65Age had enfeebled Sabinus, and he showed no alacrity8 to listen to such talk as this. Some people covertly9 insinuated10 that he was jealous of his brother's success and was trying to delay its realization11. Flavius Sabinus was the elder brother and, while they were both private persons, he had been the richer and more influential12. It was also believed that he had been chary13 in helping14 Vespasian to recover his financial position, and had taken a mortgage on his house and estates. Consequently, though they remained openly friendly, there were suspicions of a secret enmity between them. The more charitable explanation is that Sabinus's gentle nature shrank from the idea of bloodshed and massacre15, and that this was his reason for so constantly discussing with Vitellius the prospects16 of peace and a capitulation on terms. After several interviews at his house they finally came to a settlement—so the report went—at the Temple of Apollo.172 To the actual conversation there were only two witnesses, Cluvius Rufus173 and Silius Italicus,174 but the expression of their faces was watched from a distance.75 Vitellius was said to look abject17 and demoralized: Sabinus showed less sign of pride than of pity.
66Had Vitellius found it no harder to persuade his friends than to make his own renunciation, Vespasian's army might have marched into Rome without bloodshed. But as it was, each of his friends in proportion to his loyalty18 persisted in refusing terms of peace. They pointed to the danger and disgrace. Would their conqueror19 keep his promises any longer than he liked? However great Vespasian's self-confidence, he could not allow Vitellius to live in private. Nor would the losers acquiesce20: their very pity would be a menace.175 'Of course,' they said, 'you are an old man. You have done with fortune, good or bad. But what sort of repute or position would your son Germanicus176 enjoy? At present they are promising21 you money and a household, and the pleasant shores of Campania. But when once Vespasian has seized the throne, neither he nor his friends nor even his army will feel their safety assured until the rival claimant is dead. They imprisoned22 Fabius Valens and meant to make use of him if a crisis occurred, but they found him too great an incubus23. You may be sure that Antonius and Fuscus and that typical representative of the party, Mucianus, will have no choice but to kill you. Julius Caesar did not let Pompey live unmolested, nor Augustus Antony.17776 Do you suppose that Vespasian's is a loftier disposition24? Why, he was one of your father's dependants25,178 when your father was Claudius's colleague.179 No, think of your father's censorship, his three consulships,179 and all the honour your great house has won. You must not disgrace them. Despair, at least, should nerve your courage. The troops are steadfast28; you still enjoy the people's favour. Indeed, nothing worse can happen to you than what we are eager to face of our own free will. If we are defeated, we must die; if we surrender, we must die. All that matters is whether we breathe our last amid mockery and insult or bravely and with honour.'
67But Vitellius was deaf to all courageous29 counsel. His mind was obsessed30 with pity for his wife and children, and an anxious fear that obstinate31 resistance might make the conqueror merciless towards them. He had also a mother,180 very old and infirm, but she had opportunely32 died a few days before and thus forestalled33 the ruin of her house. All she had got out of her son's principate was sorrow and a good name. On December 17 he heard the news that the legion and the Guards at Narnia had deserted34 him and surrendered to the enemy. He at once put on mourning and left the palace, surrounded by his sorrowful household. His small son was carried in a little litter, as though this had been his funeral. The populace 77uttered untimely flatteries: the soldiers kept an ominous35 silence.
68On that day there was no one so indifferent to the tragedy of human life as to be unmoved by this spectacle. A Roman emperor, yesterday master of the inhabited world, had left the seat of his authority, and was now passing through the streets of the city, through the crowding populace, quitting the throne. Such a sight had never been seen or heard of before. The dictator, Caesar, had been the victim of sudden violence; Caligula of a secret conspiracy36. Nero's had been a stealthy flight to some obscure country house under cover of night. Piso and Galba might almost be said to have fallen on the field of battle. But here was Vitellius—before the assembly of his own people, his own soldiers around him, with women even looking on—uttering a few sentences suitable to his miserable37 situation. He said it was in the interest of peace and of his country that he now resigned. He begged them only to retain his memory in their hearts and to take pity on his brother, his wife, and his little innocent children. As he said this, he held out his son to them and commended him, now to individuals, now to the whole assembly. At last tears choked his voice. Turning to the consul27, Caecilius Simplex,181 who was standing38 by, he unstrapped his sword and offered to surrender it as a symbol of his power over the life and death of his subjects. The consul refused. The people in the assembly shouted 'No'. So he left them with the 78intention of depositing the regalia in the Temple of Concord39 and then going to his brother's house. But he was faced with a still louder uproar40. They refused to let him enter a private house, and shouted to him to return to the palace. They blocked every other way and only left the road leading into the Via Sacra open.182 Not knowing what else to do, Vitellius returned to the palace.
69A rumour41 of his abdication42 had preceded him, and Flavius Sabinus had sent written instructions to the Guards'183 officers to keep the men in hand. Thus the whole empire seemed to have fallen into Vespasian's lap. The chief senators, the majority of the knights43, and the whole of the city garrison and the police came flocking to the house of Flavius Sabinus. There they heard the news of the popular enthusiasm for Vitellius and the threatening attitude of the German Guards.184 But Sabinus had gone too far to draw back, and when he showed hesitation44, they all began to urge him to fight, each being afraid for his own safety if the Vitellians were to fall on them when they were disunited and consequently weaker. However, as so often happens on these occasions, every one offered to give 79advice but few to share the danger. While Sabinus' Body Guard were marching down by the Fundane reservoir185 they were attacked by some of the most determined45 Vitellians. The surprise was unpremeditated, but the Vitellians got the best of an unimportant skirmish. In the panic Sabinus chose what was at the moment the safest course, and occupied the summit of the Capitol,186 where his troops were joined by a few senators and knights. It is not easy to record their names, since after Vespasian's victory crowds of people claimed credit for this service to the party. There were even some women who endured the siege, the most famous of them being Verulana Gratilla, who had neither children nor relatives to attract her, but only her love of danger.187
The Vitellians, who were investing them, kept a half-hearted watch, and Sabinus was thus enabled to send for his own children and his nephew Domitian at dead of night, dispatching a courier by an unguarded route to tell the Flavian generals that he and his men were under siege, and would be in great straits unless they were rescued. All night, indeed, he was quite unmolested, and could have escaped with perfect safety. The Vitellian troops could face danger with spirit, but were much too careless in the task of keeping guard; 80besides which a sudden storm of chilly46 rain interfered47 with their sight and hearing.
70At daybreak, before the two sides commenced hostilities48, Sabinus sent Cornelius Martialis, who had been a senior centurion49, to Vitellius with instructions to complain that the conditions were being violated; that he had evidently made a mere50 empty show of abdication, meant to deceive a number of eminent6 gentlemen. Else why had he gone from the meeting to his brother's house, which caught the eye from a conspicuous51 position overlooking the Forum52, and not rather to his wife's on the Aventine. That was the proper course for a private citizen, anxious to avoid all pretension53 to supreme54 authority. But no, Vitellius had returned to the palace, the very stronghold of imperial majesty55. From there he had launched a column of armed men, who had strewn with innocent dead the most crowded quarter of Rome, and even laid violent hands upon the Capitol. As for Sabinus himself, the messenger was to say, he was only a civilian56, a mere member of the senate. While the issue was being decided57 between Vespasian and Vitellius by the engagement of legions, the capture of towns, the capitulation of cohorts; even when the provinces of Spain, of Germany, of Britain, had risen in revolt; he, though Vespasian's brother, had still remained faithful to his allegiance, until Vitellius, unasked, began to invite him to a conference. Peace and union, he was to remind him, serve the interest of the losers, and only the reputation of the winners. If Vitellius 81regretted their compact, he ought not to take arms against Sabinus, whom he had treacherously58 deceived, and against Vespasian's son, who was still a mere boy. What was the good of killing59 one youth and one old man? He ought rather to march out against the legions and fight for the empire on the field. The result of the battle would decide all other questions.
Greatly alarmed, Vitellius replied with a few words in which he tried to excuse himself and throw the blame on his soldiers. 'I am too unassuming,' he said, 'to cope with their overpowering impatience60.' He then warned Martialis to make his way out of the house by a secret passage, for fear that the soldiers should kill him as an ambassador of the peace to which they were so hostile. Vitellius himself was not in a position to issue orders or prohibitions61; no longer an emperor, merely an excuse for war.
71Martialis had hardly returned to the Capitol when the furious soldiery arrived. They had no general to lead them: each was a law to himself. Their column marched at full speed through the Forum and past the temples overlooking it. Then in battle order they advanced up the steep hill in front of them, until they reached the lowest gates of the fortress62 on the Capitol. In old days there was a series of colonnades63 at the side of this slope, on the right as you go up. Emerging on to the roof of these, the besieged65 overwhelmed the Vitellians with showers of stones and tiles. The attacking party carried nothing but swords, and it seemed a long business to send for siege-engines and 82missiles. So they flung torches into the nearest188 colonnade64 and, following in the wake of the flames, would have burst through the burnt gates of the Capitol, if Sabinus had not torn down all the available statues—the monuments of our ancestors' glory—and built a sort of barricade66 on the very threshold. They then tried to attack the Capitol by two opposite approaches, one near the 'Grove67 of Refuge'189 and the other by the hundred steps which lead up to the Tarpeian Rock. This double assault came as a surprise. That by the Refuge was the closer and more vigorous. Nothing could stop the Vitellians, who climbed up by some contiguous houses built on to the side of the hill, which in the days of prolonged peace had been raised to such a height that their roofs were level with the floor of the Capitol. It is uncertain whether the buildings at this point were fired by the assailants or—as tradition prefers—by the besieged in trying to dislodge their enemies who had struggled up so far. The fire spread to the colonnades adjoining the temples, and then the 'eagles'190 supporting the roof, which were made of very old wood, caught the flames and fed them. And so the Capitol, with its doors fast shut, undefended and unplundered, was burnt to the ground.
72Since the foundation of the city no such deplorable and horrible disaster had ever befallen the people of83 Rome. It was no case of foreign invasion. Had our own wickedness allowed, the country might have been enjoying the blessings68 of a benign69 Providence70; and yet here was the seat of Jupiter Almighty—the temple solemnly founded by our ancestors as the pledge of their imperial greatness, on which not even Porsenna,191 when Rome surrendered, nor the Gauls, when they took it, had ever dared to lay rash hands—being brought utterly71 to ruin by the mad folly72 of two rival emperors!192 The Capitol had been burnt before in civil war,193 but that was the crime of private persons. Now it had been openly assaulted by the people of Rome and openly burnt by them. And what was the cause of war? what the recompense for such a disaster? Were we fighting for our country?
King Tarquinius Priscus had vowed73 to build this temple in the Sabine war, and had laid the foundations on a scale that suited rather his hope of the city's future greatness than the still moderate fortunes of the Roman people. Later Servius Tullius, with the aid of Rome's allies, and Tarquinius Superbus, with the spoils of the Volscians after the capture of Suessa Pometia,194 continued the building. But the glory of completing it was reserved for the days of freedom. After the expulsion of the kings, Horatius Pulvillus, 84in his second consulship195 dedicated74 this monument on such a magnificent scale, that in later days, with all her boundless75 wealth, Rome has been able to embellish76 but never to enlarge it. After an interval77 of four hundred and fifteen years, in the consulship26 of Lucius Scipio and Caius Norbanus,196 it was burnt and rebuilt on the same site. Sulla after his victory undertook the task of restoring it, but did not dedicate it. This only was lacking to justify78 his title of 'Fortune's Favourite'.197 Much as the emperors did to it, the name of Lutatius Catulus198 still remained upon it up to the time of Vitellius.199 This was the temple that was now ablaze79.
73The besieged suffered more panic than their assailants. The Vitellian soldiers lacked neither resource nor steadiness in moments of crisis. But on the other side the troops were terrified, the general200 inert80, and apparently81 so paralysed that he was practically deaf and dumb. He neither adopted others' plans nor formed any of his own, but only drifted about from place to place, attracted by the shouts of the enemy, contradicting all his own orders. The result was what always happens in a hopeless disaster: everybody gave orders and nobody obeyed them. At last they threw away their weapons and began to peer round for 85a way of escape or some means of hiding. Then the Vitellians came bursting in, and with fire and sword made one red havoc82. A few good soldiers dared to show fight and were cut to pieces. Of these the most notable were Cornelius Martialis,201 Aemilius Pacensis,202 Casperius Niger, and Didius Scaeva. Flavius Sabinus, who stood unarmed and making no attempt to escape, was surrounded together with the consul Quintius Atticus,203 whose empty title made him a marked man, as well as his personal vanity, which had led him to distribute manifestoes full of compliments to Vespasian and insults against Vitellius. The rest escaped by various means. Some disguised themselves as slaves: some were sheltered by faithful dependants: some hid among the baggage. Others again caught the Vitellians' password, by which they recognized each other, and actually went about demanding it and giving it when challenged, thus escaping under a cloak of effrontery83.
74When the enemy first broke in, Domitian had taken refuge with the sacristan, and was enabled by the ingenuity84 of a freedman to escape among a crowd of worshippers in a linen85 dress,204 and to take refuge near the Velabrum with Cornelius Primus, one of his father's dependants. When his father came to the throne, Domitian pulled down the sacristan's lodging86 and 86built a little chapel87 to Jupiter the Saviour88 with an altar, on which his adventures were depicted89 in marble relief. Later, when he became emperor, he dedicated a huge temple to Jupiter the Guardian90 with a statue of himself in the lap of the god.
Sabinus and Atticus were loaded with chains and taken to Vitellius, who received them without any language or looks of disfavour, much to the chagrin91 of those who wanted to see them punished with death and themselves rewarded for their successful labours. When those who stood nearest started an outcry, the dregs of the populace soon began to demand Sabinus' execution with mingled92 threats and flatteries. Vitellius came out on to the steps of the palace prepared to plead for him: but they forced him to desist. Sabinus was stabbed and riddled93 with wounds: his head was cut off and the trunk dragged away to the Ladder 75of Sighs.205 Such was the end of a man who certainly merits no contempt. He had served his country for thirty-five years, and won credit both as civilian and soldier. His integrity and fairness were beyond criticism. He talked too much about himself, but this is the one charge which rumour could hint against him in the seven years when he was Governor of Moesia, and the twelve years during which he was Prefect of the City. At the end of his life some thought he showed a lack of enterprise, but many believed him 87a moderate man, who was anxious to save his fellow citizens from bloodshed. In this, at any rate, all would agree, that before Vespasian became emperor the reputation of his house rested on Sabinus. It is said that Mucianus was delighted to hear of his murder, and many people maintained that it served the interests of peace by putting an end to the jealousy94 of two rivals, one of whom was the emperor's brother, while the other posed as his partner in the empire.206
When the people further demanded the execution of the consul, Vitellius withstood them. He had forgiven Atticus, and felt that he owed him a favour, for, when asked who had set fire to the Capitol, Atticus had taken the blame on himself, by which avowal—or was it a well-timed falsehood?—he had fixed95 all the guilt96 and odium on himself and exonerated97 the Vitellian party.
点击收听单词发音
1 torpor | |
n.迟钝;麻木;(动物的)冬眠 | |
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2 pointed | |
adj.尖的,直截了当的 | |
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3 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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4 regiments | |
(军队的)团( regiment的名词复数 ); 大量的人或物 | |
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5 positively | |
adv.明确地,断然,坚决地;实在,确实 | |
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6 eminent | |
adj.显赫的,杰出的,有名的,优良的 | |
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7 eminently | |
adv.突出地;显著地;不寻常地 | |
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8 alacrity | |
n.敏捷,轻快,乐意 | |
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9 covertly | |
adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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10 insinuated | |
v.暗示( insinuate的过去式和过去分词 );巧妙或迂回地潜入;(使)缓慢进入;慢慢伸入 | |
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11 realization | |
n.实现;认识到,深刻了解 | |
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12 influential | |
adj.有影响的,有权势的 | |
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13 chary | |
adj.谨慎的,细心的 | |
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14 helping | |
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的 | |
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15 massacre | |
n.残杀,大屠杀;v.残杀,集体屠杀 | |
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16 prospects | |
n.希望,前途(恒为复数) | |
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17 abject | |
adj.极可怜的,卑屈的 | |
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18 loyalty | |
n.忠诚,忠心 | |
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19 conqueror | |
n.征服者,胜利者 | |
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20 acquiesce | |
vi.默许,顺从,同意 | |
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21 promising | |
adj.有希望的,有前途的 | |
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22 imprisoned | |
下狱,监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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23 incubus | |
n.负担;恶梦 | |
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24 disposition | |
n.性情,性格;意向,倾向;排列,部署 | |
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25 dependants | |
受赡养者,受扶养的家属( dependant的名词复数 ) | |
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26 consulship | |
领事的职位或任期 | |
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27 consul | |
n.领事;执政官 | |
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28 steadfast | |
adj.固定的,不变的,不动摇的;忠实的;坚贞不移的 | |
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29 courageous | |
adj.勇敢的,有胆量的 | |
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30 obsessed | |
adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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31 obstinate | |
adj.顽固的,倔强的,不易屈服的,较难治愈的 | |
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32 opportunely | |
adv.恰好地,适时地 | |
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33 forestalled | |
v.先发制人,预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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35 ominous | |
adj.不祥的,不吉的,预兆的,预示的 | |
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36 conspiracy | |
n.阴谋,密谋,共谋 | |
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37 miserable | |
adj.悲惨的,痛苦的;可怜的,糟糕的 | |
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38 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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39 concord | |
n.和谐;协调 | |
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40 uproar | |
n.骚动,喧嚣,鼎沸 | |
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41 rumour | |
n.谣言,谣传,传闻 | |
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42 abdication | |
n.辞职;退位 | |
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43 knights | |
骑士; (中古时代的)武士( knight的名词复数 ); 骑士; 爵士; (国际象棋中)马 | |
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44 hesitation | |
n.犹豫,踌躇 | |
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45 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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46 chilly | |
adj.凉快的,寒冷的 | |
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47 interfered | |
v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 );调停;妨碍;干涉 | |
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48 hostilities | |
n.战争;敌意(hostility的复数);敌对状态;战事 | |
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49 centurion | |
n.古罗马的百人队长 | |
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50 mere | |
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过 | |
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51 conspicuous | |
adj.明眼的,惹人注目的;炫耀的,摆阔气的 | |
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52 forum | |
n.论坛,讨论会 | |
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53 pretension | |
n.要求;自命,自称;自负 | |
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54 supreme | |
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的 | |
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55 majesty | |
n.雄伟,壮丽,庄严,威严;最高权威,王权 | |
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56 civilian | |
adj.平民的,民用的,民众的 | |
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57 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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58 treacherously | |
背信弃义地; 背叛地; 靠不住地; 危险地 | |
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59 killing | |
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财 | |
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60 impatience | |
n.不耐烦,急躁 | |
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61 prohibitions | |
禁令,禁律( prohibition的名词复数 ); 禁酒; 禁例 | |
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62 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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63 colonnades | |
n.石柱廊( colonnade的名词复数 ) | |
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64 colonnade | |
n.柱廊 | |
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65 besieged | |
包围,围困,围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66 barricade | |
n.路障,栅栏,障碍;vt.设路障挡住 | |
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67 grove | |
n.林子,小树林,园林 | |
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68 blessings | |
n.(上帝的)祝福( blessing的名词复数 );好事;福分;因祸得福 | |
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69 benign | |
adj.善良的,慈祥的;良性的,无危险的 | |
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70 providence | |
n.深谋远虑,天道,天意;远见;节约;上帝 | |
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71 utterly | |
adv.完全地,绝对地 | |
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72 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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73 vowed | |
起誓,发誓(vow的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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74 dedicated | |
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的 | |
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75 boundless | |
adj.无限的;无边无际的;巨大的 | |
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76 embellish | |
v.装饰,布置;给…添加细节,润饰 | |
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77 interval | |
n.间隔,间距;幕间休息,中场休息 | |
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78 justify | |
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护 | |
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79 ablaze | |
adj.着火的,燃烧的;闪耀的,灯火辉煌的 | |
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80 inert | |
adj.无活动能力的,惰性的;迟钝的 | |
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81 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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82 havoc | |
n.大破坏,浩劫,大混乱,大杂乱 | |
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83 effrontery | |
n.厚颜无耻 | |
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84 ingenuity | |
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造 | |
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85 linen | |
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的 | |
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86 lodging | |
n.寄宿,住所;(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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87 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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88 saviour | |
n.拯救者,救星 | |
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89 depicted | |
描绘,描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 ); 描述 | |
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90 guardian | |
n.监护人;守卫者,保护者 | |
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91 chagrin | |
n.懊恼;气愤;委屈 | |
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92 mingled | |
混合,混入( mingle的过去式和过去分词 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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93 riddled | |
adj.布满的;充斥的;泛滥的v.解谜,出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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94 jealousy | |
n.妒忌,嫉妒,猜忌 | |
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95 fixed | |
adj.固定的,不变的,准备好的;(计算机)固定的 | |
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96 guilt | |
n.犯罪;内疚;过失,罪责 | |
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97 exonerated | |
v.使免罪,免除( exonerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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