Until about the end of the twelfth century Monaco was merely a lonely rock, almost inaccessible6, uninhabited and waterless. Projecting as it does into the sea it afforded so good a shelter for ships that the little bay in its shadow became famous as a harbour of refuge. Fringing the bay was a pebble7 beach where a galley8 could be hauled up or a caravel unloaded.
Monaco was known as a port in Roman days. Indeed it was from this unpretentious haven9 that Augustus C?sar embarked10 for Genoa on his way to Rome when his victories in southern Gaul had been accomplished11. The departure of the Emperor was, no doubt, a scene of much pomp, made brilliant by many-coloured standards and flashing spears. As the Emperor stepped on board his ship the blare of trumpets12 and the shout of the troops drawn13 up on the plain must have been heard far beyond La Turbie.
The boats of Greek and Ph?nician traders have made for this harbour and have deposited their strange cargoes14 here to the amazement15 of gaping16 natives. Here in Monaco Bay wild Saracens have tumbled ashore17 with such unearthly shouts as to cause the sea birds on the rock to rise in one fluttering cloud. The beach too has been lit often enough by a camp fire around which a company of pirates would be drinking and singing, while they waited for the return of the marauding party that had left at dawn.
Although the harbour was often alive with men the rock remained untenanted. I should imagine that the first adventurer to set foot on Monaco would be a Ph?nician cabin boy. He would climb the cliff and gaining the summit would explore it with all the curiosity and alert imagination of a boy landed on a desert island.
It is said that in 1078 two pious18 men, who lived at La Turbie, built on Monaco a tiny chapel19 to St. Mary. They built it with their own hands and employed, in the making, stones from the Roman monument in their native town. If this be true the only building that for a hundred years stood upon this barren plateau was the child-like chapel, a speck20 of white on the dark expanse of rock.
CAP D’AIL NEAR MONACO.
In 1191 the Emperor Henry VI granted Monaco to the wealthy and prosperous town of Genoa. The Emperor’s rights over this fragment of territory might be questioned, but there was none to gainsay21 him. His gift was coupled with the requirement that a fortress22 should be built on Monaco which should be ready to serve the Emperor in his wars with the pestilential people of Marseilles and of other towns in Provence.
In the same year an official party of noble Genoese came to Monaco and formally took possession of the place in the name of their city. It was a solemn occasion; for those who represented Genoa made a ceremonial tour of the rock, carrying olive boughs23 in their hands. It was, moreover, a trying occasion for the visit was made in the stifling24 month of June.
Some of the noble commissioners25 who were stout26 and advanced in years (as commissioners often are) must have been hauled, dragged and pushed up the cliff side, like so many bulky packages. Burdened as they were with official robes and olive branches, which had to be carried with decorum, they would have found the ceremony very exacting27. They did more than merely stumble about on the top of the rock, panting and perspiring28 and trying to look official under sweltering conditions. They laid down the lines of a fort. It was to be a square fort and very large, with a tower at each of the four angles, and it was to be designed in the Moorish29 style.
This fort or castle was erected30 in the year 1215 on the site of the present palace and was provided with a garrison31 by the Genoese. Outside the fort the rudiments32 of a town appeared—the first huts and houses of Monaco. That town, therefore, has already passed the seven hundredth anniversary of its foundation.
The harbour of Monaco of to-day is a model harbour as perfect as the art of the engineer can make it. Two stone piers33 guard the entrance and at the end of each is a lighthouse. There are two wide quays34 where feluccas and other rakish-looking ships land barrels of wine; while the basin itself can accommodate a fleet of yachts.
This haven which has sheltered the very earliest forms of sea-going ship now shelters—during the regatta season—the latest development of the motor boat and the racing35 launch. History repeats itself. There was amazement at Monaco when the first hydroplane dropped on to the water by the harbour’s mouth: there was amazement also, centuries ago, when the loungers about the beach saw enter the new ship, the astounding36 vessel37 that was propelled not by paddles or oars38, but by sails.
Above the pebble beach is a modest promenade39 and a road—the main road to Nice. On the other side of the highway are genial40 hotels where people lunch and dine out of doors, amid a profusion41 of white tablecloths42 and green chairs and where the menu of the day is suspended from the railings.
At the far end of this Boulevard de la Condamine are an avenue of trees and the old Etablissement des Bains de Mer which, even as late as Hare’s time, was “much frequented in summer.” The Etablissement is now little more than a ghost. The sound of its gaiety has long since been hushed into silence. There is a somewhat frivolous43-looking building by the water’s edge which has a rounded glass front and some suggestion that it may once have been a palace of delight. It has now fallen into a state of decrepitude44 and shabbiness and is given up to quite commonplace commercial uses. It is like a dandy in extreme old age who, dressed in the thread-bare clothes which were the fashion a generation ago, still sits on a parade which once was rustling45 with happy people and which is now as sombre as a cemetery47 lane.
Opening on to the margin48 of the harbour is a great gorge49, a sudden breach50 in the earth which serves to separate the sober town of Monaco from the frivolous town of Monte Carlo. It is a strange thing—this ravine. It is deep and full of shadows. Its walls, lit by the sun, are sheer precipices52 of biscuit-coloured rock, tinted53 faintly with red as with rust46. From every crack and cranny on its towering sides something green is bursting; while, here and there, a flower, yellow or blue, clings to a ledge54 like a perching bird.
From the balustrade of a garden on its summit there hang festoons of scarlet55 geraniums and a curtain of blue heliotrope56. Along the bottom of the chasm57 runs a fussy58 stream, with a noise like that of many flutes59 and by its side—among a jumble60 of rocks, bushes and brambles—an inconsequent path creeps up, out of pure curiosity, since it leads nowhere.
This ravine, as wild and savage61 as it was a thousand years ago, is a strange thing to find in the middle of a town, for houses crowd about it on either side and press so far forward on its heights that they appear likely to topple into the abyss. A huge railway viaduct crosses its entrance, while its floor slopes to a road where motors and tramcars rattle62 along, without heed63 to this quiet nook in the mountain side. It is as incongruous and out of place as a green meadow with buttercups and cows spread out by the side of the blatant64 traffic of Fleet Street.
There are other anomalies about this Ravin des Gaumates. It is so reckless-looking and so theatrical65 a chasm that one is convinced that duels66 have been fought here and that here conspirators67 in cloaks have met, and buccaneers have stored their surprising spoils. At the present day, however, the sea rover’s camp is occupied by a laundry shed, where unemotional women, with red arms and untidy heads, are busy; and where, in the place of brigands’ loot, sheets are spread upon the rocks to dry, together with white articles of underclothing.
At the mouth of the gorge—standing quite alone—is the little chapel of St. Dévote. It is a humble68 church, modern, plain as a peasant, and of no intrinsic interest. It is notable only in its position. The building seems to be as surprised at the place in which it finds itself as is the visitor who finds it there. Possibly no more strangely situated69 house of prayer exists in Europe. Behind it is a wild, disorderly glen; on each side is a precipice51 and in front is a gigantic railway viaduct of such immoderate proportions that it towers above the very steeple of the church.
The building viewed from the road where the tramcars run looks like a small shrinking figure enshrined in a niche70 provided by a vulgar, overbearing and irreverent railway arch.
MONACO.
St. Dévote is the patron saint of Monaco. The celebration held every year in her honour is very picturesque71 and impressive; for then a long procession winds down from Monaco to the little chapel to do homage72 to her memory. The legend of St. Dévote takes many forms. The version here given is that which appears to be generally accepted in Monaco.[31]
In the reign73 of the Emperor Diocletian there lived in Corsica a Christian74 maiden75 whose name was Dévote. She was bitterly persecuted76 for her religion; but found a friend in Euticius, a senator, who concealed77 her in his house. Her hiding place was discovered by the Roman prefect who was engaged in the hunting down of Christians78. Euticius was killed by poison. Dévote was dragged forth79 into the street, was mutilated with the utmost brutality80 and finally expired while undergoing the torture of the “chevalet.” She died praying for the soul of her friend and protector, the noble Euticius.
During the night the body of the martyr81 was carried down secretly to the seashore by her fellow Christians and placed, with solemn reverence82, on board a ship. As the day dawned the ship set sail for the coast of Africa; but, after a while, a storm burst upon it and drove it, helpless and hopeless, before a fierce wind towards the shores of Gaul.
The captain—one Gratien—felt that the ship was lost. His strength was spent and he gave way to utter despair. As he clung wearily to the helm, dazed and exhausted83, a vision of the dead maiden appeared before him as a small, white figure against a curtain of black cloud. She opened her mouth to speak.
“Up! Gratien,” she said, “the tempest is passing away; your ship will sail safely into the blue. Watch by me and when you see a dove fly forth from my mouth, follow it with a good heart. It will take you to a quiet haven, called in the Greek, Monaco, and in the Latin, Singulare. There you will find peace and there, by the beach, bury my body.”
Her words came true. The wind ceased; the savage waves dropped into a rippled84 calm and under an azure85 sky, made glorious by the sun, the battered boat—bearing the wan86 maiden on its deck—sailed, like a radiant thing, into a harbour of enchantment87. At the mouth of the glen, where the rosemary grew and by the side of the laughing stream the body of the little maid was buried.
[31]
点击收听单词发音
1 par | |
n.标准,票面价值,平均数量;adj.票面的,平常的,标准的 | |
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2 pounced | |
v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 );猛扑;一眼看出;抓住机会(进行抨击) | |
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3 harried | |
v.使苦恼( harry的过去式和过去分词 );不断烦扰;一再袭击;侵扰 | |
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4 battered | |
adj.磨损的;v.连续猛击;磨损 | |
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5 Mediterranean | |
adj.地中海的;地中海沿岸的 | |
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6 inaccessible | |
adj.达不到的,难接近的 | |
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7 pebble | |
n.卵石,小圆石 | |
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8 galley | |
n.(飞机或船上的)厨房单层甲板大帆船;军舰舰长用的大划艇; | |
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9 haven | |
n.安全的地方,避难所,庇护所 | |
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10 embarked | |
乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 ); 装载; 从事 | |
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11 accomplished | |
adj.有才艺的;有造诣的;达到了的 | |
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12 trumpets | |
喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 ); 小号; 喇叭形物; (尤指)绽开的水仙花 | |
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13 drawn | |
v.拖,拉,拔出;adj.憔悴的,紧张的 | |
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14 cargoes | |
n.(船或飞机装载的)货物( cargo的名词复数 );大量,重负 | |
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15 amazement | |
n.惊奇,惊讶 | |
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16 gaping | |
adj.口的;张口的;敞口的;多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 );张开,张大 | |
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17 ashore | |
adv.在(向)岸上,上岸 | |
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18 pious | |
adj.虔诚的;道貌岸然的 | |
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19 chapel | |
n.小教堂,殡仪馆 | |
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20 speck | |
n.微粒,小污点,小斑点 | |
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21 gainsay | |
v.否认,反驳 | |
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22 fortress | |
n.堡垒,防御工事 | |
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23 boughs | |
大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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24 stifling | |
a.令人窒息的 | |
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25 commissioners | |
n.专员( commissioner的名词复数 );长官;委员;政府部门的长官 | |
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27 exacting | |
adj.苛求的,要求严格的 | |
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28 perspiring | |
v.出汗,流汗( perspire的现在分词 ) | |
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29 moorish | |
adj.沼地的,荒野的,生[住]在沼地的 | |
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30 ERECTED | |
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立 | |
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31 garrison | |
n.卫戍部队;驻地,卫戍区;vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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32 rudiments | |
n.基础知识,入门 | |
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33 piers | |
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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34 quays | |
码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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35 racing | |
n.竞赛,赛马;adj.竞赛用的,赛马用的 | |
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36 astounding | |
adj.使人震惊的vt.使震惊,使大吃一惊astound的现在分词) | |
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37 vessel | |
n.船舶;容器,器皿;管,导管,血管 | |
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38 oars | |
n.桨,橹( oar的名词复数 );划手v.划(行)( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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39 promenade | |
n./v.散步 | |
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40 genial | |
adj.亲切的,和蔼的,愉快的,脾气好的 | |
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41 profusion | |
n.挥霍;丰富 | |
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42 tablecloths | |
n.桌布,台布( tablecloth的名词复数 ) | |
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43 frivolous | |
adj.轻薄的;轻率的 | |
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44 decrepitude | |
n.衰老;破旧 | |
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45 rustling | |
n. 瑟瑟声,沙沙声 adj. 发沙沙声的 | |
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46 rust | |
n.锈;v.生锈;(脑子)衰退 | |
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47 cemetery | |
n.坟墓,墓地,坟场 | |
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48 margin | |
n.页边空白;差额;余地,余裕;边,边缘 | |
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49 gorge | |
n.咽喉,胃,暴食,山峡;v.塞饱,狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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50 breach | |
n.违反,不履行;破裂;vt.冲破,攻破 | |
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51 precipice | |
n.悬崖,危急的处境 | |
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52 precipices | |
n.悬崖,峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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53 tinted | |
adj. 带色彩的 动词tint的过去式和过去分词 | |
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54 ledge | |
n.壁架,架状突出物;岩架,岩礁 | |
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55 scarlet | |
n.深红色,绯红色,红衣;adj.绯红色的 | |
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56 heliotrope | |
n.天芥菜;淡紫色 | |
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57 chasm | |
n.深坑,断层,裂口,大分岐,利害冲突 | |
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58 fussy | |
adj.为琐事担忧的,过分装饰的,爱挑剔的 | |
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59 flutes | |
长笛( flute的名词复数 ); 细长香槟杯(形似长笛) | |
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60 jumble | |
vt.使混乱,混杂;n.混乱;杂乱的一堆 | |
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61 savage | |
adj.野蛮的;凶恶的,残暴的;n.未开化的人 | |
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62 rattle | |
v.飞奔,碰响;激怒;n.碰撞声;拨浪鼓 | |
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63 heed | |
v.注意,留意;n.注意,留心 | |
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64 blatant | |
adj.厚颜无耻的;显眼的;炫耀的 | |
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65 theatrical | |
adj.剧场的,演戏的;做戏似的,做作的 | |
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66 duels | |
n.两男子的决斗( duel的名词复数 );竞争,斗争 | |
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67 conspirators | |
n.共谋者,阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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68 humble | |
adj.谦卑的,恭顺的;地位低下的;v.降低,贬低 | |
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69 situated | |
adj.坐落在...的,处于某种境地的 | |
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70 niche | |
n.壁龛;合适的职务(环境、位置等) | |
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71 picturesque | |
adj.美丽如画的,(语言)生动的,绘声绘色的 | |
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72 homage | |
n.尊敬,敬意,崇敬 | |
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73 reign | |
n.统治时期,统治,支配,盛行;v.占优势 | |
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74 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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75 maiden | |
n.少女,处女;adj.未婚的,纯洁的,无经验的 | |
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76 persecuted | |
(尤指宗教或政治信仰的)迫害(~sb. for sth.)( persecute的过去式和过去分词 ); 烦扰,困扰或骚扰某人 | |
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77 concealed | |
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的 | |
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78 Christians | |
n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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79 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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80 brutality | |
n.野蛮的行为,残忍,野蛮 | |
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81 martyr | |
n.烈士,殉难者;vt.杀害,折磨,牺牲 | |
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82 reverence | |
n.敬畏,尊敬,尊严;Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称;v.尊敬,敬畏,崇敬 | |
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83 exhausted | |
adj.极其疲惫的,精疲力尽的 | |
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84 rippled | |
使泛起涟漪(ripple的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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85 azure | |
adj.天蓝色的,蔚蓝色的 | |
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86 wan | |
(wide area network)广域网 | |
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87 enchantment | |
n.迷惑,妖术,魅力 | |
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