HE CALLED FOR THE MOST RECENT OFFICIAL PROPERTY census1 and after examining it summoned all the richest men in France to Lyons, so that when the Palace-stun2! arrived there from Rome he would be sure to get good prices for it. Just before the auction3 started, he made a speech. He said that be was a poor bankrupt with enormous liabilities, but trusted that, for the sake of the Empire, his affectionate provincial4 friends and grateful allies would not take advantage of his financial plight5. He begged them not to offer less than the true value of the family heirlooms which, much to his grief, he was being forced to put up for sale.
There was no ordinary auctioneer's trick that he had not learned, and he invented a great many new ones too beyond the scope of the market-place cheap-jacks from whom he borrowed so much of his patter. For instance, he sold the same article several times over to different buyers with each time a different account of its quality and usefulness and history. And by "true value" he expected bidders6 to understand "sentimental7 value" which always turned out to be a hundred times greater than the intrinsic value. For instance he would say: "This was the favourite easy-chair of my great-grandfather Mark Antony"-"the God Augustus drank out of this wine-cup at his marriage feast"- "this dress was worn by my sister, the Goddess Panthea, at a reception given to King Herod Agrippa in celebration of his release from prison"-and so forth8. And he sold what he called "blind bargains", small articles wrapped up in cloth. When he had inveigled9 a man into buying an old sandal or a piece of cheese for two thousand gold pieces, he was tremendously pleased with himself.
Bidding always started at the reserve price; for he would nod at some rich Frenchman and say, "I think you said forty thousand gold pieces for that alabaster10 casket? Thank you. But let's see if we can't do better. Who'll say forty-five thousand?" You can imagine that fear made the bidding brisk. He skinned the whole lot of all they had and celebrated11 the skinning by a magnificent ten-day festival.
He then continued his progress to the Rhine Provinces. He swore that he was about to fight a war against the Germans that would only end in their total extermination12. He would piously13 complete the task begun by his grandfather and rather. He sent a couple of regiments14 over the river to locate the nearest enemy. About a thousand prisoners were brought back. Caligula reviewed them and after picking out three hundred fine young men for his bodyguard15 he lined up the remainder against a cliff. A bald-headed man was at either end of the line. Caligula gave Cassius the order: "Kill them, from bald head to bald head, in vengeance16 for the death of Varus." The news of this massacre17 reached the Germans and they withdrew into their thickest forests. Caligula then crossed the river with his entire army and found the countryside deserted18. The first day of his march, just to make things more exciting, he ordered some of his German bodyguard into a neighbouring wood, and then had news brought to him at supper that the enemy was at hand. At the head of his "Scouts19" and a troop of Guards Cavalry20 he then dashed out to the attack. He brought back the men as prisoners, loaded with chains and announced a crushing victory against overwhelming odds21. He rewarded his comrades-in-arms with a new sort of military decoration called "The Scouts' Crown", a golden coronet decorated with the Sun, Moon and stars in precious stones.
On the third day the road lay through a narrow pass. The army had to move in column instead of in skirmishing order. Cassius said to Caligula, "It was in a place rather like this, Caesar, that Varus got ambushed23. I shall never forget that day so long as I live-I was marching at the head of my company and had Just reached a bend in the road, as it might be this one we are coming to, when suddenly there ' was a tremendous war-cry, as it might be from that clump24 of firs yonder, and three or four hundred assegais came whizzing down on us…"
"Quick, my mare25!" called Caligula in a panic. "Clear the road!" He sprang from his sedan, mounted Penelope (Incitatus was at Rome, winning races) and galloped26 back down the column. In four hours' time he was at the bridge again, but found it so choked with baggage-wagons and was in such a hurry to cross that he dismounted and made soldiers hand him in a chair from wagon27 to wagon until he was safely on the other side. He recalled his army at once, announcing that the enemy were too cowardly to meet him in battle, and that he would therefore seek new conquests elsewhere. When the whole force had reassembled at Cologne he marched down the Rhine and then across to Boulogne, the nearest port to Britain. It so happened that the son of Cymbeline, the King of Britain, had quarrelled with his father and, hearing of Caligula's approach, he fled across the Channel with a few followers28 and put himself under Roman protection. Caligula, who had already informed the Senate of his total subjugation29 of Germany, now wrote to say that King Cymbeline had sent his son to acknowledge Roman suzerainty over the entire British archipelago from the Scilly Islands to the Orkneys.
I was with Caligula throughout this expedition and had a very difficult time trying to humour him. He complained of sleeplessness30 and said that his enemy Neptune31 was plaguing him all the time with sea-noises in his ears, and used to come by night and threaten him with a trident. I said: "Neptune? I wouldn't allow myself to be browbeaten32 by that saucy33 fellow if I were you. Why don't you punish him as you punished the Germans? You threatened him (once before, I remember, and if he continues to flout34 you, it would be wrong to stretch your clemency35 any further."
He looked at me, uncomfortably, through narrowed eyelids36. "Do you think I'm mad?" he asked, after a time.
I laughed nervously37. "Mad, Cassar? You ask whether I think you mad? Why, you set the standard of sanity38 for the whole habitable world."
"It's a very difficult thing, you know, Claudius' he said confidentially39, "to be a God in human disguise. I've often thought I was going mad. They say that the hellebore Cure at Anticyra is very good. What do you think of it?"
I said: "One of the greatest Greek philosophers, Out I can't remember now which of them it was, took the hellebore cure just to make his clear brain still clearer. But if you are asking me to advise you, I should say, "Don't take it! Your brain is as clear as a pool of rock-water."
"Yes," he said, "but I wish I could get more than three hours' sleep a night."
"Those three hours are because of your mortal disguise," I said. "Undisguised Gods lever sleep at all."
So he was comforted and the next day drew up his army in order of battle on the sea-front: archers40 and stingers in front, then the auxiliary41 Germans armed with assegais, then the main Roman forces, with the French in the rear. The cavalry were on the wings and the siege-engines, mangonels and catapults, planted on sand-dunes. Nobody knew what on earth was going to happen. He rode forward into the sea as far as Penelope's knees and cried: "Neptune, old enemy, defend yourself. I challenge you to mortal fight. You treacherously42 wrecked43 my father's fleet, did you? Try your might on me, if you dare." Then he quoted from Ajax's wrestling match with Ulysses, in Homer;
Or let me lift thee, Chief, or lift thou me. Prove we our force…
A little wave came rolling past. He cut at it with his sword and laughed contemptuously. Then he coolly retired44 and ordered the "general engagement" to be sounded. The archers shot, the slingers slung45, the javelin-men threw their javelins46; the regular infantry47 waded48 into the waters as far as their arm-pits and hacked49 at the little waves, the cavalry charged on either flank and swam out some way, slashing50 with their sabres, the mangonels hurled51 rocks and the catapults huge javelins and iron-tipped beams. Caligula then put to sea in a war-vessel and anchored just out of range of the missiles, uttering absurd challenges to Neptune and spitting far out over the vessel's side. Neptune made no attempt to defend himself or to reply, except that one man was nipped by a lobster52, and another stung by a jelly-fish.
Caligula finally had the rally blown and told his men to 'wipe the blood off their swords and gather the spoil. The spoil was the sea-shells on the beach. Each man was expected to collect a helmet-full, which was added to a general heap. The shells were then sorted and packed in boxes to be sent to Rome in proof of this unheard-of victory. The troops thought it great fun, and when he rewarded them with four gold pieces a man cheered him tremendously. As a trophy53 of victory he built a very high lighthouse, on the model of the famous one at Alexandria, which has since proved a great blessing54 to sailors in those dangerous waters.
He then marched up the Rhine again. When we reached Bonn Caligula took me aside and whispered darkly: "The regiments have never been punished for the insult they once paid me by mutinying against my father, during my absence from this Camp. You remember, I had to come back and restore order for him."
"I remember perfectly55." I said. "But that's rather long ago, isn't it? After twenty-six years there can't be many men still serving in the ranks who were then there. You and Cassius Chsrea are probably the only two veteran survivors56 of that dreadful day."
"Perhaps I shall only decimate them, then," he said.
The men of the First and Twentieth Regiments were ordered to attend a special assembly and told that they might leave their arms behind, because of the hot weather. The Guards cavalry were also ordered to attend but instructed to bring their lances as well as their sabres. I found a sergeant57 who looked as though he might have fought at Philippi, he was so old and scarred. I said, "Sergeant, do you know who I am?"
"No, sir. Can't say that I do, sir. You seem to be an ex Consul58, sir."
"I am the brother of Germanicus."
"Indeed, sir. Never knew that there was such a person, sir."
"No, I'm not a soldier or anyone important. But I've got an important message for you fellows. Don't leave your swords too far away when you go to this afternoon's assembly!"
"Why, sir, if I may ask?"
"Because you may need them. Perhaps there will be an attack by the Germans. Perhaps by someone else."
He stared hard at me and then saw that I really meant it.
"Much obliged to you, sir, I'll pass the word around," he answered.
The infantry were massed in front of the tribunal platform and Caligula spoke59 to them with an angry scowling60 face, stamping his feet and sawing with his hands. He began reminding them of a certain night in early autumn, many years before, when under a starless and bewitched sky… Here some of the men began sneaking61 away through a gap between two troops of cavalry. They were going to fetch their swords. Others boldly pulled theirs out from under their military cloaks where they had been hiding them. Caligula must have noticed what was happening, for he suddenly changed his tone, in the middle of a sentence. He began drawing a happy contrast between those bad days, happily forgotten, and the present reign62 of glory, wealth and victory. "Your little playfellow grew to manhood," he said, "and became the mightiest63 Emperor this world has ever known. No foeman however'' fierce, dares challenge his unconquerable arms."
My old sergeant rushed forward. "All is lost, Caesar," he shouted. "The enemy has crossed the river at Cologne- three hundred thousand strong. They're out to sack Lyons -then they'll cross the Alps and sack Rome!"
Nobody believed this nonsensical story but Caligula. He turned yellow with fear, dived from the platform, grabbed hold of a horse, tumbled into the saddle and was out of the camp like a flash. A groom64 galloped after him and Caligula called back to him, "Thank God I still hold Egypt. Ill be safe there at least. The Germans aren't sailors."
How everyone laughed! But a colonel went after him on a good horse and caught him before very long. He assured Caligula that the news was exaggerated. Only a small force, he said, had crossed the river and had been beaten back: the Roman bank was now quite clear of the enemy. Caligula stopped at the next town and wrote a dispatch to the Senate, informing them that all his wars were now successfully over and that he was coming back at once with his laurel-garlanded troops. He blamed those cowardly stay-at-homes most severely65 for having, from all accounts, lived life in the City just as usual-theatres, baths, supper-parties-while he had been undergoing the severest hardships of campaign. He had eaten, drunk and slept no better than a private soldier.
The Senate was puzzled how to pacify66 him, being under strict orders from him to vote him no honours on their own initiative. They sent him an embassy, however, congratulating him on his magnificent victories and begging him to hasten back to Rome where his presence was so sadly missed. He was dreadfully angry that no triumph had been decreed him even in spite of his orders, and that he was not referred to as Jove in the message but merely as the Emperor Gaius Caesar. He rapped his hand on his swordpommel and shouted: "Hasten back? Indeed I will, and with this in my hand."
He had made preparations for a triple triumph: over Germany, over Britain and over Neptune. For British captives he had Cymbeline's son and his followers, to which were added the crews of some British trading vessels67 whom he had detained at Boulogne. For German captives he had three hundred real ones and all the tallest men he could find in France, wearing yellow wigs69 and German clothes and talking together in a jargon70 supposed to be German. But, as I say, the Senate had been afraid to vote him a formal triumph, so he had to be content with an informal one. He rode into the City in the same style as he had ridden across the bridge at Bais, and it was only on the intercession of Caesonia, who was a sensible woman, that he refrained from putting the entire Senate to the sword. He rewarded the people for their alms-giving generosity71 to him in the past by showering gold and silver from the Palace roof. But he mixed red-hot discs of iron with this largesse72, to remind them that he had not yet forgiven them for their behaviour in the amphitheatre. His soldiers were told that they could make as much disturbance73 as they pleased and get as drunk as they liked at the public expense. They took' full advantage of this licence, sacking whole streets of shops and burning down the prostitutes' quarter. Order was not restored for ten days.
This was in September. While he was away the workmen had been busy on the new temple on the Palatine Hill at the other side of the Temple of Castor and Pollux horn the New Palace. An extension had been made as far as the Market Place. Caligula now turned the Temple of Castor and Pollux into a vestibule for the new temple, cutting a passage between the statues of the Gods. "The Heavenly Twins are my doorkeepers," he boasted. Then he sent a message to the Governor of Greece to see that all the most famous statues of Gods were removed from the temples there and sent to him at Rome. He proposed to take off their heads and substitute his own. The statue he most coveted74 was the colossal75 one of Olympian Jove. He had a special ship built for its conveyance76 to Rome. But the ship was struck by lightning just before it was launched. Or this, at least, was the report-I believe really, that the superstitious77 crew burned it on purpose. However, Capitoline Jove then repented78 of his quarrel with Caligula (or so Caligula told us) and begged him to return and live next to him again. Caligula replied that he had now practically completed a new temple; but since Capitoline, Jove had apologized so humbly79 he would make a compromise-he would build a bridge over the valley and join the two hills. He did this: the bridge passed over the roof of the Temple of Augustus.
Caligula was now publicly Jove. He was not only Latin Jove but Olympian Jove, and not only that but all the other Gods and Goddesses, too, whom he had decapitated and reheaded. Sometimes he was Apollo and sometimes Mercury and sometimes Pluto80, in each case wearing the appropriate dress and demanding the appropriate sacrifices. I have seen him go about as Venus in a long gauzy silk robe with face painted, a red wig68, padded bosom81 and highheeled slippers82. He was present as the Good Goddess at her December festival: that was a scandal. Mars was a favourite character with him, too. But most of the time he was Jove: he wore an olive-wreath, a beard of fine gold wires and a bright blue silk cloak, and carried a jagged piece of electrum in his hand to represent lightning. One day he was on the Oration22 Platform in the Market Place dressed as Jove and making a speech. "I intend shortly," he said, "to build a city for my occupation on the top of the Alps. We Gods prefer mountain-tops to unhealthy river-valleys. From the Alps I shall have a wide view of my Empire- France, Italy, Switzerland, the Tyrol and Germany. If I see any treason hatching anywhere below me, I shall give a warning growl83 of thunder so! [He growled84 in his throat.] If the warning is disregarded I shall blast the traitor85 with this lightning of mine, so! [He hurled his piece of lightning at the crowd. It hit a statue and bounced off harmlessly.] A stranger in the crowd, a shoemaker from Marseilles on a sight-seeing visit to Rome, burst out laughing. Caligula had the fellow arrested and brought nearer the platform, then bending down he asked frowning: "Who do I seem to you to be?"
"A big humbug86," said the shoemaker. Caligula was puzzled. "Humbug?" he repeated. "I a humbug!"
"Yes," said the Frenchman, "I'm only a poor French shoemaker and this is my first visit to Rome. And I don't know any better. If anyone at home did what you're doing he'd be a big humbug."
Caligula began to laugh too. "You poor half-wit," he said. "Of course he would be. That's just the difference."
The whole crowd laughed like mad, but whether at Caligula or at the shoemaker was not clear. Soon after this he had a thunder-and-lightning machine made. He lit a fuse and it made a roar and a flash and catapulted stones in whatever direction he wanted. But I have it on good authority that whenever there was a real thunderstorm at night he used to creep under the bed. There is a good story about that. One day a storm burst when he was parading about dressed as Venus. He began to cry: "Father, Father. spare your pretty daughter"
The money he had won in France was soon spent and he invented new ways of increasing the revenue. His favourite one now was to examine judicially87 the wills of men who had just died and had left him no money: he would then give evidence of the benefits that the testators had received from him and declare that they had been either ungrateful or of unsound mind at the time of drawing their wills and that he preferred to think that they had been of unsound mind. He cancelled the wills and appointed himself principal heir. He used to come into Court in the early morning and write up on a blackboard the sum of money that he intended to win that day, usually two hundred thousand gold pieces. When he had won it, he closed the Court. He made a new edict one morning about the hours of business permitted in various sorts of shops. He had it written in very small letters on a tiny placard posted high on a pillar in the Market Place where nobody troubled to read it, not realizing its importance. That afternoon his officers took the names of several hundred tradesmen who had unwittingly infringed88 the edict. When they were brought to trial he allowed any of them who could do so to plead in mitigation of sentence that they had named him as co-heir with their children. Few of them could. It now became customary for men with money to fortify89 the Imperial Treasurer90 that Caligula was named in-their wills as the principal heir. But in several cases this proved unwise. For Caligula made use of the medicine chest that he had inherited from my grandmother Livia. One day he sent round presents of honied fruits to some recent testators. They all died at once. He also summoned my cousin, the King of Morocco, to Rome and put him to death, saying simply: "I need your fortune, Ptolemy."
During his absence in France there had been comparatively few convictions at Rome and the prisons were nearly empty: this meant a shortage of victims for throwing to the wild beasts. He made the shortage up by using members of the audience, first cutting out their tongues so that they could not call out to their friends for rescue. He was becoming more and more capricious. One day a priest was about to sacrifice a young bull to him in his aspect of Apollo, The usual sacrificial procedure was for a deacon to stun the bull with a stone axe91, and for the priest then to cut its throat. Caligula came in dressed as a deacon and asked the usual question: "Shall I?" When the priest answered, "Do so," he brought the axe down smash on the priest's head.
I was still living in poverty with Briseis and Calpurnia, for though I had no debts, neither had I any money except what little income came to me from the farm. I was careful to let Caligula know how poor I was and he graciously permitted me to remain in the Senatorial Order though I no longer had the necessary financial qualifications. But I felt my position daily more insecure. One midnight early in October I was awakened92 by loud knocking at the front door. I put my head out of the window. "Who's there?" I asked.
"You're wanted at the Palace immediately." I said: "Is that you, Cassius Chaerea? Am I going to be killed, do you know?"
"My orders are to fetch you to him immediately." Calpurnia cried and Briseis cried and both kissed me good-bye very tenderly. As they helped me to dress I hurriedly told them how to dispose of my few remaining possessions, and what to do with little Antonia, and about my funeral, and so on. It was a most affecting scene for all of us, but I did not dare prolong it. Soon I was hopping93 along at Cassius's side to the Palace. He said gruffly, "Two more ex-Consuls have been summoned to appear with you." He told me their names and I was still more alarmed. They were rich men, just the sort whom Caligula would accuse of a plot against him. But why me? I was the first to arrive. The two others came rushing in almost immediately after, breathless with haste and fear. We were taken into the Hall of Justice and made to sit on chairs on a sort of scaffold looking down on the tribunal platform. A guard of German soldiers stood behind us, muttering together in their own language. The room was in complete darkness but for two tiny oil lamps on the tribunal. The windows behind were draped, we noticed, with black hangings embroidered94 with silver stars. My companions and I silently clasped hands in farewell. They were men from whom I had had many insults at one time or another, but in the shadow of death such trifles are forgotten. We sat. there waiting for something to happen until just before daybreak.
Suddenly we heard a clash of symbols and the gay music of oboes and Eddies95. Slaves filed in from a door at the side of the tribunal, each carrying two lamps, which they put on tables at the side; and then the powerful voice of a eunuch began singing the well-known song When the long watches of the night. The slaves retired. A shuffling96 sound was heard and presently in danced a tall ungainly figure in a woman's pink silk gown with a crown of imitation TQSfS on its head. It was Caligula.
The rosy-fingered Goddess then
Will roll away the night of stars…
Here he drew away the draperies from the window and disclosed the first streaks97 of dawn, and then, when the eunuch reached the part about the rosy-fingered Goddess blowing out the lamps one by one, brought this incident into the dance too. Puff98. Puff. Puff.
And where clandestine99 lovers lie
Entangled100 in sweet passion's toils…
From a bed which we had not noticed, because it was in an alcove101, the Goddess Dawn then pulled out a girl and a man, neither of them with any clothes on, and in dumb show indicated that it was the time for them to part. The girl was very beautiful. The man was the eunuch who was singing. They parted in opposite directions as if profoundly distressed102. When the last verse came:
Dawn, of Goddesses most fair,
Who with thy slow and lovely tread Dost give relief to every care…
I had the sense to prostrate103 myself on the ground. My companions were not slow in following my example. Caligula capered104 off the stage and soon afterwards we were summoned to breakfast with him. I said "O God of Gods, I have never in my life witnessed any dance that gave me such profound joy as the one I have just witnessed. I have no words for its loveliness."
My companions agreed with me and said that it was a million pities that so matchless a performance had been given to so tiny an audience. He said, complacently105, that it was only a rehearsal106. He would give it one night soon in the amphitheatre to the whole City. I didn't see how he would manage the curtain-drawing effect in an open-air amphitheatre hundreds of yards long, but I said nothing about that. We had a very tasty breakfast, the senior ex-Consul sitting on the floor alternately eating thrush-pie and kissing Caligula's foot. I was just thinking how pleased Calpurnia and Briseis would be to see me back when Caligula, who was in a very pleasant humour, suddenly said: "Pretty girl, wasn't she, Claudius, you old lecher?"
"Very pretty indeed, God."
"And still a virgin107, so far as I know. Would you like to marry her? You can if you like. I took a fancy to her for a moment, but it's a funny thing, I don't really like immature108 women… Or any mature woman, for that matter, except Caesonia. Did you recognize the girl?"
"No, Lord, I was only watching you, to tell the truth."
"She's your cousin Messalina, Barbatus's daughter. The old pander109 didn't utter a word of protest when I asked for her to be sent along to me. What cowards they are, after all, Claudius!"
"Yes, Lord God."
"All right, then, I'll marry you two to-morrow. I'm going to bed now, I think."
"A thousand thanks and homages, Lord."
He gave me his other foot to kiss. Next day he kept his promise and married us. He accepted a tenth of Messalina's dowry as a fee but otherwise behaved courteously110 enough. Calpurnia had been delighted to see me alive again and had pretended not to mind about my marriage. She said in a business-like way: "Very well, my dear, I'll go back to the farm and look after things for you there again. You won't miss me, with that pretty wife of yours. And now you have money you'll have to live at the Palace again."
I told her that the marriage was forced on me and that I would miss her very much indeed. But she pooh-poohed that: Messalina had twice her looks, three times her brains, and birth and money into the bargain. I was in love with her already, Calpuroia said.
I felt uncomfortable. Calpumia had been my only true friend in all those four years of misery111. What had she not done for me? And yet she was right: I was in love with Messalina, and Messalina was to be my wife now. There would be no place for Calpumia with Messalina about.
She was in tears as she went away. So was I. I was not in love with her, but she was my truest friend and I knew that if ever I needed her she would be there to help me. I need not say that when I received the dowry money I did not forget her.
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census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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stun
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| vt.打昏，使昏迷，使震惊，使惊叹 | |
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auction
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| n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖 | |
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provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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plight
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| n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定 | |
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bidders
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| n.出价者，投标人( bidder的名词复数 ) | |
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sentimental
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| adj.多愁善感的，感伤的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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inveigled
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| v.诱骗，引诱( inveigle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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alabaster
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| adj.雪白的；n.雪花石膏；条纹大理石 | |
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celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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piously
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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bodyguard
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vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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scouts
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| 侦察员[机，舰]( scout的名词复数 )； 童子军； 搜索； 童子军成员 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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oration
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ambushed
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| v.埋伏( ambush的过去式和过去分词 )；埋伏着 | |
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clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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25
mare
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| n.母马，母驴 | |
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26
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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27
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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28
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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29
subjugation
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| n.镇压，平息，征服 | |
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30
sleeplessness
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| n.失眠，警觉 | |
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31
Neptune
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| n.海王星 | |
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32
browbeaten
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| v.（以言辞或表情）威逼，恫吓( browbeat的过去分词 ) | |
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33
saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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34
flout
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| v./n.嘲弄，愚弄，轻视 | |
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35
clemency
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| n.温和，仁慈，宽厚 | |
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36
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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37
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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38
sanity
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| n.心智健全，神智正常，判断正确 | |
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39
confidentially
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| ad.秘密地，悄悄地 | |
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40
archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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41
auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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42
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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43
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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44
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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45
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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46
javelins
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| n.标枪( javelin的名词复数 ) | |
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47
infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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48
waded
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| （从水、泥等）蹚，走过，跋( wade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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49
hacked
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| 生气 | |
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slashing
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| adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减 | |
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51
hurled
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| v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的过去式和过去分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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52
lobster
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| n.龙虾，龙虾肉 | |
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53
trophy
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| n.优胜旗，奖品，奖杯，战胜品，纪念品 | |
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54
blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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56
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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58
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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59
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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60
scowling
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的现在分词 ) | |
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61
sneaking
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| a.秘密的，不公开的 | |
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62
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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mightiest
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| adj.趾高气扬( mighty的最高级 )；巨大的；强有力的；浩瀚的 | |
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64
groom
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| vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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66
pacify
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| vt.使(某人)平静(或息怒)；抚慰 | |
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67
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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68
wig
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| n.假发 | |
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69
wigs
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| n.假发，法官帽( wig的名词复数 ) | |
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70
jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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71
generosity
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| n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为 | |
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72
largesse
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| n.慷慨援助，施舍 | |
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73
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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74
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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75
colossal
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| adj.异常的，庞大的 | |
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76
conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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77
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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78
repented
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| 对（自己的所为）感到懊悔或忏悔( repent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
humbly
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| adv. 恭顺地，谦卑地 | |
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80
Pluto
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| n.冥王星 | |
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81
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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82
slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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83
growl
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| v.（狗等）嗥叫，（炮等）轰鸣；n.嗥叫，轰鸣 | |
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84
growled
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| v.（动物）发狺狺声， （雷）作隆隆声( growl的过去式和过去分词 )；低声咆哮着说 | |
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85
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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86
humbug
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| n.花招，谎话，欺骗 | |
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87
judicially
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| 依法判决地，公平地 | |
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88
infringed
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| v.违反（规章等）( infringe的过去式和过去分词 )；侵犯（某人的权利）；侵害（某人的自由、权益等） | |
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89
fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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90
treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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91
axe
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| n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减 | |
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92
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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93
hopping
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| n. 跳跃 动词hop的现在分词形式 | |
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94
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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95
eddies
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| （水、烟等的）漩涡，涡流( eddy的名词复数 ) | |
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96
shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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97
streaks
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| n.（与周围有所不同的）条纹( streak的名词复数 )；（通常指不好的）特征（倾向）；（不断经历成功或失败的）一段时期v.快速移动( streak的第三人称单数 )；使布满条纹 | |
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98
puff
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| n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气 | |
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99
clandestine
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| adj.秘密的，暗中从事的 | |
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100
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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101
alcove
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| n.凹室 | |
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102
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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103
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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104
capered
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| v.跳跃，雀跃( caper的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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105
complacently
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| adv. 满足地, 自满地, 沾沾自喜地 | |
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106
rehearsal
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| n.排练，排演；练习 | |
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107
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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108
immature
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| adj.未成熟的，发育未全的，未充分发展的 | |
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109
pander
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| v.迎合；n.拉皮条者，勾引者；帮人做坏事的人 | |
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110
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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111
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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