THE fates were now preparing as strange a revolution, and bringing upon the Imperial stage as grotesque1 a figure, as any that have yet come under our notice. Three women—the sister and the nieces of Julia Domna—are the engineers of this revolution, and, clothed with the Imperial dignity, control the fortunes of Rome in the extraordinary period that followed it. But before we introduce the tragi-comic figure of Elagabalus, we must clear the stage of the temporary Emperor and his faint shadow of an Empress.
Opilius Macrinus was a weak, vain, and unimpressive old man. Accident had put the Empire within his reach. He timidly grasped it because no other offered to do so, and held it until another desired it. He was in his fifty-third year, a man of obscure African origin, an adventurer in the public service. He was married to Nonia Celsa, of whom we know only that her qualities were not generally believed to include the possession of virtue3. Their son Diadumenianus was a tall and handsome youth, with black eyes and curly yellow hair. When his father made him C?sar, and he donned a purple robe, the spectators are said to have melted with affection. He lived long enough to show, by urging his parents to deal more drastically with rebels, that his heart was not so tender as his pretty looks had suggested.
“How happy and fortunate we are,” Macrinus wrote to his family, when his accession was secured. In little211 more than a year he would be flying over the hills of Asia Minor4, and he and his handsome boy would be cruelly put to death. He set out at once, with great display, against the unruly Parthians. But he soon purchased an ignoble5 peace from them, and repaired to the banquets and pleasures of Antioch. Anxious as he was about his position, he made the fatal error of keeping the troops in camp, and there soon passed from legion to legion an ominous6 murmur7. The soldiers contrasted his luxury with Caracalla’s sharing of their march and their cheese, and chafed8 under the discipline he rightly sought to enforce. The rumour9 spread, too, that Macrinus had given offence to the Senate; and that a mule10 had borne a mule at Rome, and a sow had given birth to a little pig with two heads and eight feet. The apparition11 of a comet and an eclipse of the sun made it yet more certain that something was going to happen, and confirmed those who were preparing the event. In the month of May Macrinus heard that a boy of fourteen, supported by three women and a eunuch, had claimed the throne, and seduced12 some troops. He sent a general, with a moderate force, to bring him the boy’s head. In a week or two a messenger returned with a head—his general’s head. He roused himself from the drowsy13 luxury of Antioch, and set out with his army.
The three women were, as I have said, Julia M?sa, sister of Julia Domna, and her daughters, So?mias and Mam?a. At the death of Julia Domna they had retired14 to the ancestral home at Emesa, in Syria, but with a very considerable fortune, which M?sa had gathered at the court of Severus and Caracalla. The two daughters seem to have lost their husbands, though each had a son. So?mias had a child of fourteen years, named Varius Avitus Bassianus, a strikingly pretty boy.17 His cousin212 Alexianus was three or four years younger. Avitus was therefore clothed with the dignity of priest of the temple, which seems to have been hereditary15, and the little group resumed the life they had quitted, twenty years before, to dwell in the Imperial court. M?sa, and probably So?mias, found this rustic16 tranquillity17 unendurable, and followed political events with interest. The one retained dreams of Imperial power, the other of Imperial indulgence. Their chief servant was a clever eunuch, Gannys by name, who is strangely described by Dio as “practically living with So?mias.” A geographical18 accident brought their vague dreams to a practical issue.
Near the little town of Emesa was a camp of the Roman soldiers. Cosmopolitan19 as they now were in race and religion, and fretting20 at their detention21 in the dull countryside, the soldiers took a close interest in the temple of the strange god. The great wealth and fame of the shrine22, the peculiar23 nature of its deity24 and its ritual, often attracted them, and the knowledge that these rich and handsome women of the priestly family had been so closely connected with their popular Caracalla increased the interest. But the chief feature that drew their attention was the beauty of the young high-priest. The soft and feminine delicacy25 of his form and features was enhanced by a long robe of Imperial purple, fringed with gold, and a crown that flashed back the rays of the Syrian sun from its precious gems26. The romance was not lessened27 when they reflected that the great Severus had often fondled this boy in his arms, and that he might have inherited the throne. The women, or their servants, now doubled the interest of the soldiers by insinuating28 a whisper that he was the son of their Caracalla, and when M?sa’s gold began to pass freely into their purses, they contrived29 to see a resemblance to the dark and repellent features of the late Emperor in the girlish beauty of the boy. So?mias had no difficulty in paying the poor price of her reputation for a return to court. Lampridius bluntly calls her a meretrix.
On the night of May 15th, 218, the three women and213 the two boys were transferred to the camp. M?sa’s fortune went with them, as the price of Empire, and on the following day the soldiers announced that Bassianus, as he was now called, was Emperor. The camp was fortified30, and in a few days Macrinus’s general, Julianus, appeared before it with his troops. Their companions in the camp exhibited the young son of Caracalla on the rampart, and, as they exhibited also the bags of M?sa’s gold, they convinced and seduced the assailants. Julianus’s head was cut off, and sent to Antioch. Macrinus now marched against them, and the two armies met in the intervening country on June 8th. The softened31 troops wavered on both sides, and it looked as if Macrinus might win, when M?sa and So?mias sprang from their chariots in the rear of the army, rushed into the ranks, and spurred their flagging followers32 on to victory. Macrinus fled, in an ignominious33 disguise, across the hills and valleys of Asia Minor, and within a few weeks Nonia Celsa learned that she had lost her throne, her husband, and her boy. The Emperor of Rome was the pretty boy-priest of Elagabalus.
Imperial power, however, meant to the Syrian youth an unrestrained indulgence of his sensual dreams, not a grave concern with the affairs of a mighty34 people. He dallied35 in the East, and willingly left his duties to his grandmother, while he devoted36 himself entirely37 to his rights. He gathered about him the ignoble company of ministers to lust38 which the cities of Asia Minor were at all times ready to supply, and there was no depth or eccentricity39 of vice2 in Antioch or Nicomedia which he did not explore. Before the end of that year the boy’s nature was completely perverted40, and the last trace of masculinity eliminated from it. M?sa was alarmed, for the cities of the East were wont41 to talk freely of the vices42 they implanted or cultivated in their visitors, and the sentiment of Rome could not be ignored. But Bassianus laughed at her timidity, and lingered throughout the following winter in the voluptuous43 chambers44 of Nicomedia. As to this Roman Senate, of which she spoke45, he sent the214 grey-beards a painting of himself in his flowing sacerdotal robes and womanly jewels, to be placed over the altar of Victory in their meeting-place.
In the following spring he condescended46 to visit the capital of his Empire. Rome had received many a strange procession during the centuries of its Imperial expansion, but no spectacle had aroused so much curiosity as the arrival of the young monarch47 on whose picture the Senators had gazed with bewilderment. The original was even more extraordinary than the portrayal48. For the entry into Rome the young priest-Emperor stained his cheeks with vermilion, and artfully enhanced the brilliance49 of his eyes, like a Syrian courtesan or an actress. He wore his loose robes of purple silk trimmed with gold, his delicate arms were encircled with costly50 bracelets51 and his white neck with a string of pearls, and a tiara of successive crowns, flashing with jewels, surmounted52 his strange figure. And, as the alternative and real power in administration, the Romans regarded with anxiety the two women who rode with him—the grave and dignified53 M?sa, and the richly sensuous54 and evil-famed So?mias. There is in the Vatican Museum a statue of the mother of Elagabalus as she appeared at this time. She has chosen to be portrayed55 in the costume, or lack of costume, of Venus; and the voluptuous body and soft round limbs, the low forehead, thick lips, and large nose, combined with the hard and shameless expression, reconcile us to the coarsest epithets56 the historians have attached to her memory.
JULIA M?SA
To the horror of the Senate this woman was at once associated with him in a character that no Empress, or no woman, had ever assumed in the long history of Rome. At his first visit to the Senate the Emperor demanded that she should be invited to sit by his side and listen to their deliberations. Even Livia had been content to listen behind the decent shade of a curtain. So?mias, however, had not the wit or seriousness to interfere58 in any way. She was appointed president of the Senaculum, or “Little Senate,” of women, which Sabina had founded, and Julia restored,215 in the Forum59 of Trajan; and she found an easier and more congenial occupation in controlling the grave deliberations of the matrons of Rome on questions of etiquette60, precedence, costume, and jewellery. It was left to M?sa to wield61 the political power, and she did so with sobriety and judgment62. Unhappily, the Emperor was more willing to listen to the easier counsels of his mother than to M?sa, and he began at once to entertain or disgust Rome with the appalling63 license64 which makes his short reign65 an indescribable nightmare.
He had brought from Emesa the celestial66 stone, the emblem67 of Ela-gabal, to which all his prosperity was due, and his first care was to provide the god with a worthy68 home. A magnificent temple was raised to it, and the stone, encrusted with gems, was borne to it on a chariot drawn69 by six white horses, the Emperor walking backwards70 before it in an ecstasy71 of adoration72. In the temple a number of altars were set up, and rivers of blood—even the blood of children—were poured out on them; while the Emperor and his family croned the barbaric chants of primitive73 Syria, and the highest dignitaries of Rome stood in silent respect. As the earlier officials were soon replaced by men of infamy74, chosen, very frequently, on a qualification that one may not describe, we need pay little attention to their feelings. If we suppose that the Emperor, or Elagabalus, as he now called himself, was aware that the conical stone was really a phallic emblem, we may find a clue to some of the stranger vagaries75 of his erotomania.
Rome had long been accustomed to the barbarism of the more ancient Oriental cults77, and had indeed taken a willing part in the orgiastic processions of the mysterious Mother of the Gods, whenever their rulers permitted them. But the security of the Empire seemed to them in danger when Elagabalus went on to place every other idol78 in a position of subordinate respect in the temple of his fetich. Jupiter, Juno, Venus, and Mars, were not at that time favoured very widely with a literal belief; nor216 were the Romans concerned when he stole the Astarte of the Carthaginians, and married her, in a magnificent festival, to his lonely deity. The temples and cults of Rome were like the temples and cults of modern Japan. They contributed to the gaiety of life. But if there was little sincere polytheism at Rome—the educated world was divided between an Epicurean Agnosticism and an eclectic Monotheism—there was much superstition79, and few could regard without concern a desecration80 of the ancient Palladium, or statue in the temple of Vesta, to which the fortune of the city was peculiarly attached, and other ancient emblems81. Elagabalus despotically overrode82 their feelings. He broke forcibly into the home of the Vestal Virgins83, and bore away the sacred Palladium; since we may regard the later boast of the Virgins, that they cheated him with a substituted statue, as insincere.
Of the Empresses whom he made by marriage we have little knowledge. In less than three years he married, and unmarried, either four or five women. The first was Julia Cornelia Paula, a woman of very distinguished84 family and, if we may trust the bust in the Louvre, a woman of dignity, refinement85, and some strength of character. We may see the action of M?sa in the choice. A few months later he divorced her and, to the horror of Rome, married one of the Vestal Virgins. Possibly the beauty of Julia Aquilia Severa had caught his fancy when he broke into their sacred enclosure. The Senators were deeply concerned at this sacrilege, for the fate of Rome was still closely connected with the integrity of the noble virgins who tended the undying fire before the altar of Vesta. Elagabalus, who, it was generally known, had no hope of progeny86, brazenly87 argued with the Senate that he was consulting the future of the State, since a union of priest and priestess gave promise of a family of divine children. In any case, he said, he was a maker89, not an observer, of laws; and he established Severa in his palace. The coins give her the title of Augusta.
His roving eye soon afterwards was attracted by the217 charms of Annia Faustina, the great-granddaughter of Marcus Aurelius. The portrait-bust of her in the Capitol Museum has a round full face of great beauty and an expression of sweetness and modesty90. She seems to have escaped the taint91 of the Faustin?. She was married to Pomponius Bassus, and Elagabalus released her by the familiar device of executing her husband, and transferred her, leaving no time for mourning, to the palace. Her beauty seems to have been too tempered with refinement to engage his affections long. She was dismissed, and replaced by some unknown victim. Then Elagabalus returned to his priestess of Vesta. In all, he seems to have married four women in three years, not counting Severa, whose marriage Dio does not seem to regard as valid92.
Severa was the chief associate of his life in the palace, and it is quite impossible to convey an impression of the sordid93 scenes into which she had passed from the austere94 sanctuary95 of Vesta. Twelve condensed pages of the “Historia Augusta” are occupied with his enormities, and at the close of what is probably the most appalling picture of unrestrained license in any literature—even if we admit exaggeration—Lampridius assures us that he has, from a feeling of modesty, omitted the worst details. It would seem that the human imagination, in its most diseased condition, could devise nothing lower. We do not know whether Severa was an Octavia or a Popp?a, but the circumstance that she consented to live is grave enough. In that vast colony of vice, to which a system of pandars, spread over the Empire, dispatched every man who had some special physical or moral feature to fit him for the orgies, no decent woman would have clung to mortality. A C?sonia or a Marcia might laugh when Elagabalus returned at night, dressed as a common female tavern-keeper, from the low wine-shops in which he had been rioting—might even smile when she saw Elagabalus’s “husband,” a burly slave, beating and bruising96 him for his infidelity, or when she heard at night the rattle97 of the218 golden rings and the shameful98 appeal of the new Messalina behind his curtain—but Severa was of noble birth, the daughter of a man who had twice been consul88.
One of the unpardonable sins of Rome was that it hesitated so long to assassinate99 some of its rulers. The very excesses of Elagabalus protected him for a long time, as he urged the people to share or imitate his pleasures. No screen was drawn about his vices. He would discuss them with the Senate, or collect all the meretrices of Rome in a hall, and address them on those various schemes of vice which we find to-day depicted100 on the walls of the lupanar in Pompeii. He would invite the common folk to come and drink with him at the palace, where they might see the furniture of solid silver, the beds loaded with roses and hyacinths, the swimming-baths of perfume, the gold dust strewn in the colonnades101, the paths paved with porphyry. He provided for them the spectacle of naval102 battles in lakes of wine, and a mountain of snow, brought from the remote mountains, in the middle of summer. But his chief device for cajoling the citizens was to distribute tickets, as for a lottery103, and see them press for the sight of the gifts corresponding to their numbers. You might get ten eggs or ten ostriches104, ten flies or ten camels, ten toy balloons or ten pounds of gold; and the mania76 grew until your chance lay between a dead dog, a slave, a richly caparisoned horse, a chariot, or a hundred pounds of gold. At times he would invite a crowd to dinner, and smother105 them, with fatal effect to some, under a thick shower of flowers; or seat them on inflated106 bags, which slaves would deflate in the middle of the banquet; or have them borne away intoxicated107 at the end, to find themselves in the morning sleeping with bears or lions.
The frivolous108 Romans were so much entertained by these vagaries that they overlooked his personal luxury, and made no inquiry109 into the state of the treasury110. No dinner could be placed before him that had not cost thirty pounds of silver. Robed in a tunic111 of pure gold or pure219 Chinese silk, sitting under perfumed lamps, amid masses of the choicest blooms, he picked delicately at the tongues of larks112 and peacocks, the brains of thrushes, the eggs of pheasants, the heads of parrots, or the heels of camels. He fed his horses with choice grapes and his lions with pheasants. His chariots were of gold only, studded with gems, and they were drawn through the streets by strings113 of nude114 women, or by stags. Delicate in every detail, he had cords of silk and swords of gold prepared for inflicting115 death on himself in case of need. He little knew that he would die in the latrine of the soldiers’ camp.
So?mias seems to have enjoyed this orgiastic life, but the more prudent116 M?sa was concerned. Finding that remonstrances117 were quite useless, she cunningly persuaded Elagabalus to associate his cousin with him in the government. Alexander—as Alexianus had now been named—was three or four years younger than the Emperor, and did not share his disease. His mother, Mam?a, inherited the prudence118 and sobriety of M?sa, and guarded her boy from the contamination with the utmost care. His excellent disposition119 ensured the success of their plan, and Elagabalus began to perceive that the younger boy was winning a dangerous popularity. It is said that a judicious120 distribution of money by Mam?a fostered the growing esteem121 for him, especially among the soldiers.
From suspicion Elagabalus passed to hatred122, and from hatred to a design on his cousin’s life. Mam?a secured the favour of the guards with great adroitness123, and watched the actions of Elagabalus. He first, in order to test public feeling, sent word to the Senate and the camp that he had withdrawn124 the title of C?sar from his cousin; and he directed that the boy should be put to death if this announcement created no disorder125. In the anxious hour that followed, Alexander waited in a room of the palace with his trembling mother and M?sa; Elagabalus went down to the gardens to supervise the preparations for a chariot-race, and await impatiently the news that his cousin was dead. Presently a tumultuous crowd of the guards220 rushed across the city, and burst into the gardens of the palace. Elagabalus fled to his room, and covered himself with a curtain; and the soldiers conveyed the two women and the boy in triumph to the camp, many of them remaining in the garden to threaten Elagabalus.
So?mias, seeing the Empire slip from her, awoke to energetic action. She hastened on foot to the camp, and pleaded passionately126 for her son. They did not wish to take his life, the guards said, but must have a security for the life of Alexander and a promise of reform. They returned to the gardens, and the young autocrat127, in his purple silks and jewelled shoes, had to plead with the rough soldiers to spare the favourite ministers of his vices. He had filled the highest posts with men whose only qualifications were such that we cannot describe them, and his army of attendants were the scum of the Empire. The guards forced him to dismiss the most obnoxious128, preached him an inglorious sermon on his infamies129, and directed their officers to watch over the life of Alexander.
The swords of gold and the cords of variegated130 silk were not employed, but Elagabalus could never forgive the degradation131 he had experienced. He made several attempts to remove the obstacles to his design: sent the Senate from Rome, and removed or executed several of the soldiers. Mam?a watched him assiduously, and M?sa easily penetrated132 his secrets. Not a particle of food or drink from the Imperial kitchen was allowed to pass the lips of Alexander. Rome knew that the end was near. It was only a few years since Bassianus and Geta had disgraced the palace with a similar quarrel. M?sa attempted in vain to conciliate them. On January 1st, 222, they were both to receive the consular133 dignity from the Senate. She had to threaten Elagabalus with a fresh mutiny of the guards before he would go.
Some ten weeks later the feud134 came to a crisis. Elagabalus, to test the soldiers, sets afoot a rumour that Alexander is dead. The guards, believing the rumour,221 withdraw their contingent135 from the palace, and shut themselves in the camp. Elagabalus takes his cousin in his golden chariot to the camp, to show that the rumour is false, and loses control of himself when the guards burst into exclamations136 of joy at the sight of Alexander. Mam?a and So?mias come upon the scene, and an angry altercation137 follows, each mother making a wild appeal to the soldiers. Either there is a division of feeling among the soldiers, or some of Elagabalus’s ministers are present, for swords are drawn and are soon at work. Elagabalus and So?mias, the Sybarites, rush into the latrine of the camp for safety, and are slain138 there by the guards. Their bodies are disdainfully thrown out to the mob, who have gathered outside. The effeminate frame of the young Emperor, with its soft limbs and large pendent breasts, and the voluptuous body of his mother, are dragged through the streets, and, as the opening of the sewer139 is too narrow to receive them, they are thrown into the Tiber. And the cry of “Ave, Imperator!” rings in the ears of Mam?a and her boy.
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1
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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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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5
ignoble
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| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
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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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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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rustic
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| adj.乡村的，有乡村特色的；n.乡下人，乡巴佬 | |
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tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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cosmopolitan
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| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
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fretting
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| n. 微振磨损 adj. 烦躁的, 焦虑的 | |
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detention
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| n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下 | |
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shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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gems
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| growth； economy； management； and customer satisfaction 增长 | |
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lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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insinuating
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| adj.曲意巴结的，暗示的v.暗示( insinuate的现在分词 )；巧妙或迂回地潜入；（使）缓慢进入；慢慢伸入 | |
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contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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fortified
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| adj. 加强的 | |
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softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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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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ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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dallied
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| v.随随便便地对待( dally的过去式和过去分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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eccentricity
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| n.古怪，反常，怪癖 | |
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perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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42
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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43
voluptuous
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| adj.肉欲的，骄奢淫逸的 | |
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44
chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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45
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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46
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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47
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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48
portrayal
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| n.饰演；描画 | |
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49
brilliance
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| n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智 | |
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50
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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51
bracelets
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| n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 ) | |
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52
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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53
dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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54
sensuous
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| adj.激发美感的；感官的，感觉上的 | |
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55
portrayed
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| v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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56
epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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57
bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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58
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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59
forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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60
etiquette
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| n.礼仪，礼节；规矩 | |
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61
wield
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| vt.行使，运用，支配；挥，使用(武器等) | |
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62
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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63
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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64
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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65
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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66
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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67
emblem
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| n.象征，标志；徽章 | |
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68
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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69
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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70
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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71
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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72
adoration
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| n.爱慕，崇拜 | |
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73
primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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74
infamy
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| n.声名狼藉，出丑，恶行 | |
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75
vagaries
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| n.奇想( vagary的名词复数 )；异想天开；异常行为；难以预测的情况 | |
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76
mania
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| n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好 | |
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77
cults
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| n.迷信( cult的名词复数 )；狂热的崇拜；（有极端宗教信仰的）异教团体 | |
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78
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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79
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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80
desecration
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| n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱 | |
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81
emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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82
overrode
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| 越控( override的过去式 )； （以权力）否决； 优先于； 比…更重要 | |
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83
virgins
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| 处女，童男( virgin的名词复数 )； 童贞玛利亚（耶稣之母） | |
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84
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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85
refinement
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| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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86
progeny
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| n.后代，子孙；结果 | |
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87
brazenly
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| adv.厚颜无耻地；厚脸皮地肆无忌惮地 | |
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88
consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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89
maker
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| n.制造者，制造商 | |
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90
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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91
taint
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| n.污点；感染；腐坏；v.使感染；污染 | |
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92
valid
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| adj.有确实根据的；有效的；正当的，合法的 | |
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93
sordid
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| adj.肮脏的，不干净的，卑鄙的，暗淡的 | |
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94
austere
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| adj.艰苦的；朴素的，朴实无华的；严峻的 | |
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95
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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96
bruising
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| adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式) | |
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97
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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98
shameful
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| adj.可耻的，不道德的 | |
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99
assassinate
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| vt.暗杀，行刺，中伤 | |
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100
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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101
colonnades
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| n.石柱廊( colonnade的名词复数 ) | |
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102
naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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103
lottery
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| n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事 | |
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104
ostriches
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| n.鸵鸟( ostrich的名词复数 )；逃避现实的人，不愿正视现实者 | |
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105
smother
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| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
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106
inflated
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| adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨 | |
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107
intoxicated
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| 喝醉的，极其兴奋的 | |
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108
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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109
inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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110
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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111
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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112
larks
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| n.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的名词复数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了v.百灵科鸟（尤指云雀）( lark的第三人称单数 )；一大早就起床；鸡鸣即起；（因太费力而不想干时说）算了 | |
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113
strings
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| n.弦 | |
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114
nude
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| adj.裸体的；n.裸体者，裸体艺术品 | |
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115
inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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116
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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117
remonstrances
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| n.抱怨，抗议( remonstrance的名词复数 ) | |
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118
prudence
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| n.谨慎，精明，节俭 | |
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119
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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120
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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121
esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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122
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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123
adroitness
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124
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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125
disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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126
passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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127
autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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128
obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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129
infamies
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| n.声名狼藉( infamy的名词复数 )；臭名；丑恶；恶行 | |
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130
variegated
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| adj.斑驳的，杂色的 | |
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131
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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132
penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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133
consular
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| a.领事的 | |
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134
feud
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| n.长期不和；世仇；v.长期争斗；世代结仇 | |
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135
contingent
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| adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队 | |
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136
exclamations
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| n.呼喊( exclamation的名词复数 )；感叹；感叹语；感叹词 | |
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137
altercation
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| n.争吵，争论 | |
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138
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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139
sewer
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| n.排水沟，下水道 | |
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