bustle72 of the great city in the fresh air of the lake and the stillness of the woods. Here Julius Caesar built himself a costly73 villa8, but pulled it down because it was not to his mind.?[12] Here Caligula had two magnificent barges74, or rather floating palaces, launched for him on the lake;?[13] and it was while dallying75 in the woods of Nemi that the sluggard76 Vitellius received the tidings of revolt which woke him from his dream of pleasure and called him to arms.?[14] Vespasian had a monument dedicated77 to his honour in the {p6} grove by the senate and people of Aricia: Trajan condescended78 to fill the chief magistracy of the town; and Hadrian indulged his taste for architecture by restoring a structure which had been erected79 in the precinct by a prince of the royal house of Parthia.?[15]
Diana as the mistress of wild animals.
Diana as the patroness of cattle.
Analogy of St. Leonhard in Germany.
Such, then, was the sanctuary of Diana at Nemi, a fitting home for the “mistress of mountains, and forests green, and lonely glades80, and sounding rivers,” as Catullus calls her.?[16] Multitudes of her statuettes, appropriately clad in the short tunic81 and high buskins of a huntress, with the quiver slung82 over her shoulder, have been found on the spot. Some of them represent her with her bow in her hand or her hound at her side.?[17] Bronze and iron spears, and images of stags and hinds83, discovered within the precinct,?[18] may have been offerings of huntsmen to the huntress goddess for success in the chase. Similarly the bronze tridents, which have also come to light at Nemi, were perhaps presented by fishermen who had speared fish in the lake, or maybe by hunters who had stabbed boars in the forest.?[19] The wild boar was still hunted in Italy down to the end of the first century of our era; for the younger Pliny tells us how, with his usual charming affectation, he sat meditating84 and reading by the nets, while three fine boars fell into them.?[20] Indeed, some fourteen-hundred years later boar-hunting was a favourite pastime of Pope {p7} Leo the Tenth.?[21] A frieze45 of painted reliefs in terra-cotta, which was found in the sanctuary at Nemi, and may have adorned Diana’s temple, portrays85 the goddess in the character of what is called the Asiatic Artemis, with wings sprouting86 from her waist and a lion resting its paws on each of her shoulders.?[22] A few rude images of cows, oxen, horses, and pigs dug up on the site may perhaps indicate that Diana was here worshipped as the patroness of domestic animals as well as of the wild creatures of the wood.?[23] In like manner her Greek counterpart Artemis was a goddess not only of game but of herds87. Thus her sanctuary in the highlands of north-western Arcadia, between Clitor and Cynaethae, owned sacred cattle which were driven off by Aetolian freebooters on one of their forays.?[24] When Xenophon returned from the wars and settled on his estate among the wooded hills and green meadows of the rich valley through which the Alpheus flows past Olympia, he dedicated to Artemis a little temple on the model of her great temple at Ephesus, surrounded it with a grove of all kinds of fruit-trees, and endowed it not only with a chase but also with a sacred pasture. The chase abounded90 in fish and game of all sorts, and the pasture sufficed to rear swine, goats, oxen, and horses; and on her yearly festival the pious91 soldier sacrificed to the goddess a tithe92 both of the cattle from the sacred pasture and of the game from the sacred chase.?[25] Again, the people of Hyampolis in Phocis worshipped Artemis and thought that no cattle throve like those which they dedicated to her.?[26] Perhaps then the images of cattle found in Diana’s precinct at Nemi were offered to her by herdsmen to ensure her blessing on their herds. In Catholic Germany at the present time the great patron of cattle, horses, and pigs is St. Leonhard, and models of cattle, horses, and pigs are dedicated to him, sometimes in order to ensure the health and increase of the flocks and herds through the coming year, sometimes in order to {p8} obtain the recovery of sick animals.?[27] And, curiously93 enough, like Diana of Aricia, St. Leonhard is also expected to help women in travail94 and to bless barren wives with offspring.?[28] Nor do these points exhaust the analogy between St. Leonard and Diana of Aricia; for like the goddess the saint heals the sick; he is the patron of prisoners, as she was of runaway95 slaves; and his shrines, like hers, enjoyed the right of asylum96.?[29]
Nemi an image of Italy in the olden time.
So to the last, in spite of a few villas peeping out here and there from among the trees, Nemi seems to have remained in some sense an image of what Italy had been in the far-off days when the land was still sparsely97 peopled with tribes of savage98 hunters or wandering herdsmen, when the beechwoods and oakwoods, with their deciduous99 foliage100, reddening in autumn and bare in winter, had not yet begun, under the hand of man, to yield to the evergreens101 of the south, the laurel, the olive, the cypress103, and the oleander, still less to those intruders of a later age, which nowadays we are apt to think of as characteristically Italian, the lemon and the orange.?[30]
Rule of succession to the priesthood of Diana at Nemi.
However, it was not merely in its natural surroundings that this ancient shrine of the sylvan goddess continued to be a type or miniature of the past. Down to the decline of Rome a custom was observed there which seems to transport us at once from civilisation105 to savagery106. In the sacred grove there grew a certain tree round which at any time of the day, and probably far into the night, a grim figure might be seen to prowl. In his hand he carried a drawn107 sword, and he kept peering warily108 about him as if {p9} at every instant he expected to be set upon by an enemy.?[31] He was a priest and a murderer; and the man for whom he looked was sooner or later to murder him and hold the priesthood in his stead. Such was the rule of the sanctuary. A candidate for the priesthood could only succeed to office by slaying109 the priest, and having slain him, he retained office till he was himself slain by a stronger or a craftier110.
The priest who slew the slayer.
The post which he held by this precarious111 tenure112 carried with it the title of king; but surely no crowned head ever lay uneasier, or was visited by more evil dreams, than his. For year in year out, in summer and winter, in fair weather and in foul113, he had to keep his lonely watch, and whenever he snatched a troubled slumber it was at the peril114 of his life. The least relaxation115 of his vigilance, the smallest abatement116 of his strength of limb or skill of fence, put him in jeopardy117; grey hairs might seal his death-warrant. His eyes probably acquired that restless, watchful118 look which, among the Esquimaux of Bering Strait, is said to betray infallibly the shedder of blood; for with that people revenge is a sacred duty, and the manslayer carries his life in his hand.?[32] To gentle and pious pilgrims at the shrine the sight of him might well seem to darken the fair landscape, as when a cloud suddenly blots119 the sun on a bright day. The dreamy blue of Italian skies, the dappled shade of summer woods, and the sparkle of waves in the sun, can have accorded but ill with that stern and sinister120 figure. Rather we picture to ourselves the scene as it may have been witnessed by a belated wayfarer121 on one of those wild autumn nights when the dead leaves are falling thick, and the winds seem to sing the dirge122 of the dying year. It is a sombre picture, set to melancholy music—the background of forest shewing black and jagged against a lowering and stormy sky, the sighing of the wind in the branches, the rustle123 of the withered124 leaves under foot, the lapping of the cold water on the shore, and in the foreground, pacing to and fro, now in twilight125 and now in gloom, a dark figure with a glitter {p10} of steel at the shoulder whenever the pale moon, riding clear of the cloud-rack, peers down at him through the matted boughs126.
Possibility of explaining the rule of succession by the comparative method.
The strange rule of this priesthood has no parallel in classical antiquity, and cannot be explained from it. To find an explanation we must go farther afield. No one will probably deny that such a custom savours of a barbarous age, and, surviving into imperial times, stands out in striking isolation127 from the polished Italian society of the day, like a primaeval rock rising from a smooth-shaven lawn. It is the very rudeness and barbarity of the custom which allow us a hope of explaining it. For recent researches into the early history of man have revealed the essential similarity with which, under many superficial differences, the human mind has elaborated its first crude philosophy of life. Accordingly, if we can shew that a barbarous custom, like that of the priesthood of Nemi, has existed elsewhere; if we can detect the motives128 which led to its institution; if we can prove that these motives have operated widely, perhaps universally, in human society, producing in varied130 circumstances a variety of institutions specifically different but generically131 alike; if we can shew, lastly, that these very motives, with some of their derivative132 institutions, were actually at work in classical antiquity; then we may fairly infer that at a remoter age the same motives gave birth to the priesthood of Nemi. Such an inference, in default of direct evidence as to how the priesthood did actually arise, can never amount to demonstration133. But it will be more or less probable according to the degree of completeness with which it fulfils the conditions I have indicated. The object of this book is, by meeting these conditions, to offer a fairly probable explanation of the priesthood of Nemi.
Legend of the origin of the Nemi worship: Orestes and the Tauric Diana.
The King of the Wood.
I begin by setting forth the few facts and legends which have come down to us on the subject. According to one story the worship of Diana at Nemi was instituted by Orestes, who, after killing134 Thoas, King of the Tauric Chersonese (the Crimea), fled with his sister to Italy, bringing with him the image of the Tauric Diana hidden in a faggot of sticks. After his death his bones were transported from Aricia to Rome and buried in front of the temple of Saturn135, on the {p11} Capitoline slope, beside the temple of Concord136. The bloody137 ritual which legend ascribed to the Tauric Diana is familiar to classical readers; it is said that every stranger who landed on the shore was sacrificed on her altar. But transported to Italy, the rite51 assumed a milder form. Within the sanctuary at Nemi grew a certain tree of which no branch might be broken. Only a runaway slave was allowed to break off, if he could, one of its boughs. Success in the attempt entitled him to fight the priest in single combat, and if he slew him he reigned138 in his stead with the title of King of the Wood (Rex Nemorensis). According to the public opinion of the ancients the fateful branch was that Golden Bough which, at the Sibyl’s bidding, Aeneas plucked before he essayed the perilous139 journey to the world of the dead. The flight of the slave represented, it was said, the flight of Orestes; his combat with the priest was a reminiscence of the human sacrifices once offered to the Tauric Diana. This rule of succession by the sword was observed down to imperial times; for amongst his other freaks Caligula, thinking that the priest of Nemi had held office too long, hired a more stalwart ruffian to slay4 him; and a Greek traveller, who visited Italy in the age of the Antonines, remarks that down to his time the priesthood was still the prize of victory in a single combat.?[33] {p12}
Chief features of the worship of Diana at Nemi.
Importance of fire in her ritual.
Diana as Vesta.
Of the worship of Diana at Nemi some leading features can still be made out. From the votive offerings which have been found on the site, it appears that she was conceived of especially as a huntress, and further as blessing men and women with offspring, and granting expectant mothers an easy delivery.?[34] Again, fire seems to have played a foremost part in her ritual. For during her annual festival, held on the thirteenth of August, at the hottest time of the year, her grove shone with a multitude of torches, whose ruddy glare was reflected by the lake; and throughout the length and breadth of Italy the day was kept with holy rites141 at every domestic hearth142.?[35] Bronze statuettes found in her precinct represent the goddess herself holding a torch in her raised right hand;?[36] and women whose prayers had been heard by her came crowned with wreaths and bearing lighted torches to the sanctuary in fulfilment of their vows143.?[37] Some one unknown {p13} dedicated a perpetually burning lamp in a little shrine at Nemi for the safety of the Emperor Claudius and his family.?[38] The terra-cotta lamps which have been discovered in the grove?[39] may perhaps have served a like purpose for humbler persons. If so, the analogy of the custom to the Catholic practice of dedicating holy candles in churches would be obvious.?[40] Further, the title of Vesta borne by Diana at Nemi?[41] points clearly to the maintenance of a perpetual holy fire in her sanctuary. A large circular basement at the north-east corner of the temple, raised on three steps and bearing traces of a mosaic145 pavement, probably supported a round temple of Diana in her character of Vesta, like the round temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum146.?[42] Here the sacred fire would seem to have been tended by Vestal Virgins148, for the head of a Vestal in terra-cotta was found on the spot,?[43] and the worship of a perpetual fire, cared for by holy maidens149, appears to have been common in Latium from the earliest to the latest times.?[44] Thus we know that among the ruins of Alba the Vestal fire was kept burning by Vestal Virgins, bound to strict chastity, until the end of the fourth century of our era.?[45] There were Vestals at {p14} Tibur?[46] and doubtless also at Lavinium, for the Roman consuls151, praetors, and dictators had to sacrifice to Vesta at that ancient city when they entered on or laid down their office.?[47]
Diana’s festival on August 13 converted by the Christian152 Church into the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin147 on August 15.
The Virgin Mary seems to have succeeded Artemis and Diana as the patroness of the ripening153 fruits.
Survivals of Diana’s festival in Italy, Sicily, and Scandinavia.
The Virgin Mary and the goddess Anaitis.
At her annual festival, which, as we have just seen, was celebrated154 all over Italy on the thirteenth of August, hunting dogs were crowned and wild beasts were not molested156; young people went through a purificatory ceremony in her honour; wine was brought forth, and the feast consisted of a kid, cakes served piping hot on plates of leaves, and apples still hanging in clusters on the boughs.?[48] The Christian Church appears to have sanctified this great festival of the virgin goddess by adroitly157 converting it into the festival of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin on the fifteenth of August.?[49] The discrepancy158 of two days between the dates of the festivals is not a fatal argument against their identity; for a similar displacement159 of two days occurs in the case of St. George’s festival on the twenty-third of April, which is probably identical with the ancient Roman festival of the Parilia on April twenty-first.?[50] On the reasons which prompted this conversion160 of the festival of the Virgin Diana into the festival of the Virgin Mary, some light is thrown by a passage in the Syriac text of The Departure of My Lady Mary from this World, which runs thus: “And the apostles also ordered that there should be a commemoration of the blessed one on the thirteenth of Ab [that is, August; another MS. reads the 15th of Ab], on account of the vines bearing bunches (of grapes), and on account of the trees bearing fruit, that clouds of hail, bearing stones of wrath161, might not come, and the trees be broken, and their fruits, and the vines with their clusters.”?[51] Here the festival of {p15} the Assumption of the Virgin is definitely said to have been fixed162 on the thirteenth or fifteenth of August for the sake of protecting the ripening grapes and other fruits. Similarly in the Arabic text of the apocryphal163 work On the Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is attributed to the Apostle John, there occurs the following passage: “Also a festival in her honour was instituted on the fifteenth day of the month Ab [that is, August], which is the day of her passing from this world, the day on which the miracles were performed, and the time when the fruits of trees are ripening.”?[52] Further, in the calendars of the Syrian Church the fifteenth of August is repeatedly designated as the festival of the Mother of God “for the vines”;?[53] and to this day in Greece the ripening grapes and other fruits are brought to the churches to be blest by the priests on the fifteenth of August.?[54] Now we hear of vineyards and plantations164 dedicated to Artemis, fruits offered to her, and her temple standing in an orchard165.?[55] Hence we may conjecture166 that her Italian sister Diana was also revered167 as a patroness of vines and fruit-trees, and that on the thirteenth of August the {p16} owners of vineyards and orchards168 paid their respects to her at Nemi along with other classes of the community. We have just seen that wine and apples still hanging on the boughs formed part of the festal cheer on that day; in an ancient fresco169 found at Ostia a statue of Diana is depicted170 in company with a procession of children, some of whom bear clusters of grapes;?[56] and in a series of gems171 the goddess is represented with a branch of fruit in one hand and a cup, which is sometimes full of fruit, in the other.?[57] Catullus, too, tells us that Diana filled the husbandman’s barns with a bounteous172 harvest.?[58] In some parts of Italy and Sicily the day of the Assumption of the Virgin is still celebrated, like Diana’s day of old, with illuminations and bonfires; in many Sicilian parishes the corn is then brought in sacks to the churches to be blessed, and many persons, who have a favour to ask of the Virgin, vow144 to abstain173 from one or more kinds of fruit during the first fifteen days of August.?[59] Even in Scandinavia a relic174 of the worship of Diana survived in the custom of blessing the fruits of the earth of every sort, which in Catholic times was annually175 observed on the festival of the Assumption of the Virgin.?[60] There is no intrinsic improbability in the view that for the sake of edification the church may have converted a real heathen festival into a nominal176 Christian one. Similarly in the Armenian Church “according to the express evidence of the Armenian fathers of the year 700 and later, the day of the Virgin was placed on September the fifteenth, because that was the day of Anahite, the magnificence of whose feast the Christian doctors hoped thereby177 to transfer to Mary.”?[61] This Anahite or Anaitis, as the Greeks called her, the Armenian predecessor178 of the Virgin Mary, was a great Oriental goddess, {p17} whose worship was exceedingly popular not only in Armenia but in the adjoining countries. The loose character of her rites is plainly indicated by Strabo, himself a native of these regions.?[62]
The 13th of August a harvest festival among the Celts of Gaul.
Among the ancient Celts of Gaul, who, to judge by their speech, were near kinsmen179 of the ancient Latins, the thirteenth of August appears to have been the day when the harvest was dedicated to the harvest-god Rivos.?[63] If that was so, we may conjecture that the choice of a day in mid-August for the solemn celebration of the harvest-home dates from the remote time when the ancestors of the Celtic and Italian peoples, having renounced180 the wandering life of the huntsman and herdsman, had settled down together in some land of fertile soil and temperate181 climate, where harvest fell neither so late as after the cool rainy summers of the North nor so early as before the torrid and rainless summers of southern Europe.
Egeria, water-nymph and wife of Numa.
But Diana did not reign alone in her grove at Nemi.?[64] Two lesser divinities shared her forest sanctuary. One was Egeria, the nymph of the clear water which, bubbling from the basaltic rocks, used to fall in graceful182 cascades183 into the lake at the place called Le Mole155, because here were established the mills of the modern village of Nemi. The purling of the stream as it ran over the pebbles184 is mentioned by Ovid, who tells us that he had often drunk of its water.?[65] {p18} Women with child used to sacrifice to Egeria, because she was believed, like Diana, to be able to grant them an easy delivery.?[66] Tradition ran that the nymph had been the wife or mistress of the wise king Numa, that he had consorted185 with her in the secrecy187 of the sacred grove, and that the laws which he gave the Romans had been inspired by communion with her divinity.?[67] Plutarch compares the legend with other tales of the loves of goddesses for mortal men, such as the love of Cybele and the Moon for the fair youths Attis and Endymion.?[68] According to some, the trysting-place of the lovers was not in the woods of Nemi but in a grove outside the dripping Porta Capena at Rome, where another sacred spring of Egeria gushed188 from a dark cavern189.?[69] Every day the Roman Vestals fetched water from this spring to wash the temple of Vesta, carrying it in earthenware190 pitchers191 on their heads.?[70] In Juvenal’s time the natural rock had been encased in marble, and the hallowed spot was profaned192 by gangs of poor Jews, who were suffered to squat193, like gypsies, in the grove. We may suppose that the spring which fell into the lake of Nemi was the true original Egeria, and that when the first settlers moved down from the Alban hills to the banks of the Tiber they brought {p19} the nymph with them and found a new home for her in a grove outside the gates.?[71] The remains of baths which have been discovered within the sacred precinct,?[72] together with many terra-cotta models of various parts of the human body,?[73] suggest that the waters of Egeria were used to heal the sick, who may have signified their hopes or testified their gratitude194 by dedicating likenesses of the diseased members to the goddess, in accordance with a custom which is still observed in many parts of Europe.?[74] To this day it would seem that the spring retains medicinal virtues195.?[75]
Virbius, the male companion of Diana.
The other of the minor196 deities197 at Nemi was Virbius. Legend had it that Virbius was the young Greek hero Hippolytus, chaste198 and fair, who learned the art of venery from the centaur199 Chiron, and spent all his days in the greenwood chasing wild beasts with the virgin huntress Artemis (the Greek counterpart of Diana) for his only comrade. Proud of her divine society, he spurned200 the love of women,?[76] and this proved his bane. For Aphrodite, stung by his scorn, inspired his stepmother Phaedra with love of him; and when he disdained201 her wicked advances she falsely accused him to his father Theseus. The slander202 was believed, and Theseus prayed to his sire Poseidon to avenge203 the imagined wrong. So while Hippolytus drove in a chariot by the shore of the Saronic Gulf204, the sea-god {p20} sent a fierce bull forth from the waves. The terrified horses bolted, threw Hippolytus from the chariot, and dragged him at their hoofs205 to death.?[77] But Diana, for the love she bore Hippolytus, persuaded the leech206 Aesculapius to bring her fair young hunter back to life by his simples. Jupiter, indignant that a mortal man should return from the gates of death, thrust down the meddling207 leech himself to Hades. But Diana hid her favourite from the angry god in a thick cloud, disguised his features by adding years to his life, and then bore him far away to the dells of Nemi, where she entrusted208 him to the nymph Egeria, to live there, unknown and solitary209, under the name of Virbius, in the depth of the Italian forest. There he reigned a king, and there he dedicated a precinct to Diana. He had a comely210 son, Virbius, who, undaunted by his father’s fate, drove a team of fiery211 steeds to join the Latins in the war against Aeneas and the Trojans.?[78] Virbius was worshipped as a god not only at Nemi but elsewhere; for in Campania we hear of a special priest devoted212 to his service.?[79] Horses were excluded from the Arician grove and sanctuary because horses had killed Hippolytus.?[80] It was unlawful to touch his image. Some thought that he was the sun.?[81] “But the {p21} truth is,” says Servius, “that he is a deity213 associated with Diana, as Attis is associated with the Mother of the Gods, and Erichthonius with Minerva, and Adonis with Venus.”?[82] What the nature of that association was we shall enquire214 presently. Here it is worth observing that in his long and chequered career this mythical215 personage has displayed a remarkable216 tenacity217 of life. For we can hardly doubt that the Saint Hippolytus of the Roman calendar, who was dragged by horses to death on the thirteenth of August, Diana’s own day, is no other than the Greek hero of the same name, who after dying twice over as a heathen sinner has been happily resuscitated218 as a Christian saint.?[83]
The legends of Nemi invented to explain the ritual.
Tradition that the grove of Nemi was dedicated by a Latin dictator.
It needs no elaborate demonstration to convince us that the stories told to account for Diana’s worship at Nemi are unhistorical. Clearly they belong to that large class of myths which are made up to explain the origin of a religious ritual and have no other foundation than the resemblance, real or imaginary, which may be traced between it and some foreign ritual. The incongruity219 of these Nemi myths is indeed transparent220, since the foundation of the worship is traced now to Orestes and now to Hippolytus, according as {p22} this or that feature of the ritual has to be accounted for. The real value of such tales is that they serve to illustrate221 the nature of the worship by providing a standard with which to compare it; and further, that they bear witness indirectly222 to its venerable age by shewing that the true origin was lost in the mists of a fabulous223 antiquity. In the latter respect these Nemi legends are probably more to be trusted than the apparently224 historical tradition, vouched225 for by Cato the Elder, that the sacred grove was dedicated to Diana by a certain Egerius Baebius or Laevius of Tusculum, a Latin dictator, on behalf of the peoples of Tusculum, Aricia, Lanuvium, Laurentum, Cora, Tibur, Pometia, and Ardea.?[84] This tradition indeed speaks for the great age of the sanctuary, since it seems to date its foundation sometime before 495 B.C., the year in which Pometia was sacked by the Romans and disappears from history.?[85] But we cannot suppose that so barbarous a rule as that of the Arician priesthood was deliberately226 instituted by a league of civilised communities, such as the Latin cities undoubtedly227 were. It must have been handed down from a time beyond the memory of man, when Italy was still in a far ruder state than any known to us in the historical period. The credit of the tradition is rather shaken than confirmed by another story which ascribes the foundation of the sanctuary to a certain Manius Egerius, who gave rise to the saying, “There are many Manii at Aricia.” This proverb some explained by alleging228 that Manius Egerius was the ancestor of a long and distinguished229 line, whereas others thought it meant that there were many ugly and deformed230 people at Aricia, and they derived231 the name Manius from Mania232, a bogey233 or bugbear to frighten children.?[86] A Roman satirist234 uses the name Manius as typical of the beggars who lay in wait for pilgrims on the Arician slopes.?[87] These differences of opinion, together with the discrepancy between Manius Egerius of Aricia and Egerius Laevius of Tusculum, as well as the resemblance of both names to the mythical Egeria,?[88] excite {p23} our suspicion. Yet the tradition recorded by Cato seems too circumstantial, and its sponsor too respectable, to allow us to dismiss it as an idle fiction.?[89] Rather we may suppose that it refers to some ancient restoration or reconstruction235 of the sanctuary, which was actually carried out by the confederate states.?[90] At any rate it testifies to a belief that the grove had been from early times a common place of worship for many of the oldest cities of the country, if not for the whole Latin confederacy.?[91]
Evidence of the antiquity of the grove.
Another argument of antiquity may be drawn from some of the votive offerings found on the spot, such as a sacrificial ladle of bronze bearing Diana’s name in archaic236 Greek letters,?[92] and pieces of the oldest kind of Italian money, being merely shapeless bits of copper, unstamped and valued by weight.?[93] But as the use of such old-fashioned money {p24} survived in offerings to the gods long after it vanished from daily life,?[94] no great stress can be laid on its occurrence at Nemi as evidence of the age of the shrine.
§ 2. Artemis and Hippolytus
Origin of the Arician myths of Orestes and Hippolytus.
I have said that the Arician legends of Orestes and Hippolytus, though worthless as history, have a certain value in so far as they may help us to understand the worship at Nemi better by comparing it with the ritual and myths of other sanctuaries237. We must ask ourselves, Why did the authors of these legends pitch upon Orestes and Hippolytus in order to explain Virbius and the King of the Wood? In regard to Orestes, the answer is obvious. He and the image of the Tauric Diana, which could only be appeased238 with human blood,?[95] were dragged in to render intelligible239 the murderous rule of succession to the Arician priesthood. In regard to Hippolytus the case is not so plain. The manner of his death suggests readily enough a reason for the exclusion240 of horses from the grove; but this by itself seems hardly enough to account for the identification. We must try to probe deeper by examining the worship as well as the legend or myth of Hippolytus.
Worship of Hippolytus at Troezen.
Hippolytus a mythical being of the Adonis type.
He had a famous sanctuary at his ancestral home of Troezen, situated241 on that beautiful, almost landlocked bay, where groves242 of oranges and lemons, with tall cypresses243 soaring like dark spires244 above the garden of the Hesperides, now clothe the strip of fertile shore at the foot of the rugged245 mountains. Across the blue water of the tranquil246 bay, which it shelters from the open sea, rises Poseidon’s sacred island, its peaks veiled in the sombre green of the pines. On this fair coast Hippolytus was worshipped. Within his sanctuary stood a temple with an ancient image. His service was performed by a priest who held office for life: every year a sacrificial festival was held in his honour; and his untimely fate was yearly mourned, with weeping and {p25} doleful chants, by unwedded maids, who also dedicated locks of their hair in his temple before marriage.?[96] His grave existed at Troezen, though the people would not shew it.?[97] It has been suggested, with great plausibility247, that in the handsome Hippolytus, beloved of Artemis, cut off in his youthful prime, and yearly mourned by damsels, we have one of those mortal lovers of a goddess who appear so often in ancient religion, and of whom Adonis is the most familiar type. The rivalry248 of Artemis and Phaedra for the affection of Hippolytus reproduces, it is said, under different names, the rivalry of Aphrodite and Proserpine for the love of Adonis, for Phaedra is merely a double of Aphrodite.?[98] Certainly in the Hippolytus of Euripides the tragedy of the hero’s death is traced directly to the anger of Aphrodite at his contempt for her power, and Phaedra is nothing but a tool of the goddess. Moreover, within the precinct of Hippolytus at Troezen there stood a temple of Peeping Aphrodite, which was so named, we are told, because from this spot the amorous249 Phaedra used to watch Hippolytus at his manly250 sports. Clearly the name would be still more appropriate if it was Aphrodite herself who peeped. And beside this temple of Aphrodite grew a myrtle-tree with pierced leaves, which the hapless Phaedra, in the pangs251 of love, had pricked252 with her bodkin.?[99] Now the myrtle, with its glossy253 evergreen102 leaves, its red and white blossom, and its fragrant254 perfume, was Aphrodite’s own tree, and legend associated it with the birth of Adonis.?[100] At Athens also Hippolytus was intimately associated with Aphrodite, for on the south side of the Acropolis, looking towards Troezen, a barrow or sepulchral255 mound256 in his memory was shewn, and beside it stood a temple of Aphrodite, said to have been founded by Phaedra, which bore the name of the temple of Aphrodite at {p26} Hippolytus.?[101] The conjunction, both in Troezen and in Athens, of his grave with a temple of the goddess of love is significant. Later on we shall meet with mounds257 in which the lovers of the great Asiatic goddess were said to lie buried.
The divine mistresses of Hippolytus associated with oaks.
If this view of the relation of Hippolytus to Artemis and Aphrodite is right, it is somewhat remarkable that both his divine mistresses appear to have been associated at Troezen with oaks. For Aphrodite was here worshipped under the title of Askraia, that is, she of the Fruitless Oak;?[102] and Hippolytus was said to have met his death not far from a sanctuary of Saronian Artemis, that is, Artemis of the Hollow Oak, for here the wild olive-tree was shewn in which the reins258 of his chariot became entangled259, and so brought him to the ground.?[103]
Orestes at Troezen.
It may not be without significance that Orestes, the other mythical hero of Nemi, also appears in the legendary260 history of Troezen. For at Troezen there was a temple of Wolfish Artemis, said to have been dedicated by Hippolytus, and in front of the temple stood a sacred stone upon which nine men, according to the legend, had cleansed261 Orestes from the guilt262 of his mother’s murder. In the solemn rite they made use of water drawn from the Horse’s Fount; and as late as the second century of our era their descendants dined together on certain set days in a building called the Booth of Orestes. Before the building there grew a laurel-tree which was said to have sprung on the spot where the things used in purifying the matricide were buried. The old traveller Pausanias, to whom we owe so much of our knowledge of ancient Greece, could not learn why {p27} Hippolytus dedicated a temple to Wolfish Artemis; but he conjectured263 that it might have been because he extirpated264 the packs of wolves that used to scour265 the country.?[104]
Hippolytus in relation to horses and wolves.
Another point in the myth of Hippolytus which deserves attention is the frequent recurrence266 of horses in it. His name signifies either “horse-loosed” or “horse-looser”;?[105] he consecrated267 twenty horses to Aesculapius at Epidaurus;?[106] he was killed by horses; the Horse’s Fount probably flowed not far from the temple which he built for Wolfish Artemis; and horses were sacred to his grandsire Poseidon, who had an ancient sanctuary in the wooded island across the bay, where the ruins of it may still be seen in the pine-forest.?[107] Lastly, Hippolytus’s sanctuary at Troezen was said to have been founded by Diomede, whose mythical connexion both with horses and wolves is attested. For the Veneti, at the head of the Adriatic, were famed for their breed of horses, and they had a sacred grove of Diomede, at the spot where many springs burst forth from the foot of a lofty cliff, forming at once the broad and deep river Timavus (the modern Timao), which flows with a still and tranquil current into the neighbouring sea. Here the Veneti sacrificed a white horse to Diomede; and associated with his grove were two others, sacred to Argive Hera and Aetolian Artemis. In these groves wild beasts were reported to lose their ferocity, and deer to herd88 with wolves. Moreover, the horses of the district, famed for their speed, were said to have been branded with the mark of a wolf.?[108] Thus Hippolytus was associated with the horse in many ways, and this association may have been used to explain more features of the Arician ritual than the mere104 exclusion of the animal from the sacred grove.?[109] {p28} To this point we shall return later on. Whether his relation to wolves was also invoked268 to account for any other aspect of the worship at Nemi we cannot say, since the wolf plays no part in the scanty269 notices of that worship which have come down to us.?[110] But doubtless, as one of the wild creatures of the wood, the beast would be under the special care of Diana.
Hair offered before marriage to Hippolytus and others.
The custom observed by Troezenian girls of offering tresses of their hair to Hippolytus before their wedding brings him into a relation with marriage, which at first sight seems out of keeping with his reputation as a confirmed bachelor. According to Lucian, youths as well as maidens at Troezen were forbidden to wed89 till they had shorn their hair in honour of Hippolytus, and we gather from the context that it was their first beard which the young men thus polled.?[111] However we may explain it, a custom of this sort appears to have prevailed widely both in Greece and the East. Plutarch tells us that formerly270 it was the wont271 of boys at puberty to go to Delphi and offer of their hair to Apollo; Theseus, the father of Hippolytus, complied with the custom,?[112] which lasted down into historical times.?[113] Argive maidens, grown to womanhood, dedicated their tresses to Athena before marriage.?[114] On the same occasion Megarian girls poured libations and laid clippings of their hair on the tomb of the maiden150 Iphinoe.?[115] At the entrance to the temple of Artemis in Delos the grave of two maidens was shewn under an olive-tree. It was said that long ago they had come as pilgrims from a far northern land with offerings to Apollo, and dying in the sacred isle272 were buried there. The Delian virgins before marriage used to cut off a lock of their hair, wind it on a spindle, and lay it on the maidens’ grave. The young men did the same, except that they twisted the down of their first beard round a wisp of grass or a green shoot.?[116] In some places it was Artemis who {p29} received the offering of a maiden’s hair before marriage.?[117] At Panamara in Caria men dedicated locks of their hair in the temple of Zeus. The locks were enclosed in little stone boxes, some of them fitted with a marble lid or shutter273, and the name of the dedicator was engraved274 on a square sinking in the stone, together with the name of the priest for the time being. Many of these inscribed275 boxes have been found of late years on the spot. None of them bear the names of women; some of them are inscribed with the names of a father and his sons. All the dedications276 are to Zeus alone, though Hera was also worshipped with him at Panamara.?[118] At Hierapolis, on the Euphrates, youths offered of their beards and girls of their tresses to the great Syrian goddess, and left the shorn hair in caskets of gold or silver, inscribed with their names, and nailed to the walls of the temple.?[119] The custom of dedicating the first beard seems to have been common at Rome under the Empire.?[120] Thus Nero consecrated his first beard in a golden box, studded with costly pearls, on the Capitol.?[121]
Such offerings intended to communicate strength and fertility.
Egyptian practice.
Some light is perhaps thrown on the meaning of these practices by two ancient Oriental customs, the one Egyptian, the other Phoenician. When Egyptian boys or girls had recovered from sickness, their parents used to shave the children’s heads, weigh the hair against gold or silver, and give the precious metal to the keepers of the sacred beasts, who bought food with it for the animals according to their tastes. These tastes varied with the nature of the beast, and the beast varied with the district. Where hawks277 were worshipped, the keepers chopped up flesh, and calling the birds in a loud voice, flung the gobbets up into the air, till the hawks stooped and caught them. Where cats, or ichneumons, or {p30} fish were the local deities, the keepers crumbled278 bread in milk and set it before them, or threw it into the Nile. And similarly with the rest of the divine menagery.?[122] Thus in Egypt the offerings of hair went to feed the worshipful animals.
Syrian practice; sacrifice of chastity regarded as a substitute for the sacrifice of hair.
In the sanctuary of the great Phoenician goddess Astarte at Byblus the practice was different. Here, at the annual mourning for the dead Adonis, the women had to shave their heads, and such of them as refused to do so were bound to prostitute themselves to strangers and to sacrifice to the goddess with the wages of their shame.?[123] Though Lucian, who mentions the custom, does not say so, there are some grounds for thinking that the women in question were generally maidens, of whom this act of devotion was required as a preliminary to marriage.?[124] In any case, it is clear that the goddess accepted the sacrifice of chastity as a substitute for the sacrifice of hair.?[125] Why? By many people, as we shall afterwards see, the hair is regarded as in a special sense the seat of strength; and at puberty it might well be thought to contain a double portion of vital energy, since at that season it is the outward sign and manifestation279 of the newly-acquired power of reproducing the species. For that reason, we may suppose, the beard rather than the hair of the head is offered by males on this occasion. Thus the substitution permitted at Byblus becomes intelligible: the women gave of their fecundity280 to the goddess, whether they offered their hair or their chastity. But why, it may be asked, should they make such an offering to Astarte, who was herself the great goddess of love and fertility? What need had she to receive fecundity from {p31} her worshippers? Was it not rather for her to bestow281 it on them? Thus put, the question overlooks an important side of polytheism, perhaps we may say of ancient religion in general. The gods stood as much in need of their worshippers as the worshippers in need of them. The benefits conferred were mutual282. If the gods made the earth to bring forth abundantly, the flocks and herds to teem283, and the human race to multiply, they expected that a portion of their bounty284 should be returned to them in the shape of tithe or tribute. On this tithe, indeed, they subsisted, and without it they would starve. Their divine bellies285 had to be filled, and their divine reproductive energies to be recruited; hence men had to give of their meat and drink to them, and to sacrifice for their benefit what is most manly in man and womanly in woman. Sacrifices of the latter kind have too often been overlooked or misunderstood by the historians of religion. Other examples of them will meet us in the course of our enquiry. At the same time it may well be that the women who offered their hair to Astarte hoped to benefit through the sympathetic connexion which they thus established between themselves and the goddess; they may in fact have expected to fecundate themselves by contact with the divine source of fecundity. And it is probable that a similar motive129 underlay286 the sacrifice of chastity as well as the sacrifice of hair.
Hair offered to rivers as sources of fertility.
Delos and Delphi as centres of fertilisation and of fire.
If the sacrifice of hair, especially of hair at puberty, is sometimes intended to strengthen the divine beings to whom it is offered by feeding or fertilising them, we can the better understand, not only the common practice of offering hair to the shadowy dead,?[126] but also the Greek usage of shearing287 it for rivers, as the Arcadian boys of Phigalia did for the stream that runs in the depths of the tremendous woody glen below the city.?[127] For next perhaps to rain and sunshine, nothing in nature so obviously contributes to fertilise a country as its rivers. Again, this view may set in a clearer light the custom of the Delian youths and maidens, {p32} who offered their hair on the maidens’ tomb under the olive-tree. For at Delos, as at Delphi, one of Apollo’s many functions was to make the crops grow and to fill the husbandman’s barns; hence at the time of harvest tithe-offerings poured in to him from every side in the form of ripe sheaves, or, what was perhaps still more acceptable, golden models of them, which went by the name of the “golden summer.”?[128] The festival at which these first-fruits were dedicated may have been the 6th and 7th of the harvest-month Thargelion, corresponding to the 24th and 25th of May, for these were the birthdays of Artemis and Apollo respectively.?[129] In Hesiod’s day the corn-reaping began at the morning rising of the Pleiades, which then answered to our 9th of May,?[130] and in Greece the wheat is still ripe about that time.?[131] In return for these offerings the god sent out a sacred new fire from both his great sanctuaries at Delos and Delphi, thus radiating from them, as from central suns, the divine blessings288 of heat and light. A ship brought the new fire every year from Delos to Lemnos, the sacred island of the fire-god Hephaestus, where all fires were put out before its arrival, to be afterwards rekindled289 at the pure flame.?[132] The fetching of the new fire from Delphi to Athens appears to have been a ceremony of great solemnity and pomp. All the chief Athenian magistrates290 repaired to Delphi for the purpose. The holy fire blazed or smouldered in a sacred {p33} tripod borne on a chariot and tended by a woman who was called the Fire-bearer. Soldiers, both horse and foot, escorted it; magistrates, priests, and heralds291 accompanied it; and the procession moved to the music of trumpet292 and fife.?[133] We do not know on what occasion the fire was thus solemnly sent from Delphi to Athens, but we may conjecture that it was when the Pythaists at Athens, watching from the hearth of Lightning Zeus, saw lightning flash over Harma on Mount Parnes, for then they sent a sacrifice to Delphi and may have received the fire in return.?[134] After the great defeat of the Persians at Plataea, the people of that city extinguished all the fires in the country, deeming them defiled293 by the presence of the barbarians295. Having done so they relit them at a pure new fire fetched by a runner from the altar of the common hearth at Delphi.?[135]
The graves of Apollo and Artemis at Delos.
Now the maidens on whose grave the Delian youths and damsels laid their shorn locks before marriage, were said to have died in the island after bringing the harvest offering, wrapt in wheaten straw, from the land of the Hyperboreans in the far north.?[136] Thus they were in popular opinion the mythical representatives of those bands of worshippers who bore, year by year, the yellow sheaves with dance and song to Delos. But in fact they had once been much more than this. For an examination of their names, which are commonly given as Hekaerge and Opis, has led modern scholars to conclude, with every appearance of probability, that these maidens were originally mere duplicates of Artemis herself.?[137] Perhaps indeed we may {p34} go a step farther. For sometimes one of this pair of Hyperboreans appears as a male, not a female, under the name of the Far-shooter (Hekaergos), which was a common epithet296 of Apollo.?[138] This suggests that the two were originally the heavenly twins themselves, Apollo and Artemis, and that the two graves which were shewn at Delos, one before and the other behind the sanctuary of Artemis, may have been at first the tombs of these great deities, who were thus laid to their rest on the spot where they had been born. As the one grave received offerings of hair, so the other received the ashes of the victims which were burned on the altar.?[139] Both sacrifices, if I am right, were designed to strengthen and fertilise the divine powers who made the earth to wave with the golden harvest, and whose mortal remains, like the miracle-working bones of saints in the Middle Ages, brought wealth to their fortunate possessors. Ancient piety was not shocked by the sight of the tomb of a dead god. The grave of Apollo himself was shewn at his other great sanctuary of Delphi,?[140] and this perhaps explains its disappearance297 at Delos. The priests of the rival shrines may have calculated that one tomb sufficed even for a god, and that two might prove a stumbling-block to any but the most robust298 faith. Acting299 on this prudent300 conviction, they may have adjusted their respective claims to the possession of the holy sepulchre {p35} by leaving Apollo to sleep undisturbed at Delphi, while his grave at Delos was dexterously301 converted into the tomb of a blessed virgin by the easy grammatical change of Hekaergos into Hekaerge.
Hippolytus and Artemis.
Artemis a goddess of the wild life of nature.
Artemis not originally regarded as a virgin.
Artemis a goddess of childbirth.
The Ephesian Artemis.
But how, it may be asked, does all this apply to Hippolytus? Why attempt to fertilise the grave of a bachelor who paid all his devotions to a barren virgin? What seed could take root and spring up in so stony302 a soil? The question implies the popular modern notion of Diana or Artemis as the pattern of a straight-laced maiden lady with a taste for hunting. No notion could well be further from the truth. To the ancients, on the contrary, she was the ideal and embodiment of the wild life of nature—the life of plants, of animals, and of men—in all its exuberant303 fertility and profusion304. As a recent German writer has admirably put it: “From of old a great goddess of nature was everywhere worshipped in Greece. She was revered on the mountain heights as in the swampy305 lowlands, in the rustling306 woods and by the murmuring spring. To the Greek her hand was everywhere apparent. He saw her gracious blessing in the sprouting meadow, in the ripening corn, in the healthful vigour307 of all living things on earth, whether the wild creatures of the wood and the fell, or the cattle which man has tamed to his service, or man’s own offspring from the cradle upward. Her destroying anger he perceived in the blight308 of vegetation, in the inroads of wild beasts on his fields and orchards, as well as in the last mysterious end of life, in death. No empty personification, like the earth conceived as a goddess, was this deity, for such abstractions are foreign to every primitive309 religion; she was an all-embracing power of nature, everywhere the object of a similar faith, however her names differed with the place in which she was believed to abide310, with the emphasis laid on her gloomy or kindly311 aspect, or with the particular side of her energy which was specially140 revered. And as the Greek divided everything in animated312 nature into male and female, he could not imagine this female power of nature without her male counterpart. Hence in a number of her older worships we find Artemis associated with a nature-god of similar character, to whom tradition assigned {p36} different names in different places. In Laconia, for instance, she was mated with the old Peloponnesian god Karneios, in Arcadia more than once with Poseidon, elsewhere with Zeus, Apollo, Dionysus, and so on.”?[141] The truth is, that the word parthenos applied314 to Artemis, which we commonly translate virgin, means no more than an unmarried woman,?[142] and in early days the two things were by no means the same. With the growth of a purer morality among men a stricter code of ethics315 is imposed by them upon their gods; the stories of the cruelty, deceit, and lust69 of these divine beings are glossed316 lightly over or flatly rejected as blasphemies317, and the old ruffians are set to guard the laws which before they broke. In regard to Artemis, even the ambiguous parthenos seems to have been merely a popular epithet, not an official title. As Dr. Farnell has well pointed318 out, there was no public worship of Artemis the chaste; so far as her sacred titles bear on the relation of the sexes, they shew that, on the contrary, she was, like Diana in Italy, specially concerned with the {p37} loss of virginity and with child-bearing, and that she not only assisted but encouraged women to be fruitful and multiply; indeed, if we may take Euripides’s word for it, in her capacity of midwife she would not even speak to childless women. Further, it is highly significant that while her titles and the allusions319 to her functions mark her out clearly as the patroness of childbirth, we find none that recognise her distinctly as a deity of marriage.?[143] Nothing, however, sets the true character of Artemis as a goddess of fecundity, though not of wedlock320, in a clearer light than her constant identification with the unmarried, but not chaste, Asiatic goddesses of love and fertility, who were worshipped with rites of notorious profligacy321 at their popular sanctuaries.?[144] At Ephesus, the most celebrated of all the seats of her worship,?[145] her universal motherhood was set forth unmistakably in her sacred image. Copies of it have come down to us which agree in their main features, though they differ from each other in some details. They represent the goddess with a multitude of protruding322 breasts; the heads of animals of many kinds, both wild and tame, spring from the front of her body in a series of bands that extend from the breasts to the feet; bees, roses, {p38} and sometimes butterflies, decorate her sides from the hips313 downward. The animals that thus appear to issue from her person vary in the different copies of the statue; they include lions, bulls, stags, horses, goats, and rams323. Moreover, lions rest on her upper arms; in at least one copy, serpents twine324 round her lower arms; her bosom325 is festooned with a wreath of blossoms, and she wears a necklace of acorns326. In one of the statues the breast of her robe is decorated with two winged male figures, who hold sheaves in both hands.?[146] It would be hard to devise a more expressive327 symbol of exuberant fertility, of prolific328 maternity329, than these remarkable images. No doubt the Ephesian Artemis, with her eunuch priests and virgin priestesses,?[147] was an Oriental, whose worship the Greek colonists330 took over from the aborigines.?[148] But that they should have adopted it and identified the goddess with their own Artemis is proof enough that the Grecian divinity, like her Asiatic sister, was at bottom a personification of the teeming331 life of nature.
To return now to Troezen, we shall probably be doing no injustice332 either to Hippolytus or to Artemis if we suppose that the relation between them was once of a tenderer nature {p39} than appears in classical literature. We may conjecture that if he spurned the love of women, it was because he enjoyed the love of a goddess.?[149] On the principles of early religion, she who fertilises nature must herself be fertile, and to be that she must necessarily have a male consort. If I am right, Hippolytus was the consort of Artemis at Troezen, and the shorn tresses offered to him by the Troezenian youths and maidens before marriage were designed to strengthen his union with the goddess, and so to promote the fruitfulness of the earth, of cattle, and of mankind. It is some confirmation333 of this view that within the precinct of Hippolytus at Troezen there were worshipped two female powers named Damia and Auxesia, whose connexion with the fertility of the ground is unquestionable. When Epidaurus suffered from a dearth334, the people, in obedience335 to an oracle336, carved images of Damia and Auxesia out of sacred olive wood, and no sooner had they done so and set them up than the earth bore fruit again. Moreover, at Troezen itself, and apparently within the precinct of Hippolytus, a curious festival of stone-throwing was held in honour of these maidens, as the Troezenians called them; and it is easy to show that similar customs have been practised in many lands for the express purpose of ensuring good crops.?[150] In the story of the tragic death of the youthful Hippolytus we may discern an analogy with similar tales of other fair but mortal youths who paid with their lives for the brief rapture337 of the love of an immortal338 goddess. These hapless lovers were probably not always mere myths, and the legends which traced their spilt blood in the purple bloom of the violet, the scarlet339 stain of the anemone340, or the crimson341 flush of the rose were no idle poetic342 emblems343 of youth and beauty {p40} fleeting344 as the summer flowers. Such fables345 contain a deeper philosophy of the relation of the life of man to the life of nature—a sad philosophy which gave birth to a tragic practice. What that philosophy and that practice were we shall learn later on.
§ 3. Recapitulation
Virbius the male consort of Diana.
We can now perhaps understand why the ancients identified Hippolytus, the consort of Artemis, with Virbius, who, according to Servius, stood to Diana as Adonis to Venus, or Attis to the Mother of the Gods. For Diana, like Artemis, was a goddess of fertility in general, and of childbirth in particular.?[151] As such she, like her Greek counterpart, needed a male partner. That partner, if Servius is right, was Virbius. In his character of the founder346 of the sacred grove and first king of Nemi, Virbius is clearly the mythical predecessor or archetype of the line of priests who served Diana under the title of Kings of the Wood, and who came, like him, one after the other, to a violent end.?[152] It is natural, therefore, to conjecture that they stood to the goddess of the grove in the same relation in which Virbius stood to her; in short, that the mortal King of the Wood had for his queen the woodland Diana herself.?[153] If the sacred tree which he guarded with his life was supposed, as seems probable, to be her special embodiment, her priest may not only have worshipped it as his goddess but embraced it as his wife. There is at least nothing absurd in the supposition, since even in the time of Pliny a noble Roman used thus to treat a beautiful beech-tree in another sacred grove of Diana on the Alban hills. He embraced it, he kissed it, he lay under its shadow, he poured wine on its trunk. Apparently he took the tree for the goddess.?[154] The custom of physically347 marrying men and women to trees is still practised in India and other {p41} parts of the East.?[155] Why should it not have obtained in ancient Latium?
Summary of results.
Reviewing the evidence as a whole, we may conclude that the worship of Diana in her sacred grove at Nemi was of great importance and immemorial antiquity; that she was revered as the goddess of woodlands and of wild creatures, probably also of domestic cattle and of the fruits of the earth; that she was believed to bless men and women with offspring and to aid mothers in childbed; that her holy fire, tended by chaste virgins, burned perpetually in a round temple within the precinct; that associated with her was a water-nymph Egeria who discharged one of Diana’s own functions by succouring women in travail, and who was popularly supposed to have mated with an old Roman king in the sacred grove; further, that Diana of the Wood herself had a male companion, Virbius by name, who was to her what Adonis was to Venus, or Attis to Cybele; and, lastly, that this mythical Virbius was represented in historical times by a line of priests known as Kings of the Wood, who regularly perished by the swords of their successors, and whose lives were in a manner bound up with a certain tree in the grove, because so long as that tree was uninjured they were safe from attack.
A curious monument of the ill-fated dynasty appears to have come down to us in a double-headed bust which was found in the sanctuary at Nemi. It represents two men of heavy and somewhat coarse features and a grim expression. The type of face is similar in both heads, but there are marked differences between them; for while the one is young and beardless with shut lips and a steadfast348 gaze, the other is a man of middle life with a tossed and matted beard, wrinkled brows, a wild anxious look in the eyes, and an open grinning mouth. But perhaps the most singular thing about the two heads are the leaves with scalloped edges which are plastered, so to say, on the necks of both busts349 and apparently also under the eyes of the younger figure. The leaves have been interpreted as oak leaves, and this interpretation350, which is not free from doubt, is confirmed by the resemblance to an oak leaf which the {p42} moustache of the older figure clearly presents when viewed in profile. Various explanations of this remarkable monument have been proposed; but the most probable theory appears to be that the older figure represents the priest of Nemi, the King of the Wood, in possession, while the other face is that of his youthful adversary351 and possible successor. This theory would explain the coarse heavy type of both faces, which is neither Greek nor Roman but apparently barbarian294; for as the priest of Nemi had always to be a runaway slave, he would commonly be a member of an alien and barbarous race. Further, it would explain the striking contrast between the set determined352 gaze of the younger man and the haggard, scared look of the older; on the one face we seem to read the resolution to kill, on the other the fear to die. Lastly, it would explain very simply the leaves that cling like cerements to the necks and breasts of both; for we shall see later on that the priest was probably regarded as an embodiment of the tree which he guarded, and human representatives of tree spirits are most naturally draped in the foliage of the tree which they personate. Hence if the leaves on the two heads are indeed oak leaves, as they have been thought to be, we should have to conclude that the tree which the King of the Wood guarded and personated was an oak. There are independent reasons for holding that this was so, but the consideration of them must be deferred353 for the present.?[156]
A wider survey required to solve the problem of Nemi.
Clearly these conclusions do not of themselves suffice to explain the peculiar354 rule of succession to the priesthood. But perhaps the survey of a wider field may lead us to {p43} think that they contain in germ the solution of the problem. To that wider survey we must now address ourselves. It will be long and laborious355, but may possess something of the interest and charm of a voyage of discovery, in which we shall visit many strange foreign lands, with strange foreign peoples, and still stranger customs. The wind is in the shrouds356: we shake out our sails to it, and leave the coast of Italy behind us for a time.
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1
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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slayer
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| n. 杀人者，凶手 | |
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slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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bough
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| n.大树枝，主枝 | |
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suffused
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| v.（指颜色、水气等）弥漫于，布满( suffuse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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slumber
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| n.睡眠，沉睡状态 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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solitariness
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| n.隐居；单独 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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sylvan
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| adj.森林的 | |
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recurring
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| adj.往复的，再次发生的 | |
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subsisted
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| v.（靠很少的钱或食物）维持生活，生存下去( subsist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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volcanic
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| adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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abrupt
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| adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的 | |
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crater
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| n.火山口，弹坑 | |
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craters
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| n.火山口( crater的名词复数 )；弹坑等 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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28
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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ruffled
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| adj. 有褶饰边的, 起皱的 动词ruffle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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30
mantled
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| 披着斗篷的，覆盖着的 | |
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declivity
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| n.下坡，倾斜面 | |
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32
crested
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| adj.有顶饰的，有纹章的，有冠毛的v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的过去式和过去分词 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点 | |
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grove
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| n.林子，小树林，园林 | |
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glade
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| n.林间空地，一片表面有草的沼泽低地 | |
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spacious
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| adj.广阔的，宽敞的 | |
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niches
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| 壁龛( niche的名词复数 )； 合适的位置[工作等]； （产品的）商机； 生态位（一个生物所占据的生境的最小单位） | |
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37
chapels
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| n.小教堂， （医院、监狱等的）附属礼拜堂( chapel的名词复数 )；（在小教堂和附属礼拜堂举行的）礼拜仪式 | |
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38
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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triangular
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| adj.三角（形）的，三者间的 | |
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buttresses
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| n.扶壁，扶垛( buttress的名词复数 )v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的第三人称单数 ) | |
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41
piers
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| n.水上平台( pier的名词复数 )；（常设有娱乐场所的）突堤；柱子；墙墩 | |
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42
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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43
neatly
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| adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地 | |
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44
adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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45
frieze
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| n.(墙上的)横饰带，雕带 | |
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46
friezes
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| n.（柱顶过梁和挑檐间的）雕带，（墙顶的）饰带( frieze的名词复数 ) | |
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47
edifice
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| n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室) | |
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48
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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49
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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50
attested
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| adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓 | |
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51
rite
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| n.典礼，惯例，习俗 | |
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52
replenish
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| vt.补充；(把…)装满；(再)填满 | |
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53
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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54
scrupulously
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| adv.一丝不苟地；小心翼翼地，多顾虑地 | |
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55
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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56
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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57
opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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58
swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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59
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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60
whines
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| n.悲嗥声( whine的名词复数 )；哀鸣者v.哀号( whine的第三人称单数 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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61
hissed
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| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
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62
potentates
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| n.君主，统治者( potentate的名词复数 )；有权势的人 | |
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63
homage
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| n.尊敬，敬意，崇敬 | |
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64
shrines
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| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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65
villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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66
retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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67
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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68
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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69
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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70
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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71
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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72
bustle
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| v.喧扰地忙乱，匆忙，奔忙；n.忙碌；喧闹 | |
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73
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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barges
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| 驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
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75
dallying
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| v.随随便便地对待( dally的现在分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情 | |
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76
sluggard
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| n.懒人；adj.懒惰的 | |
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77
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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78
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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79
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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80
glades
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| n.林中空地( glade的名词复数 ) | |
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81
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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82
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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83
hinds
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| n.（常指动物腿）后面的( hind的名词复数 )；在后的；（通常与can或could连用）唠叨不停；滔滔不绝 | |
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84
meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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85
portrays
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| v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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86
sprouting
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| v.发芽( sprout的现在分词 )；抽芽；出现；（使）涌现出 | |
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87
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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88
herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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89
wed
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| v.娶，嫁，与…结婚 | |
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abounded
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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92
tithe
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| n.十分之一税；v.课什一税，缴什一税 | |
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93
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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travail
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| n.阵痛；努力 | |
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95
runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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96
asylum
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| n.避难所，庇护所，避难 | |
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97
sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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98
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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99
deciduous
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| adj.非永久的；短暂的；脱落的；落叶的 | |
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100
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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101
evergreens
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| n.常青树，常绿植物，万年青( evergreen的名词复数 ) | |
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102
evergreen
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| n.常青树；adj.四季常青的 | |
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103
cypress
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| n.柏树 | |
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104
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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105
civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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106
savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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107
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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108
warily
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| adv.留心地 | |
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109
slaying
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| 杀戮。 | |
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110
craftier
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| 狡猾的，狡诈的( crafty的比较级 ) | |
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111
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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112
tenure
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| n.终身职位；任期；(土地)保有权，保有期 | |
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113
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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114
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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115
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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116
abatement
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| n.减(免)税，打折扣，冲销 | |
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117
jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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118
watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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119
blots
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| 污渍( blot的名词复数 )； 墨水渍； 错事； 污点 | |
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120
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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121
wayfarer
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| n.旅人 | |
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122
dirge
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| n.哀乐，挽歌，庄重悲哀的乐曲 | |
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123
rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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124
withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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125
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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126
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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127
isolation
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| n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离 | |
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128
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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129
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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130
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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131
generically
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| adv.一般地 | |
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132
derivative
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| n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的 | |
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133
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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134
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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135
Saturn
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| n.农神，土星 | |
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136
concord
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|
| n.和谐；协调 | |
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137
bloody
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|
| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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138
reigned
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|
| vi.当政，统治（reign的过去式形式） | |
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139
perilous
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|
| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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140
specially
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|
| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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141
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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142
hearth
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| n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面 | |
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143
vows
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| 誓言( vow的名词复数 )； 郑重宣布，许愿 | |
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144
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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145
mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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146
forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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147
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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148
virgins
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| 处女，童男( virgin的名词复数 )； 童贞玛利亚（耶稣之母） | |
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149
maidens
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| 处女( maiden的名词复数 )； 少女； 未婚女子； （板球运动）未得分的一轮投球 | |
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150
maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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151
consuls
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| 领事( consul的名词复数 )； （古罗马共和国时期）执政官 （古罗马共和国及其军队的最高首长，同时共有两位，每年选举一次） | |
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152
Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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153
ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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154
celebrated
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|
| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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155
mole
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| n.胎块；痣；克分子 | |
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156
molested
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|
| v.骚扰( molest的过去式和过去分词 )；干扰；调戏；猥亵 | |
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157
adroitly
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| adv.熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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158
discrepancy
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|
| n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾 | |
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159
displacement
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| n.移置，取代，位移，排水量 | |
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160
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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161
wrath
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|
| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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162
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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163
apocryphal
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|
| adj.假冒的，虚假的 | |
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164
plantations
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| n.种植园，大农场( plantation的名词复数 ) | |
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165
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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166
conjecture
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|
| n./v.推测，猜测 | |
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167
revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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168
orchards
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| （通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 ) | |
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169
fresco
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| n.壁画；vt.作壁画于 | |
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170
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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171
gems
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|
| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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172
bounteous
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|
| adj.丰富的 | |
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173
abstain
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|
| v.自制，戒绝，弃权，避免 | |
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174
relic
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|
| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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175
annually
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|
| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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176
nominal
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|
| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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177
thereby
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|
| adv.因此，从而 | |
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178
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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179
kinsmen
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|
| n.家属，亲属( kinsman的名词复数 ) | |
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180
renounced
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|
| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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181
temperate
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|
| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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182
graceful
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|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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183
cascades
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|
| 倾泻( cascade的名词复数 )； 小瀑布（尤指一连串瀑布中的一支）； 瀑布状物； 倾泻（或涌出）的东西 | |
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184
pebbles
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|
| [复数]鹅卵石； 沙砾； 卵石，小圆石( pebble的名词复数 ) | |
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185
consorted
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| v.结伴( consort的过去式和过去分词 )；交往；相称；调和 | |
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186
consort
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|
| v.相伴；结交 | |
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187
secrecy
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|
| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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188
gushed
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| v.喷，涌( gush的过去式和过去分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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189
cavern
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| n.洞穴，大山洞 | |
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190
earthenware
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| n.土器，陶器 | |
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191
pitchers
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| 大水罐( pitcher的名词复数 ) | |
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192
profaned
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| v.不敬( profane的过去式和过去分词 )；亵渎，玷污 | |
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193
squat
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|
| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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194
gratitude
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|
| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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195
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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196
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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197
deities
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| n.神，女神( deity的名词复数 )；神祗；神灵；神明 | |
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198
chaste
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| adj.贞洁的；有道德的；善良的；简朴的 | |
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199
centaur
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| n.人首马身的怪物 | |
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200
spurned
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| v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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201
disdained
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|
| 鄙视( disdain的过去式和过去分词 )； 不屑于做，不愿意做 | |
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202
slander
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| n./v.诽谤，污蔑 | |
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203
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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204
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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205
hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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206
leech
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|
| n.水蛭，吸血鬼，榨取他人利益的人；vt.以水蛭吸血；vi.依附于别人 | |
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207
meddling
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的现在分词 ) | |
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208
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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209
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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210
comely
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| adj.漂亮的，合宜的 | |
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211
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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212
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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213
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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214
enquire
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| v.打听，询问；调查，查问 | |
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215
mythical
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| adj.神话的；虚构的；想像的 | |
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216
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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217
tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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218
resuscitated
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|
| v.使（某人或某物）恢复知觉，苏醒( resuscitate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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219
incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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220
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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221
illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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222
indirectly
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| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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223
fabulous
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| adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的 | |
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224
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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225
vouched
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| v.保证( vouch的过去式和过去分词 )；担保；确定；确定地说 | |
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226
deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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227
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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228
alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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229
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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230
deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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231
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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232
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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233
bogey
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| n.令人谈之变色之物；妖怪，幽灵 | |
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234
satirist
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| n.讽刺诗作者，讽刺家，爱挖苦别人的人 | |
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235
reconstruction
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| n.重建，再现，复原 | |
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236
archaic
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| adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的 | |
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237
sanctuaries
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| n.避难所( sanctuary的名词复数 )；庇护；圣所；庇护所 | |
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238
appeased
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| 安抚，抚慰( appease的过去式和过去分词 )； 绥靖（满足另一国的要求以避免战争） | |
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239
intelligible
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| adj.可理解的，明白易懂的，清楚的 | |
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240
exclusion
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| n.拒绝，排除，排斥，远足，远途旅行 | |
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241
situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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242
groves
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| 树丛，小树林( grove的名词复数 ) | |
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243
cypresses
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| n.柏属植物，柏树( cypress的名词复数 ) | |
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244
spires
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| n.（教堂的） 塔尖，尖顶( spire的名词复数 ) | |
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245
rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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246
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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247
plausibility
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| n. 似有道理, 能言善辩 | |
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248
rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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249
amorous
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| adj.多情的；有关爱情的 | |
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250
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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251
pangs
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| 突然的剧痛( pang的名词复数 )； 悲痛 | |
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252
pricked
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| 刺，扎，戳( prick的过去式和过去分词 )； 刺伤； 刺痛； 使剧痛 | |
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253
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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254
fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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255
sepulchral
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| adj.坟墓的，阴深的 | |
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256
mound
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| n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫 | |
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257
mounds
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| 土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆 | |
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258
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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259
entangled
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| adj.卷入的；陷入的；被缠住的；缠在一起的v.使某人（某物/自己）缠绕，纠缠于（某物中），使某人（自己）陷入（困难或复杂的环境中）( entangle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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260
legendary
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| adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学） | |
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261
cleansed
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| 弄干净，清洗( cleanse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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262
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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263
conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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264
extirpated
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| v.消灭，灭绝( extirpate的过去式和过去分词 )；根除 | |
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265
scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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266
recurrence
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| n.复发，反复，重现 | |
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267
consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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268
invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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269
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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270
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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271
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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272
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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273
shutter
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| n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置 | |
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274
engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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275
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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276
dedications
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| 奉献( dedication的名词复数 )； 献身精神； 教堂的)献堂礼； （书等作品上的）题词 | |
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277
hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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278
crumbled
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| （把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏 | |
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279
manifestation
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| n.表现形式；表明；现象 | |
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280
fecundity
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| n.生产力；丰富 | |
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281
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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282
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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283
teem
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| vi.(with)充满，多产 | |
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284
bounty
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| n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与 | |
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285
bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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286
underlay
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| v.位于或存在于（某物）之下( underlie的过去式 )；构成…的基础（或起因），引起n.衬垫物 | |
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287
shearing
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| n.剪羊毛，剪取的羊毛v.剪羊毛( shear的现在分词 )；切断；剪切 | |
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288
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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289
rekindled
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| v.使再燃( rekindle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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290
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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291
heralds
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| n.使者( herald的名词复数 )；预报者；预兆；传令官v.预示( herald的第三人称单数 )；宣布（好或重要） | |
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292
trumpet
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| n.喇叭，喇叭声；v.吹喇叭，吹嘘 | |
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293
defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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294
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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295
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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296
epithet
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| n.（用于褒贬人物等的）表述形容词，修饰语 | |
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297
disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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298
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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299
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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300
prudent
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|
| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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301
dexterously
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| adv.巧妙地，敏捷地 | |
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302
stony
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|
| adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的 | |
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303
exuberant
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| adj.充满活力的；（植物）繁茂的 | |
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304
profusion
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| n.挥霍；丰富 | |
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305
swampy
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| adj.沼泽的，湿地的 | |
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306
rustling
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| n. 瑟瑟声，沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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307
vigour
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| （=vigor）n.智力，体力，精力 | |
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308
blight
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| n.枯萎病；造成破坏的因素；vt.破坏，摧残 | |
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309
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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310
abide
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| vi.遵守；坚持；vt.忍受 | |
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311
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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312
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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313
hips
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| abbr.high impact polystyrene 高冲击强度聚苯乙烯，耐冲性聚苯乙烯n.臀部( hip的名词复数 )；[建筑学]屋脊；臀围（尺寸）；臀部…的 | |
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314
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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315
ethics
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| n.伦理学；伦理观，道德标准 | |
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316
glossed
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| v.注解( gloss的过去式和过去分词 )；掩饰（错误）；粉饰；把…搪塞过去 | |
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317
blasphemies
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| n.对上帝的亵渎，亵渎的言词[行为]( blasphemy的名词复数 )；侮慢的言词（或行为） | |
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318
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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319
allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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320
wedlock
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| n.婚姻，已婚状态 | |
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321
profligacy
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| n.放荡，不检点，肆意挥霍 | |
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322
protruding
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| v.（使某物）伸出，（使某物）突出( protrude的现在分词 )；凸 | |
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323
rams
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| n.公羊( ram的名词复数 )；(R-)白羊（星）座；夯；攻城槌v.夯实（土等）( ram的第三人称单数 )；猛撞；猛压；反复灌输 | |
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324
twine
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| v.搓，织，编饰；（使）缠绕 | |
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325
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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326
acorns
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| n.橡子，栎实( acorn的名词复数 ) | |
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327
expressive
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| adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的 | |
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328
prolific
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| adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的 | |
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329
maternity
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| n.母性，母道，妇产科病房；adj.孕妇的，母性的 | |
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330
colonists
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| n.殖民地开拓者，移民，殖民地居民( colonist的名词复数 ) | |
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331
teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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332
injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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333
confirmation
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| n.证实，确认，批准 | |
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334
dearth
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| n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨 | |
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335
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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336
oracle
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| n.神谕，神谕处，预言 | |
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337
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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338
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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339
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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340
anemone
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| n.海葵 | |
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341
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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342
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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343
emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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344
fleeting
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| adj.短暂的，飞逝的 | |
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345
fables
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| n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说 | |
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346
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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347
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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348
steadfast
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| adj.固定的，不变的，不动摇的；忠实的；坚贞不移的 | |
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349
busts
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| 半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕 | |
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350
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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351
adversary
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| adj.敌手，对手 | |
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352
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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353
deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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354
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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355
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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356
shrouds
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| n.裹尸布( shroud的名词复数 )；寿衣；遮蔽物；覆盖物v.隐瞒( shroud的第三人称单数 )；保密 | |
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