THE course of our inquiry1 has led us through five centuries of change. We have passed from the sober and virile3 integrity of the first Imperial pair, the golden age of Roman life and letters, to the successive depths of the C?sars. We have then seen the decrepit4 and corrupt5 city refreshed with an inflow of sound provincial6 blood, the enervated7 patrician8 families replaced on the throne by vigorous soldiers, and a new period of sobriety and prosperity open under the Stoics9, to sink again under the burden of vice10 and luxury. Diocletian restores its strength, and then a singular and momentous11 change comes over the face of the Empire. The white homes of the gods perish or decay, the gay processions no longer enliven the streets, the cross of Christ heads the legions and towers austerely12 above the public buildings and monuments. The ante-chambers of the Emperors are filled with Christian13 bishops15, and the rulers of the world bend meekly16 before the ragged17 figures of monks18 and tremble at the threats of lowly priests.
We return to the Western world to find another and a greater change. Rome has fallen, the frontiers are obliterated19, the provinces, even to Africa, are cowering20 under the armies of the barbarians22. Poverty, misery23, and violence are scattered25 over the Empire, as if the departing gods had sown its fields with salt or with dragons’ teeth as they retired26 to Olympus. Civilization, law, culture, art, seem to be doomed27, and the end of the341 world is confidently expected. But amid the crumbling28 frame of the vast Empire a few shades of Emperors and Empresses linger for a generation, and we may glance briefly29 at their sobered features and adventurous30 experiences.
The chief figure of interest is ?lia Galla Placidia, the sister of Honorius, whom we found visiting Constantinople in 423. Her adventures began when the Goths invested Rome in 408. She is then mentioned as concurring31 with the Senate in the pitiful execution of her cousin, the widow of Stilicho. Placidia was then in her eighteenth year. Bearing a heavy ransom32, the Gothic army went away to harass33 her useless and trembling brother at Ravenna, and Placidia thought fit to remain at Rome. It still contained wealth enough to capitulate to barbarians on fair terms. But the Goths returned in 410. Rome was awakened34 in the dead of night by the blare of their trumpets35, and looked out to find palaces in flames, the streets filled with the terrible Goths, and the work of looting already begun. After six days of pillage36 they retreated northward37, taking Placidia with them. We cannot follow her closely in that extraordinary march. She was treated as a princess, however, and two years later was sought in marriage by the new king of the Goths, Ataulph. Ataulph was a barbarian21 only in name; a large, handsome man, princely, intelligent, and amiable38. He aspired39 to be a Roman Emperor. Honorius weakly resented the proposal, and demanded that he should prove the friendship he offered to Rome by returning Placidia. For two years she had wandered over Italy in the Gothic army.
It appears that Placidia was attracted to the graceful40 and courtly Goth, and they were married at Narbonne—the Goths having now returned to Gaul—in 414. When she reflected on the splendour of the wedding gifts, she may have thought that even an alliance with a Roman prince could not be more magnificent. Fifty beautiful youths, clothed in silk, brought to her one hundred dishes342 laden41 with the gold and jewels which the Goths had brought from Rome. But Ataulph was assassinated42 in the following year, and Placidia sank again to the position of captive. She had to walk twelve miles on foot, amid a crowd of captives, before the victorious43 barbarian who had slain44 her husband. Within another year her persecutor45 was slain, and his more humane46 successor restored her—or sold her—to the court at Ravenna.
The Roman commander Constantius, into whose hands she was committed, at once claimed her in marriage. Honorius had promised that he should marry her if, by whatever means, he recovered her from the Goths. Placidia shrank resentfully from his embraces, and found his coarse, large, surly person a poor exchange for her handsome Gothic husband. The wedding took place, however, in 417, and Placidia settled down to the prosy duties of a matron, giving birth, in succession, to the princess Honoria and the future Emperor Valentinian III. In 421 her husband compelled the weak-minded Honorius to clothe him with the purple. Placidia received the title of Augusta, and a better prospect47 seemed to open before her. But Constantius died within a few months, and it was not long before she fell into a violent quarrel with Honorius. The cause of the quarrel is, as usual, obscure. Some of the later writers suggest that Honorius became enamoured of his sister in her young widowhood. We know only that the palace at Ravenna was filled with bitter recriminations, its courts were stained with the blood of their followers48, and Placidia fled to Constantinople with her children.
PLACIDIA
ENPHEMIA
ENLARGED FROM COINS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM
Honorius died a few months later (August 423), and Placidia, confirmed in her title of Augusta by Theodosius, was sent in the following year to claim the throne for Theodosius, at the head of a considerable force. A secretary had usurped49 the vacant throne during her absence. It was the spring of 425 before they set out from Thessalonica for Italy; Placidia was with the cavalry50, which reached343 and took Aquileia with great speed. There, after a short time, she received the captive usurper51. His hand was cut off in the public Circus, he was placed on an ass2 and conducted round the town, amid the jeers52 of the crowd and the actors of the Circus, and was finally beheaded. They then proceeded to Ravenna. Valentinian, a boy of six years, was created Emperor of the West, and Placidia settled down to a long period of government in his name.
As the legislation which followed, bearing the name of Valentinian but breathing the spirit of Placidia, was mainly of an ecclesiastical character, we will not linger over it. She fell ruthlessly upon Pagans, Jews, Pelagians, Manich?ans, and every other class who were obnoxious53 to her clergy54. As in the case of most of the later Empresses, her piety55 so impressed the writers of the time that her personality is almost entirely56 hidden from us. Apart from her decrees of religious coercion57, we know her only as experiencing, not doing, things. Procopius, not a biased58 historian, severely59 complains that she reared her son in a luxurious60 softness that led inevitably61 to his later vices62 and his violent death; and it is frequently suspected that she had no eagerness to see him fitly educated in the duties of a prince. Cassiodorus pronounces that she conducted the affairs of the State with wavering and incompetent63 counsel, just at the time when Rome most urgently needed a firm and enlightened ruler. Tillemont, after praising her piety, admits sadly that she brought great evils upon her afflicted64 Empire.
Though Rome had been looted by the Goths at their leisure, and barbaric armies commanded every province, the cause of the Empire was not yet lost. A judicious65 policy might have utilized66 the mutual67 hatreds68 of the various tribes, and have put the able commanders, who were still in the service of Rome, at the head of formidable armies. But the weakness and obtuseness69 of Placidia led, on the contrary, to the loss of her finest general, her last free province, and a large proportion of her troops. Listening injudiciously to the malignant70 persuasions344 of one general, ?tius, she commanded the other, Count Boniface, to relinquish71 his post in Africa, under the impression that he meditated72 treachery. ?tius at the same time warned Boniface that the recall was due to suspicion, and the gallant73 officer was driven into rebellion. He invited the Vandals to Africa, and soon twenty thousand of the tall, fair-haired northerners, with a vast crowd of dependents and followers, spread over the province. Placidia discovered too late the deceit of ?tius. She was induced to send a friendly ambassador to Boniface, and the fraud was at once detected. But the Vandals could not be dislodged. Boniface was slain (432) in his struggle with them, ?tius was driven to the camp of the Huns, and Africa, the granary of Rome, was irretrievably lost.
The next blow that threatened the distracted Empire was an invasion of the Huns. Placidia cannot be held responsible for the subsequent calamities74, for ?tius, strong in his alliance with the Huns, had forced his way back into power, and was the real governor of the Empire. But the formidable task he undertook was made more difficult by a romantic and unhappy occurrence within Placidia’s domestic circle. We have already spoken of her daughter Honoria, who came in disgrace to Constantinople in 434. The great distinction of the Constantinopolitan court, the possession of three royal virgins75, seems to have excited the pious77 jealousy78 of Placidia, and she apparently79 designed that her court should not lack its Vestal Virgin76. We are not told that any vow80 was imposed on the young Honoria, but she was reared with the discipline of a conventual novice81, and given to understand that the exalted82 state of virginity was assigned to her. In 433 the title of Augusta was bestowed83 on her, in some compensation of her sacrifice. But the daughter of Constantius had thicker blood in her veins84 than the daughters of Arcadius, and the claustral regime—the restriction85 of attendance to eunuchs and women—does not seem to have been rigorously enforced at Ravenna.345 In 434 the seventeen-year-old princess was discovered to be in a painful condition, and was dispatched to Constantinople, and incarcerated86 in a nunnery by the indignant Pulcheria.
But the young girl had a spirit beyond her years. She had heard of the formidable nation of the Huns, which awaited, in the neighbourhood of the Danube and the Volga, its turn to fill the Imperial stage; she had heard that the young and powerful Attila had recently acceded87 to the throne of that nation. In some way she secured a messenger who took from her a letter and a ring to Attila, offering him her heart and her dowry if he would release her. The girlish freak was destined88 to have terrible consequences for the Empire. The lady herself we may dismiss in a word. She seems to have been kept in close confinement89 in the East until about 450, sending fruitless messages, from time to time, to her romantic lover. Attila had sufficient occupation during those fifteen years, and was content to put her name on the lengthy90 list of his wives. When, in 450, he formally demanded her person, he was assured that she was married. It is not impossible that she was released on condition that she accepted a husband chosen for her. But her end is obscure, and one is disposed to doubt if she would ever have resumed her liberty without joining the victorious Hun.
Placidia died in the year 450, leaving the astute91 ?tius to avert92 the oncoming disaster by an alliance with the Ostrogoths against the Huns. For a quarter of a century she had had supreme93 power over the Western Empire. It is, perhaps, only an indication of mediocrity on her part that she could not avert the blows that fell upon it during that period, but it was a calamity94 for Rome. Her memory survived, in a singular way, for more than a thousand years. The pagan habit of cremating95 the bodies of Emperors and Empresses had been replaced by the Egyptian process of embalming96, and Placidia had built a chapel97 at Ravenna for the reception of her body.346 There it sat, in a chair of cedar-wood, until the year 1577, when some children, thrusting a lighted taper98 into the tomb to see it better, set it aflame and reduced it to ashes.
Meantime, another Empress of the West had appeared. In 437 Valentinian had married Licinia Eudoxia, the fourteen-year-old daughter of Eudocia, at Constantinople, and brought her to Italy. He had parted with a large slice of his Empire to Pulcheria and Theodosius for the honour, and is said to have held it lightly. The sequel will dispose us to believe his irregularities. A youth of eighteen at the time, frivolous99, luxurious, and light-headed, he was content to enjoy the palace, and leave his mother, and then ?tius, to discharge his duties. Eudoxia could but idly follow the momentous movements of the nations, and appreciate the defeat of the Huns in the terrible battle of Chalons in 451; or shudder100 when, in the following year, Attila marched to the gates of Rome, demanding half the Empire as the dowry of his distant bride, Honoria; or when, in 453, the profligate101 Valentinian plunged102 his sword in the breast of his great minister ?tius. A grave personal tragedy was upon her.
The court resided generally at Rome, where Valentinian enjoyed the larger and faster amusements of a metropolis104. Here, in the year 455, he was stabbed by his soldiers, and a romantic story is told in connexion with his death. The story is rejected by a recent historical writer, Mr. Hodgkin (“Italy and her Invaders”), but Professor Bury has shown that it is probably true in substance. The full story, to which fictitious105 details may have been added before it reached Procopius, is that Valentinian, gambling106 heavily with the distinguished107 Senator Petronius Maximus, obtained his ring as a security for the money he had won. Maximus had a beautiful wife whom the Emperor desired, and he sent the ring to her with a summons to the palace. The unsuspecting lady was conducted to Valentinian’s apartments, and outraged109 by him. For this crime, and in virtue110 of the general discontent, Maximus had him slain and occupied his throne.
347 Maximus was a wealthy Roman, of illustrious family, and peaceful and luxurious ways, so that we have little reason to doubt that an outrage108 on his wife inspired him with the thought of assassination111. The further course of events adds authority to the narrative112. His wife died very closely after the death of Valentinian, and he invited or compelled Eudoxia to marry him. In the obscurity and uncertainty113 of the records we are unable to understand the consent of Eudoxia, even under pressure. Some of the later Greeks affirm that he violated her. It is certain, at least, that she married him within a month or two of her husband’s tragic114 death, and almost immediately afterwards sought to destroy him. Our authorities, late and uncertain as they are, do not lack plausibility115 when they affirm that he one day confessed that, out of love for her, he had directed the assassination of her husband. Rome had returned to evil days, and tragedy was brooding over its very ruins.
In a fit of repulsion Eudoxia secretly invited the Vandals to cross the Mediterranean116 and avenge117 her. Historians too lightly admit, in extenuation118 of her criminal act, that she had no hope of help from the East. The aged103 and upright Marcian was, it is true, intent upon the internal prosperity of his Empire, but it is extremely doubtful, as the sequel will show, whether the deposition119 of Maximus would have offered much difficulty, and Eudoxia was the niece of Pulcheria. Her vindictive120 act hastened the end of the Empire. Genseric speedily landed his fierce troops on Italian soil, and the Romans at once slew121 the sullen122 or remorseful123 Maximus and cast his mangled124 body in the Tiber. The further adventures of Eudoxia, interesting as they must have been, are compressed in a few lines. After fourteen days’ pillage, the Vandals retreated once more from the stricken city of Octavian, laden with gold, silver, women, and all kinds of valuables. Genseric compelled Eudoxia and her two young daughters to accompany him. They were detained at Carthage for seven years. The Eastern court repeatedly asked for their release, but it348 was refused until, in 462, the elder daughter, Eudocia, was married to Genseric’s son. Eudoxia and the second daughter, Placidia, were then sent to Constantinople. Years afterwards—in one of the legends—we catch a last glimpse of Eudoxia, the last prominent Empress of the West. She is standing125 before the column of Simeon Stylites, asking him to come and live somewhere on her ample estate. Eudocia lived for sixteen years at Carthage, then escaped to the East, and ended her life in Palestine. Placidia we shall meet again for a moment.
We turn back to the shrinking Empire of the West, to dismiss the last four Imperial shadows that flit about its ruins. The vacant throne was occupied by the commander of the Roman forces in Gaul, Avitus. He had married, since we know that Sidonius Apollinaris was married to his daughter Papianilla, but his wife was dead, and we need only say that, after he had enjoyed the Imperial banquets for a few months, he was degraded to the rank of a bishopric by the commander of the barbaric troops, with the consent of the disgusted Romans, and he died soon afterwards. He was followed by a worthy126 and able officer, whose rule might have illumined a more propitious127 age; but we find no Empress in association with him, and must pass over the four years of his earnest effort to redeem128 the Empire. After his death Libius Severus had a nominal129 and obscure reign130 of four years (461–5), and again we find no Empress in the scanty131 records.
The throne remained vacant for nearly two years, during which the Vandals harassed132 the miserable133 remnant of the great Empire. At length the chief commander in Italy, Ricimer, sought the aid of the Eastern Empire, and the alliance was sealed by the Eastern court sending one of its wealthiest and, by birth, most illustrious nobles, Anthemius, to occupy the throne. His Empress was Euphemia, daughter of the Emperor Marcian by his first wife. But her name, and the names of her father and her children, are all that we find recorded concerning her, and we need not dwell on the failures and quarrels,349 or the last faint flicker134 of Roman paganism, which characterized his inauspicious reign. Within four years he quarrelled with Ricimer, and his life was trodden out on the streets of Rome.
For a few months Placidia, the daughter of Eudoxia, then occupies the throne. At Constantinople, to which she went with her mother from her Vandal captivity135, she married the wealthy noble Olybrius. He had fled from Rome when it was looted by the Vandals, and had little mind to exchange the safe luxury of Constantinople for its uneasy throne when Ricimer offered it to him. It is said that Placidia impelled136 him. It was a fatal adventure. They entered Rome in the train of Ricimer’s troops, but Olybrius succumbed137 to that atmosphere of death in a few months, and we have not time to discern the features of Eudoxia’s daughter before she sinks into the large category of obscure Imperial widows. His successor, Glycerius, a puppet of the chief commander, seems to have had no wife. A competitor appeared immediately, and he exchanged the uncertain sceptre of the Western Empire for the solid crozier of a bishop14.
One faint and shadowy Empress crosses the scene before the curtain falls. Once more the Eastern court had provided Italy—which was now the Western Roman Empire—with a ruler. Julius Nepos set up his court at Ravenna, and had for Empress a niece of Verina, the Empress of the East. But the barbarian leaders of the barbarian army—the only army that remained in the service of Rome—resented the Eastern intruder, and marched on Ravenna. Nepos fled ignominiously138; and one reads with interest, though not without reserve, that he was put to death by his predecessor139, Bishop Glycerius. The fate of his wife is unknown, and the last Empress of the Western provinces entirely escapes our search.
The tattered140 purple was offered to the commander Orestes. He refused it, and allowed them to place it on the shoulders of his young son (476). The name of this pretty and innocuous boy united, as if in mockery, the350 names of Romulus and Augustus. To later times his pathetic figure is known as Augustulus. His father was slain by the troops immediately afterwards, because he refused to distribute one-third of the soil of Italy between them. The Empire was now a mere141 phrase; Rome a plaything of the barbarians whom it had cowed for five or six hundred years. Odoacer, the latest leader of the troops, bade the child put off his purple mantle142 and begone, and some time afterwards—so low had Rome fallen that the year of this impressive consummation cannot accurately143 be determined—forced the Senate to abolish the Imperial succession in the West. Italy became the kingdom of a barbarian. Britain, Gaul, Germany, and Spain were turned into the battle-grounds of those fierce tribes who, after the violence and darkness of the Middle Ages, would in their turn scatter24 the seed of civilization over the earth. The gallery of Western Empresses was closed by the irrevocable hand of fate, and the long, quaint144 gallery of the Byzantine Empresses was thrown open.
The End
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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decrepit
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| adj.衰老的，破旧的 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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provincial
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enervated
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| adj.衰弱的，无力的v.使衰弱，使失去活力( enervate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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patrician
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| adj.贵族的，显贵的；n.贵族；有教养的人；罗马帝国的地方官 | |
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stoics
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| 禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 ) | |
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vice
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momentous
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austerely
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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meekly
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ragged
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monks
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obliterated
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cowering
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barbarian
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barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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misery
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scatter
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scattered
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retired
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doomed
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crumbling
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briefly
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adventurous
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concurring
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ransom
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harass
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awakened
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trumpets
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pillage
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northward
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amiable
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aspired
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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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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persecutor
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humane
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prospect
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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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usurped
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| 篡夺，霸占( usurp的过去式和过去分词 )； 盗用； 篡夺，篡权 | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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51
usurper
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| n. 篡夺者, 僭取者 | |
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52
jeers
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| n.操纵帆桁下部（使其上下的）索具；嘲讽( jeer的名词复数 )v.嘲笑( jeer的第三人称单数 ) | |
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53
obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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54
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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55
piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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56
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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57
coercion
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| n.强制，高压统治 | |
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58
biased
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| a.有偏见的 | |
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59
severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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60
luxurious
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| adj.精美而昂贵的；豪华的 | |
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61
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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62
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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63
incompetent
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| adj.无能力的，不能胜任的 | |
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64
afflicted
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| 使受痛苦，折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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65
judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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66
utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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68
hatreds
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| n.仇恨，憎恶( hatred的名词复数 )；厌恶的事 | |
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69
obtuseness
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| 感觉迟钝 | |
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70
malignant
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| adj.恶性的，致命的；恶意的，恶毒的 | |
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71
relinquish
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| v.放弃，撤回，让与，放手 | |
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72
meditated
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| 深思，沉思，冥想( meditate的过去式和过去分词 )； 内心策划，考虑 | |
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73
gallant
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| adj.英勇的，豪侠的；(向女人)献殷勤的 | |
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74
calamities
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| n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事 | |
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75
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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76
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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77
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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78
jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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79
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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80
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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81
novice
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| adj.新手的，生手的 | |
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82
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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83
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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84
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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85
restriction
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| n.限制，约束 | |
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86
incarcerated
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| 钳闭的 | |
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87
acceded
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| v.（正式）加入( accede的过去式和过去分词 )；答应；（通过财产的添附而）增加；开始任职 | |
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88
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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89
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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90
lengthy
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| adj.漫长的，冗长的 | |
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91
astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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92
avert
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| v.防止，避免；转移(目光、注意力等) | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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94
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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95
cremating
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| v.火葬，火化（尸体）( cremate的现在分词 ) | |
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embalming
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| v.保存（尸体）不腐( embalm的现在分词 )；使不被遗忘；使充满香气 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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98
taper
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| n.小蜡烛，尖细，渐弱；adj.尖细的；v.逐渐变小 | |
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99
frivolous
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| adj.轻薄的；轻率的 | |
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100
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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101
profligate
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| adj.行为不检的；n.放荡的人，浪子，肆意挥霍者 | |
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102
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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103
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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104
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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105
fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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106
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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107
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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108
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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109
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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110
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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111
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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112
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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113
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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114
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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115
plausibility
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| n. 似有道理, 能言善辩 | |
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116
Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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117
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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118
extenuation
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| n.减轻罪孽的借口；酌情减轻；细 | |
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119
deposition
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| n.免职，罢官；作证；沉淀；沉淀物 | |
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120
vindictive
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| adj.有报仇心的，怀恨的，惩罚的 | |
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121
slew
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| v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多 | |
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122
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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123
remorseful
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| adj.悔恨的 | |
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124
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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125
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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126
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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127
propitious
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| adj.吉利的；顺利的 | |
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128
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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129
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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130
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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131
scanty
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| adj.缺乏的，仅有的，节省的，狭小的，不够的 | |
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132
harassed
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| adj. 疲倦的，厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词 | |
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133
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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134
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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135
captivity
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| n.囚禁；被俘；束缚 | |
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136
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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137
succumbed
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| 不再抵抗（诱惑、疾病、攻击等）( succumb的过去式和过去分词 )； 屈从； 被压垮； 死 | |
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138
ignominiously
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| adv.耻辱地，屈辱地，丢脸地 | |
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139
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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140
tattered
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| adj.破旧的，衣衫破的 | |
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141
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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142
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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143
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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144
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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