When the Romans came they established on this secluded6 spot an imperial city. It seems to have been not so much a military station as an outpost of the picturesque7 faith of Rome, a kind of Canterbury in the backwoods of Provence. They called the place Ventium, and some indication of its ancient boundaries can still be traced. It is known to the historian by its temples. How many of these buildings existed is a matter of doubt, but certain it is that the pious8 Roman, toiling9 up to Ventium from the coast, would see afar off, standing10 up against the hills, the white columns of the temples to Cybele and to Mars. Of these shrines11 no vestige12 now remains13. The stones have been scattered14 and have become mere15 material in the mason’s hands. Some have helped to build a Christian16 church, others to found a city wall or to give dignity to the house of a medi?val burgher.[9]
There are many Roman inscriptions17 still in Vence. They have been found in all sorts of odd places, on street walls, in gardens, in cellars, as well as on certain stones in the old church. From these fragments, as disjointed and as incongruous as the mutterings of a sleeping man, a broken history of Ventium, in the years before and just after Christ, has been pieced together.
The inscriptions are, in a general way, commemorative. There is one, for instance, to Lucius Veludius Valerianus, decurion of Vence, to record the fact that he had filled the functions both of magistrate19 and of priest. With his name is associated very prettily20 that of his wife Vibia, for she no doubt shared both his honours and his trials. Vibia, we may suppose, had left the gay and resplendent city of Rome to follow her adventurous21 husband into the wilds of Gaul, and was not a little proud of the position he had made in the lonely and solemn city. One might guess that it was Vibia who suggested the inscription18. It is notable, moreover, that the most prominent word in the whole tablet and the one in the largest letters is UXORI (wife). Indeed, this word occupies an entire line to itself. It would seem as if Vibia wished to make it emphatic22 that she was a wife, and not otherwise.
If any of the inhabitants of the old town could come back to life again I should especially like to witness the meeting, in the main street, between Vibia and her successor in office, the mayoress of Vence of to-day. They would be a strange couple, strange in dress, in bearing and in speech, as odd as if a person wore on one foot a dainty Roman sandal and on the other an American boot. The two ladies would have, however, this in common—the country they gazed across would be as familiar to the one as to the other.
There is among the many writings in stone one which refers to the goddess Cybele and the ceremony of the Taurobolium. This pagan ceremony was both a sacrifice and an act of purification. Its symbolism is of interest when viewed in connection with that of the Christian church which directly followed upon the old faith. A bull was sacrificed to the goddess. The animal was placed upon a grating or latticed stage over a pit. In the pit crouched23 the penitent24. The blood of the bull, as it poured over the body of the penitent, washed away all sin, all impurities25 and stains, and gave to the man thus made regenerate26 a new and holier life.[10]
Vence was at an early period converted to Christianity. The identity of the missionary27 who brought about this change is not clearly established; but the work is generally ascribed to St. Trophime. The body of St. Trophime lies in the old cathedral of Arles, in that church which bears his name. Among the ruins of the abbey of Montmajour, near Arles, is his cell, a little rock sanctuary28 buried in the very bowels29 of the earth.
A bishopric was founded in Vence as early as 374. The city became a prominent and influential31 centre and its bishops32 were, with scarcely an exception, illustrious men. Most of these prelates are buried in the cathedral of the town. The tombs of two of the very earliest, viz. St. Veran and St. Lambert, occupy chapels33 in that sanctuary.
A famous ecclesiastic34 was Bishop30 Godeau. He was born in 1605 and took orders when he was thirty years old. He was a man of great learning and one of the founders35 of the French Academy. He was highly esteemed36, not only by the people of Provence but also by the Papal Court and the counsellors of the king. “The epitaph of Bishop Godeau,” writes Hare, “commemorates the favourite of Richelieu, who obtained his good graces by dedicating to him a paraphrase37 of the Psalms39, which begins with the words ‘Benedicite omnia opera Domini,’ on receiving which the powerful cardinal40 said, ‘Monsieur l’Abbé, vous me donnez Benedicite, et moi je vous donner Grasse.’ The Pope afterwards allowed Godeau to hold the bishopric of Vence with that of Grasse.”[11]
The worthy41 bishop died as he would have wished to die. In Holy Week in the year 1672 he was singing the Tenebr? before the altar of his cathedral of Vence.[12] The Tenebr? represent a very beautiful service of the Catholic Church. A candlestick bearing fifteen candles is placed in the sanctuary. These are lit when the service begins. At the end of each Psalm38 or Canticle one of the candles is extinguished to express the desertion of Our Lord by His apostles and disciples42. At last only one candle remains. It signifies the Light of the World, and when it is taken down and placed behind the altar it serves to symbolise the burial of the Redeemer of Mankind. On the occasion of the celebration at Vence as the last candle was being extinguished the good bishop fell dead upon the altar steps.
VENCE: THE EAST GATE AND OUTER WALL
Bishop Surian who succeeded to the see in 1727 had a somewhat romantic career. He began life as a shepherd boy. Finding this existence intolerable he ran away from home with the very inadequate43 sum of 35 sous in his pocket. Falling in with men who perceived his ability he was educated by them and admitted, in due course, to the priesthood. It is said that he lived as frugally44 when he was a bishop as he did when he was tending sheep on the hillside.
On the outbreak of the French Revolution, the bishop of Vence, Bishop Pisani, fled and joined that vast body of some 4,000 priests who left the country in order to avoid the penalties which the Revolution imposed. Pisani was the last bishop of Vence, for the see was never restored.
In early days Vence belonged to the bishops, the Church being the ruling power in the pious town. When Vence came into the possession of the Villeneuves—the lords of Villeneuve-Loubet—the seigniorial rights over Vence were divided between the bishopric and the Villeneuve family. The Villeneuves fled from France at the time of the Revolution and although they returned when the Terror had passed away it was only to rid themselves of their lands in Provence and seek a habitation elsewhere.
Vence being a devout45 town and one prominent in all ecclesiastical affairs it is no matter of surprise that it became deeply disturbed by the “new religion” as taught and stoutly46 maintained by the Huguenots. It is further no matter of surprise that the dissenters48 made this stronghold of the Church a special object of attack and that Vence became a conspicuous49 scene of their protestings.
The position assumed some gravity when the Huguenots did more than protest against forms of worship and took to arming themselves with weapons of war. They went further. They became clamorous50 and threatening and made it clear that they were no longer to be put off by mere academic arguments or quotations51 from the Fathers. Moreover this conflict between the Protestant and the Catholic involved certain political issues which were outside the burning questions of creed52; and thus it was that men were drawn53 into the quarrel to whom matters of State were more important than matters of doctrine54.
The trouble came to a head in 1560. The bishop at the time was a Grimaldi, while the castle of Villeneuve was possessed55 by his uncle, a Lascaris. On the Catholic side, therefore, Vence was solid and prepared to take prompt action to crush the revolt. A body of some three hundred men was raised to deal with the Huguenots, but, in spite of the all-pervading power of the Church there were Huguenots in Vence and the vicinity and they, in turn, raised men to support their cause. A Huguenot gentleman, with the pleasant name of René de Cypières, also collected a squadron of forty horse to help those who espoused56 the reformed faith.
Vence thus became in this fair area of France the Defender57 of the Faith. The governor of the town issued an order forbidding the citizens to harbour or conceal58 a Huguenot in any house, garden or vineyard. The bishop denounced the Protestants as “vagabonds and seditious men.” What terms the Huguenots, on the other hand, applied59 to the bishop are not known, but they were certainly not lacking in invective60 for the contest was bitter.
Life in the cathedral town must have been very unpleasant about this period. So keen was the dispute that everyone must, of necessity, have taken sides. Friends broke from one another after an intimacy61 of a lifetime; lovers parted; the Catholic wife left the husband who had turned Huguenot; while families who were united by ties that had endured for generations now found themselves scowling62 at one another from opposite camps. Children were forbidden to speak to old playmates, and the little girl who had been so sweet to her boy friend now put out her tongue at him when they passed in the street.
In 1562 there seems to have been a lull63 in this unhappy quarrel and even a sign of tolerance64, if not of peace; for the Huguenots, although forbidden the righteous city of Vence, were allowed to hold meetings without its walls.
The fire was, however, only smouldering. The truce65 was little more than a pretence66. The quiet in the streets was ominous67. Although the sun shone upon the faithful town a black cloud that betokened68 a storm was rising in the south. In 1582, with a rumble69 of thunder and a darkening sky, the tempest burst. A Huguenot army was advancing upon Vence.
It is necessary to pause here for a moment to record the fact that ten years before this time Vence was approached by a far more terrible and crafty70 enemy than the Huguenot; for in the year 1572 the army of the Black Death marched into the town. It crept through the open gates, for no one saw it. It set out to strangle and kill without remonstrance71, for no one heard its footsteps. It spared neither the armed nor the helpless. It struck down the captain of the guard as he strutted72 on parade as well as the child who toddled73 up the cathedral steps to peep in at the door. It felled the lusty armourer at his forge and the maiden74 singing over her needlework.
As many as could flee from the town fled, including the bishop who sought refuge in St. Paul du Var. Grass grew in the empty streets, the silence of which was broken only by the rumble of a cart laden75 with dead and the tolling76 of a weary bell. The passer-by, with his cloak drawn over his face, slunk down a by-way when he saw another coming. The shops were closed; the market-place still, or traversed by a starving dog seeking his master whom he would never find. Here a door would be standing open, day after day, because the very last dweller77 in the house had crawled out into the street to die, while from an open window would hang the head of a woman whose last cry for help had been unheeded.
One would have supposed that this common disaster would have made for peace, but it only served to deepen the dissent47; for the Catholics ascribed the visitation to the heresies78 of the Huguenots, while they, in turn, regarded the Black Death as a mission from God to punish the Church for its misdeeds.
The position of affairs when the war burst upon Vence in 1582 was as follows: That corner of Provence to the west which bordered on Marseilles, and which would be behind a line drawn—let us say—from Aix-en-Provence to Brignolles, was in the hands of the Church party. On the east the Duke of Savoy, with 2,000 men, was moving from the Italian frontier to the support of his friends at Marseilles. His concern in the conflict was based upon political rather than upon religious grounds. He was, in fact, taking advantage of the discord79 that raged on his borders. Between these two forces was the open country, in the centre of which was Vence.
Now the Huguenot army was advancing from the south, from the shelter of the Esterel mountains. It was led by a very remarkable80 man, by name Lesdiguières. He was young, brilliant, daring and ever victorious81. Nothing could stand in his way; nothing, indeed, dared stand in his way, for his very name inspired terror.
He had two things to accomplish—one was to cut off the advancing army of the Duke of Savoy and prevent it from reaching Marseilles, and the other was to destroy the city of Vence, the outpost of Marseilles and the holder82 of the pass.
Vence stood alone in the way as the Defender of the Faith. It was the centre stone of the position. So long as Vence held it was well for those who were fighting the battle of the Church. If the faithful city fell the outlook was unthinkable.
Lesdiguières the invincible83 appeared before Vence, surrounded it with his troops and his cannon84 and laid siege to it. It must have been a terrific conflict, for so much depended upon the issue, and the Ven?ois were well aware what would happen to them and their town if once the Huguenot captain got possession of the gates.
Beyond the fact that the loss on the side of the besiegers was very great, no details as to the actual storming of the city nor of the deeds of the defenders85 have survived. What is known is that the great adventure failed. The doughty86 Lesdiguières, hitherto invincible, raised the siege and retired87 again to the south beyond the Esterels.
Vence was saved, the prestige of the Church upheld, and a turn was given to events which can only be appreciated by imagining what would have been the history of Provence, and possibly of France, had the faithful city fallen.
Many of the Huguenot leaders and adherents88 rejoined the Church of Rome, old family feuds89 were forgotten, old friends shook hands again who had shunned90 one another for years, the Huguenot lover became Catholic and led his bride to the very altar he had fought to destroy. Even that hardy91 fighting man, the fierce, impetuous Lesdiguières, came back to the Church of Rome. He was, it is true, long in coming, for his reconciliation92 was not made until forty years had passed after the great failure of his life before the walls of Vence.
[9]
[10]
“Voyages dans les Départements du Midi de la France,” by A. L. Millin, 1808. “La Chorographie et l’histoire de Provence,” by Honoré Bouche, 1664, p. 283.
[11]
“The Rivieras,” by Augustus J. Hare, 1897, p. 47.
[12]
VENCE: THE CHURCH AND COURT OF BISHOP’S PALACE.
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收听单词发音
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1
ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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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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turmoils
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| n.混乱( turmoil的名词复数 )；焦虑 | |
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upheaval
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| n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱 | |
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deplore
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| vt.哀叹，对...深感遗憾 | |
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secluded
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| adj.与世隔绝的；隐退的；偏僻的v.使隔开，使隐退( seclude的过去式和过去分词) | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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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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shrines
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| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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inscriptions
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| （作者）题词( inscription的名词复数 )； 献词； 碑文； 证劵持有人的登记 | |
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inscription
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| n.（尤指石块上的）刻印文字，铭文，碑文 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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prettily
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| adv.优美地；可爱地 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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impurities
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| 不纯( impurity的名词复数 )； 不洁； 淫秽； 杂质 | |
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regenerate
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| vt.使恢复，使新生；vi.恢复，再生；adj.恢复的 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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bowels
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| n.肠，内脏，内部；肠( bowel的名词复数 )；内部，最深处 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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influential
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| adj.有影响的，有权势的 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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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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ecclesiastic
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founders
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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paraphrase
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| vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义 | |
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psalm
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| n.赞美诗，圣诗 | |
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psalms
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| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
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cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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43
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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44
frugally
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| adv. 节约地, 节省地 | |
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45
devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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46
stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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47
dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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dissenters
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| n.持异议者，持不同意见者( dissenter的名词复数 ) | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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clamorous
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| adj.吵闹的，喧哗的 | |
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51
quotations
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| n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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55
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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espoused
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| v.（决定）支持，拥护（目标、主张等）( espouse的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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58
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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invective
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| n.痛骂，恶意抨击 | |
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intimacy
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| n.熟悉，亲密，密切关系，亲昵的言行 | |
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scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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lull
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| v.使安静，使入睡，缓和，哄骗；n.暂停，间歇 | |
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tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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truce
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| n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束 | |
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pretence
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| n.假装，作假；借口，口实；虚伪；虚饰 | |
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ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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betokened
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| v.预示，表示( betoken的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rumble
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| n.隆隆声；吵嚷；v.隆隆响；低沉地说 | |
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70
crafty
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| adj.狡猾的，诡诈的 | |
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71
remonstrance
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| n抗议，抱怨 | |
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72
strutted
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| 趾高气扬地走，高视阔步( strut的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
toddled
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| v.（幼儿等）东倒西歪地走( toddle的过去式和过去分词 )；蹒跚行走；溜达；散步 | |
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74
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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75
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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76
tolling
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| [财]来料加工 | |
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77
dweller
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| n.居住者，住客 | |
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78
heresies
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| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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79
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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80
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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81
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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82
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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83
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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84
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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85
defenders
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| n.防御者( defender的名词复数 )；守卫者；保护者；辩护者 | |
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86
doughty
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| adj.勇猛的，坚强的 | |
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87
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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88
adherents
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| n.支持者，拥护者( adherent的名词复数 )；党羽；徒子徒孙 | |
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89
feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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90
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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91
hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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92
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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93
cloisters
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| n.（学院、修道院、教堂等建筑的）走廊( cloister的名词复数 )；回廊；修道院的生活；隐居v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的第三人称单数 ) | |
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94
maritime
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| adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的 | |
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