Justinian, says the contemporary lawyer Evagrius, passed in the year 565 to “those tortures which are provided in the nether8 world” for rulers who despoil9 their subjects. The “greatness” of Justinian seems to have been discovered by his medi?val admirers; contemporary writers usually, and justly, attribute to his great general Belisarius the military triumphs which partially10 restored the outline of the Empire during his reign11, and to the (probably) pagan lawyer Tribonian the compilation12 of the famous Justinian Code, leaving to the Emperor himself the odium of those unprincipled and unjustifiable extortions which weakened and distressed13 his subjects. However that may be, the Emperor’s last years53 were framed in a decaying world, and the citizens of Constantinople regarded with hesitating admiration14 the superb edifices15 which he had raised. His nephew Justin was “lord of the palace” (Curopalates), and had ample opportunity to ensure the succession.
A profoundly courtly and accommodating poet of the time, Corippus, has left us a touching16 account of the accession of Justin and Sophia. The noble Callinicus comes one night to rouse them in their suburban17 palace with the distressing18 news that Justinian is no more. The spouses19 arise, and sit discussing the situation in a room looking over the moonlit Sea of Marmora, when a group of Senators enter, and urge Justin to accept the purple. He shrinks from the terrible dignity until their tears and prayers override20 his modesty21, and, as the first faint flush of dawn outlines the houses, they walk sadly through the streets to the sacred palace. The guards and Candidates and servants line the long avenue from the iron gate to the bronze door of Daphne, and many tears are shed over the body of the late Emperor, which lies on a lofty golden catafalque. Sophia produces a piece of embroidery22 on which all the illustrious victories of the great Emperor are depicted23. By this time the report has spread in the town, and the citizens fly to the palace. The blues24 and greens in festive25 dress, with their respective standards, line the path to St Sophia, whither they go to ask grace, and they return to the palace to put on the robes of state. Then four strong soldiers raise Justin aloft, standing26 on a shield, and the patriarch crowns him and Sophia, and the Emperor passes to the Hippodrome to receive the loyal greeting of his people.
When we turn from this moving description to the prosy pages of the lawyer Evagrius we find—without surprise—that Corippus has very generously drawn27 upon the poet’s licence. Evagrius bluntly observes that Justin “took” the purple the moment his uncle was dead, and suggests that the officers of the palace were already in his service. The death of Justinian was kept secret until54 Justin and Sophia had been crowned and were suddenly presented to the populace in their sheen of gold and jewels. Another contemporary writer from whom we learn much, Bishop28 John of Ephesus, adds a very credible29 and instructive detail. Sophia had been a Monophysite, like her aunt Theodora, until, in the year 562, an astute30 bishop had pointed31 out to her that Justinian was reluctant to set on the throne another woman who believed that there was only one nature in Christ. By this powerful argument Sophia was happily convinced that there were two natures in Christ, and accepted the orthodox baptism. It is our first glimpse of the character of the new Empress, and is quite in harmony with all that we know of her. She was the niece of Theodora.
The new reign opened auspiciously32. As the Emperor stood in the royal gallery, or kathisma, overlooking the Hippodrome, to receive the plaudits of his people, the cry was raised, and soon ran through the crowded benches, that he should undo33 at once the dishonesty of his predecessor34. If we may believe the poet, the citizens had, with great forethought, brought with them the bills of the treasury35’s debts to them, and waved their tablets before the kathisma. One is tempted36 to believe that it was part of Justin’s plan to outstrip37 his cousins and other rivals. The gold also was produced with theatrical38 promptness, and from the glittering pile heaped at his feet the Emperor discharged all the debts in full. Sophia sustained her husband’s policy. We read that a few years after her accession she gathered the moneylenders of the city at her palace, paid all the debts due to them by the people, and ensured a large measure of popularity.
In virtue39 of the genial40 feeling engendered41 by this generous conduct the new Emperor and Empress were enabled to strengthen their throne at the expense of their rivals. The chief rival to the hopes of Justin had been another nephew of the late Emperor, Germanus, and his sons: a noble and gifted figure in comparison with the55 mean and petty intrigues42 of Justin. We saw how instinctively43 Theodora had hated this family. Germanus had ended his brilliant and stainless44 career in war, but his son Justin seems to have inherited his character and popularity, and certainly inherited his misfortunes. Obscure references to revolt in the chronicles of the time close with the curt45 statement that Justin and other nobles were put to death. Justin had been banished46 to Alexandria, and may have expressed resentment47. Sophia joined with her husband in what we are tempted to regard as murder. “Justin and Sophia,” says the sardonic48 Evagrius, “did not abate49 their fury against the son of Germanus” until his severed50 and grisly head was exhibited to them. The metaphors51 of the time are so true to life that the historian is often puzzled as to the exact details of such episodes. The truth is, as we shall soon realize, that the Byzantine Empire, in spite of its opulence52, its art and its religious ardour, was sinking toward barbarism.
For a few years Justin and Sophia ruled with moderation and success in their decaying dominion53. The administration of justice was reformed and the decoration of churches and public buildings proceeded. Another palace—the Sophian palace—was added to the growing cluster of mansions54 which made up the imperial town. Justin cleared a vast site in the quarter where he and Sophia had lived, built for her a palace and hippodrome, and raised two large brass56 statues of himself and the Empress. In this marble-lined palace, in the imperial quarters, or in the Hieria palace across the water, or the new suburban palace at Blachern? in the north, Sophia passed the first nine years of her reign without taking any apparent part in public affairs. Then her husband lost his mind, and she began to reveal her true character.
From his early tolerance57 Justin had passed to the temper of the persecutor58, and the groans59 of the Monophysites were heard throughout the Empire. Whether56 this new phase of activity contributed to, or resulted from, his growing insanity60, and how far Sophia was implicated61 in it, we do not know; but by the year 574 Justin had become a dangerous maniac62. Bars had to be placed at his windows, and his servants had carefully to avoid the imperial teeth; while, in his less dangerous hours, he would shriek63 with delight, or bark like a dog, as the servants pulled him along the corridors in a small cart fitted with a throne. The commander of the Excubitors who guarded or amused him was a tall and very handsome Thracian officer named Tiberius, whose fine bluish eyes, light hair and beard, fresh florid complexion64 and manly65 form, pleased the eye of the Empress, and she induced Justin, in a lucid66 hour toward the end of the year 574, to raise him to the rank of C?sar. Writers of the time describe with great feeling this last sane67 act of Justin II. The Empress, the patriarch and his clergy68, and the nobles and Senators, were summoned to the palace, and Justin held to them a long and deeply penitent69 discourse70, lamenting71 his sins and cruelty, and recommending his wife and his Empire to the fortunate Tiberius. The scepticism of the historian is apparently72 silenced by the weighty assurance of Bishop John that this remarkable73 speech of the insane ruler was taken down in shorthand,11 but the publication of such a statement would be by no means inconsistent with the character of Sophia, and we must interpret the narrative74 with some liberality.
In most of the historians we read that, when Justin died and Tiberius ascended75 the throne, a romantic scene was witnessed in the Hippodrome and the astute Sophia was outwitted by her handsome favourite. Sophia, it is said, proposed to marry him, but when the crowd in the Hippodrome cried, “Let us see a Roman Empress,”57 he replied, through the herald76, that an Empress already existed, and that her name was similar to that of a church in the city, the position of which he indicated. The citizens at once solved the conundrum77, acclaimed78 his secret wife Anastasia, and laughed at the discomfiture80 of Sophia, who retired81 to her palace in anger and mortification82.
The entire inaccuracy of this legend, which has found its way into Gibbon and all the earlier historians, must confirm our feeling of reserve in reading the Byzantine chroniclers. It is true that Sophia designed to marry Tiberius, and we may confidently assume that his marriage was a secret at the time when she raised him to the c?sarship. But we now know from John of Ephesus that Sophia learned of the marriage of Tiberius long before the death of her husband, and the citizens of Constantinople cannot have been unaware83 of it. Bishop John observes that she looked with dry eyes on the burly figure of her husband as he shrieked84 and laughed in his toy chariot; he was, she said, deservedly punished for his sins, and the Empire would now fall into her more capable hands. She induced the Senate to consent to the elevation85 of the imposing86 officer, put an edifying87 discourse into the mouth of Justin—unless one prefers the singular story of his hour of lucidity88 and eloquence—and bade the patriarch clothe him in the glittering insignia of a C?sar. We can imagine her mortification when she discovered that he was already married.
The entry of Ino, wife of Tiberius, into the roll of the Byzantine Empresses is romantic enough without this discredited89 story of the concealment90 of her existence until her husband was on the throne. Tiberius was a simple provincial91 soldier who had won his way to the captainship of the guards and to the purple by his fascinating appearance. Gibbon represents beauty as one of his many virtues92; it was certainly much more conspicuous93 than any other virtue he may have possessed94. He came from Daphnudium, which commentators95 place in the58 province of Thrace, and it seems to have been while he was on military service in that town that he met Ino. She was then married to a soldier, and must have been older than Tiberius, since we read that he was betrothed96 to her daughter. The daughter died, however, and, as the husband also presently died, Tiberius gave his hand to the widow, a rustic97 and undistinguished matron of a frontier province. When Tiberius was promoted to the captainship of the imperial guards, Ino came to Constantinople, and lived there in obscurity with her surviving daughters, Charito and Constantina. Here the simple provincial family learned that Tiberius had been raised to the dazzling height of the c?sarship.
But it soon became apparent that Ino had, by her elevation, incurred99 the resentment of the all-powerful Empress. It is said that Justin, in one of his lucid hours, urged that Tiberius should take up his residence in the sacred palace, and that, since the flesh of young men was weak, Ino should reside with him. Sophia bluntly refused her consent. “Fool,” Bishop John represents her as saying, “do you who have invested yourself with the insignia of royalty101 wish to make me as great a simpleton as yourself? As long as I live I will never give my kingdom and crown to another, nor shall another enter here.” Tiberius, knowing that she might still arrest his progress toward the throne, submitted, and Ino and her daughters were installed in the splendid Hormisdas palace—now purified of Theodora’s monks102 and hermits—which Justinian had decorated for his mistress. Such quarters as Tiberius was permitted to have in the main palace were poor and inadequate103; he preferred to retire each night to the mansion55 by the shore.
During the four years that followed Sophia ruled with the power and rigour of an autocrat104. When Tiberius, seeing the vast sums of money which she and Justin had amassed105, and affecting to regard it as unjustly extorted106, began to squander107 it on the people, she deprived him of the key of the treasury. It is not unlikely that he was59 trying to win popularity independently of her. When nobles, mindful of her attitude, asked if they might visit the wife of the C?sar, she angrily told them to “be quiet,” as it was “no business of theirs.” It was, in fact, rumoured108 in the city that, as two contemporary writers assure us, she urged Tiberius to divorce his wife and prepare to marry her. We shall see later that, in spite of the rigorous teaching of the Church, a Byzantine Emperor, with the tacit connivance109 of the archbishop, more than once divorced his wife. As Justin lingered, and no one dared visit the trembling ladies in the Hormisdas palace, the courage of the provincial matron failed and she fled back to her native town.
In September 578, however, Justin passed the imperial crown to Tiberius, and died nine days afterwards. Sophia had more than the strength, but less than the penetration110, of her aunt Theodora, and she very quickly discovered that she had misjudged the submissive C?sar. I have already rejected the fable111 that he now revealed to the citizens for the first time the existence of his wife. It is more plausible112 to assume that his servants were at work among the citizens ensuring that, the moment he appeared in the kathisma in his stiff gold tunic113, the cry should ring out: “Let us see the Roman Empress.” He submitted with alacrity114 to the voice of the people. Officers of distinction were at once despatched to Thrace, to bring Ino to the palace, and Sophia retired in great chagrin115 to her quarters.
Ino, like so many of the Roman Empresses, remains116 a mere117 name to which are attached a number of singular and romantic adventures, but a little consideration of her behaviour in these adventures affords an occasional glimpse of her personality. A simple and, no doubt, quite uncultivated provincial matron, she had gladly exchanged the troubled splendours of a palace for the tranquil118 plainness of her former home in Daphnudium. The faithful Tiberius had occasionally visited her in her retirement, and it was doubtless understood that when60 the death of Justin made him free to defy Sophia she should return to the Court. The day had arrived, and her humble119 home in the provinces was now besieged120 by nobles and officers who were eager to escort her across the sea to the bronze-roofed palace. “Come in the morning, and we will start immediately,” Ino told them. In the morning, however, they found that Ino and her daughters, disliking the pomp of an escort and the scenes which their passage would cause, had quietly departed during the night, and they followed in very evil temper to Constantinople.
Tiberius and the Senators and nobles met Ino at the city quay121, and she was presently clothed in the gold tunic and purple mantle122 of the Empress. In a covered litter, accompanied by a crowd of eunuchs and chamberlains, she proceeded from the palace to the great church of St Sophia between the living hedges of the populace. It was here that her name was changed to Anastasia. Since the introduction of Empresses with provincial or pagan names a custom had arisen of changing the name at coronation, and the right to do so had been genially123 accorded to the people. On this occasion the ceremony was more animated124 than usual. The greens, standing under their banner at their appointed station, raised the cry of “Helena”; from the next station the blues raised the counter-cry of “Anastasia,” and “so fiercely did they contend,” says the bishop, “with rival shouts for the honour of naming her that a great and terrible riot ensued and all the people were in confusion.” The blues seem to have been in the majority, and from her baptism of blood Ino emerged with the royal name of Anastasia; from the cathedral she presently returned to the sacred palace as Empress or “Queen” Antastasia.
From that moment we lose sight of the new Empress, and must imagine her peacefully vegetating125 in the marble-lined halls and the superb gardens of her palaces. The interest passes once more to Sophia. As soon as she realized that Tiberius had shaken off her control she61 removed large sums of money and much treasure from the main palace, and went to live in her Sophian palace by the Julian Port. Tiberius, knowing her temper and the vicissitudes126 of imperial life at Constantinople, regarded this action with distrust, and tried to disarm127 her. “Dwell here, and be content, as my mother,” he urged, pressing her to remain in Daphne. She refused to do so, and he was content to assign her an imperial Court and make it known by decree that she was to be honoured as his “mother.” He then married Charito, the daughter of Anastasia, to a distinguished98 officer, raised him to the rank of C?sar, and prepared to meet the intrigues of his adopted mother.
The strong and ambitious woman chafed128 in the small world to which she found herself reduced and soon began to quarrel with the Emperor. Justin had begun the building of a lighthouse at the Julian Port, near the great brass statues of himself and Sophia, and Tiberius pressed Sophia to complete it. She pointed out that it was a work of public usefulness, and therefore the Emperor must undertake it. Tiberius refused, and the relations between them were strained. Here, unfortunately, our informant becomes less generous with the interesting historical matter which he mingles129 with his narrative of Church affairs. He tells us only that the “proud and malignant” old Empress “set on foot plots without number against Tiberius,” and was at length deprived of her imperial status and retinue130. Sophia was probably still in the prime of life—Byzantine women usually married about the age of fifteen—and this drastic step would merely dispose her to more violent action, but it soon became apparent that a greater power than that of kings and queens was about to intervene. Tiberius was consumptive. In the summer of 582, after less than four years’ enjoyment131 of his easily won honours, he felt that the end was approaching and sought a successor.
A contemporary ecclesiastical writer seems to suggest Sophia when he tells us that Tiberius died of poison, administered62 to him in a dish of mulberries, but we may accept the kindlier view that he was delicate and consumptive, and brought about a crisis by some indiscretion at table. A popular officer from the Persian wars named Maurice was in the city at the time, and Tiberius—passing over, for some unknown reason, the elder daughter of Anastasia and her husband—offered him the hand of the younger daughter, Constantina, and the crown. Maurice, an undistinguished provincial like Tiberius—he came from Cappadocia—was crowned on 5th August, and married Constantina a few days afterwards. It is expressly recorded that the marriage was celebrated132 with great magnificence. Maurice was a robust133, clean-shaven, ruddy-featured young man: a man whose goodwill134 was as obvious as his incapacity to restore a stricken Empire. The personal features of the Empresses are never described by the Byzantine writers, but we are told that Constantina made a brave show in her bridal tunic of cloth of gold, edged with purple and sprinkled with diamonds, amongst the crowd of richly dressed nobles. The citizens honoured the new dynasty with banquets and illuminations, little dreaming of the horrible tragedy which would extinguish it in blood.
Tiberius died a week later, and Anastasia seems to have survived her husband only a few years. Sophia returned to the palace after the death of Tiberius, and spent her last years in tranquillity135. But the twenty years’ reign of Maurice is barren of interest for the biographer of the Empresses, and we must pass quickly over its mediocre136 annals to its tragic137 termination. Twelve months after the coronation Constantinople was again seething138 with joyous139 excitement. Constantina had a son, and it was the first time in two hundred years that a boy had been “born in the Porphyra”: an appalling140 comment on Byzantine court life. Very costly141 gifts were brought to the little Theodosius, as he lay with his mother, a week or two later, under sheets of cloth of gold to receive the ladies of the city. Four years later the63 boy was made C?sar, and brothers and sisters followed him into the world with great regularity142, until Maurice saw a family of nine children about him, giving promise of an endless dynasty. Anastasia died a few years afterwards. Sophia is mentioned only once more in the chronicles. Fourteen or fifteen years after the coronation of Maurice we read that Sophia and Constantina presented the Emperor with a magnificent crown, and that he offended them by piously143 suspending it over the altar in one of the churches. We do not know in what year she died, but it is clear that she did not live to witness the horrible fate of Maurice and Constantina. No grave blunder was committed by Maurice as long as she remained in the palace, but it must have been soon after her death that he began to incur100 the disdain144 of the people and the army, and to prepare the tragedy which closed his life and that of his Empress.
The causes of that tragedy belong to history; it is enough to note here that Maurice converted the disdain of the troops into fierce anger by refusing to redeem145 a number of them who had fallen into the merciless hands of the barbarians146. From that moment even the rabble147 of Constantinople could insult him with impunity148. One day when he and his eldest149 son Theodosius were walking barefoot at the head of a religious procession, they were stoned and compelled to run for their lives. On another day the crowd found a man with some resemblance to Maurice, clothed him in black, crowned him with garlic, and drove him on an ass3 through the city amidst a chorus of jeering150 and execration151. Then some troops which he had ordered to winter in the hard lands beyond the Danube revolted and marched upon Constantinople under their leader Phocas. Maurice nervously152 ordered games in the Hippodrome, and bade the people not be alarmed. They were not alarmed, as they had little idea of loyalty153 to the despised Emperor, and there was as yet no question of raising to the purple the brutal154 officer in command of the insurgent155 troops.
64 Phocas and his troops had now reached the outskirts156 of the city. One day Theodosius and his father-in-law, Germanus, were hunting in that region when a messenger of Phocas accosted157 them and proposed that Theodosius should replace his father on the throne, or else Germanus should take the crown. Although they refused, Maurice heard of the invitation, and accused them of conspiracy158. Germanus fled to the altar, and Maurice, scourging159 his son for warning Germanus, sent guards to drag him from the church. This provoked a rising of the people, and Maurice fled across the water with his family. Maurice, now an old man of sixty-three, was nearly wrecked160 in crossing during the night, and was racked with gout. He had some years before befriended the King of Persia, and he now sent Theodosius to ask help from that monarch161. The young man was, however, presently recalled by a messenger who said that his father intended to meet his fate with religious resignation. He returned to find that his father and five brothers had been butchered, and his mother and three sisters confined in a private house, at the command of the Emperor Phocas.
Phocas, a little, deformed162, red-haired man of repulsive163 appearance and character, had at the last moment taken the purple, and won the people by showering gold among them as he drove in the imperial litter, drawn by four white horses, from the church to the palace. On the following day his wife Leontia was crowned. As she went from the palace to St Sophia another riot occurred between the blues and greens, and, when Phocas sent an officer to quell164 the disturbance165, some of them threateningly retorted: “Maurice is still alive.”12 Soldiers were at once sent to the village on the Bay of Nicomedia which Maurice had reached with his family. The five young65 boys were beheaded before their father’s eyes, and he was then despatched. When Theodosius returned a few days later, he fled to the church, but he in turn was dragged out by the soldiers and put to death.
Constantina and her daughters were confined “in the house of Leo,” the chronicler says, and we may assume that this was a private house in the district. Unfortunately for the unhappy Empress, the new reign at once gave rise to intense disgust, and she became involved in plots to overthrow166 Phocas. The new Emperor was a vulgar and brutal soldier, plunging167 at once into an orgy of blood and licence. The Empress Leontia—probably a Syrian, as Phocas had a Syrian treasurer168 named Leontius—is said to have been “as bad as Phocas,” but we have no detailed169 information about her. She was probably one of the strangest in the strange gallery of the Byzantine Empresses. Within a couple of years a plot was formed to drive this incongruous pair from the throne they had usurped170, and the patrician171 Germanus, who was the chief conspirator172, sent a eunuch to deliver Constantina and her daughters and bring them in secrecy173 to the cathedral. It was felt that Constantina, feeble and passive as she seems to have been throughout her stirring experiences, would be the best figure to attract the sympathies of the people. It is one of the many proofs of the appalling degradation174 to which the Roman Empire had sunk that the plot failed. The issue turned, not on honour and manliness175, but on greed. Phocas had been liberal with money and sports, and the greens, rejecting the smaller offers of the agents of Germanus, assembled in the Hippodrome to acclaim79 the tyrant176 and revile177 the helpless widow of their Emperor.
Phocas turned ferociously178 upon the conspirators179. Several nobles were put to death; Germanus and Philippicus, the brother-in-law of Maurice, were condemned180 to shave their heads and enlist181 in the ranks of the clergy. The more terrible fate seemed to be in store for Constantina and her daughters when a troop of soldiers66 burst into the cathedral and threatened to drag them from the altars, but the archbishop Cyriacus manfully protested, and Phocas had to swear to spare their lives before the patriarch would suffer them to leave the sanctuary182. They were confined in a nunnery, apparently in or near the city.
In this confinement183 Constantina presently heard that the bloody184 reign of Phocas was becoming intolerable, and she was encouraged to enter into communication once more with Germanus. Whether or no the plot was inspired by Phocas himself, the female servant who carried the secret messages from the priestly home of Germanus to the nunnery of Constantina betrayed them to the tyrant, and he hastened to rid the Empire of the last reminders185 of Maurice. Constantina was tortured and compelled to name one of the patricians186. By the same fearful means a number of the nobility were accused, and the city was once more driven into mourning. The hands and feet of the accused were cut off, and their mangled187 bodies were then burned alive in the public places. Even the daughter of Germanus, the young widow of Theodosius, was put to death. For Constantina and her daughters the brutal tyrant devised an exquisite188 punishment. They were taken across the water to the spot, on the Bay of Nicomedia, where Maurice and his sons had been put to death, and there the heads were struck from the bodies of Constantina and her three innocent daughters. The Empire of Rome had touched a deeper depth than it had ever done in its pagan days.
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consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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retirement
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| n.退休，退职 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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nether
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| adj.下部的，下面的；n.阴间；下层社会 | |
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despoil
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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compilation
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| n.编译，编辑 | |
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distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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edifices
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| n.大建筑物( edifice的名词复数 ) | |
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touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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distressing
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| a.使人痛苦的 | |
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spouses
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| n.配偶，夫或妻( spouse的名词复数 ) | |
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override
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| vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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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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blues
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| n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐 | |
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festive
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standing
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drawn
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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credible
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| adj.可信任的，可靠的 | |
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astute
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| adj.机敏的，精明的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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32
auspiciously
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| adv.吉利； 繁荣昌盛； 前途顺利； 吉祥 | |
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33
undo
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| vt.解开，松开；取消，撤销 | |
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34
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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35
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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36
tempted
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| v.怂恿（某人）干不正当的事；冒…的险（tempt的过去分词） | |
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37
outstrip
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| v.超过，跑过 | |
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38
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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39
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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40
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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41
engendered
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| v.产生（某形势或状况），造成，引起( engender的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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42
intrigues
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| n.密谋策划( intrigue的名词复数 )；神秘气氛；引人入胜的复杂情节v.搞阴谋诡计( intrigue的第三人称单数 )；激起…的好奇心 | |
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43
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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44
stainless
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| adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的 | |
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45
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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46
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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48
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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49
abate
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| vi.(风势，疼痛等)减弱，减轻，减退 | |
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50
severed
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| v.切断，断绝( sever的过去式和过去分词 )；断，裂 | |
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51
metaphors
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| 隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 ) | |
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52
opulence
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| n.财富，富裕 | |
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53
dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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54
mansions
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| n.宅第，公馆，大厦( mansion的名词复数 ) | |
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55
mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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56
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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57
tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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58
persecutor
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| n. 迫害者 | |
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59
groans
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| n.呻吟，叹息( groan的名词复数 )；呻吟般的声音v.呻吟( groan的第三人称单数 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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60
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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61
implicated
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| adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的 | |
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62
maniac
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| n.精神癫狂的人；疯子 | |
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63
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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64
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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65
manly
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| adj.有男子气概的；adv.男子般地，果断地 | |
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66
lucid
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| adj.明白易懂的，清晰的，头脑清楚的 | |
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67
sane
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| adj.心智健全的，神志清醒的，明智的，稳健的 | |
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68
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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69
penitent
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| adj.后悔的；n.后悔者；忏悔者 | |
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70
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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71
lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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72
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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73
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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74
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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75
ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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77
conundrum
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| n.谜语；难题 | |
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78
acclaimed
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| adj.受人欢迎的 | |
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79
acclaim
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| v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞 | |
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80
discomfiture
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| n.崩溃；大败；挫败；困惑 | |
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81
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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82
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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83
unaware
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| a.不知道的，未意识到的 | |
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84
shrieked
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|
| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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85
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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86
imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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87
edifying
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|
| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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88
lucidity
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| n.明朗，清晰，透明 | |
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89
discredited
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| 不足信的，不名誉的 | |
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90
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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91
provincial
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| adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人 | |
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92
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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93
conspicuous
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|
| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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94
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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95
commentators
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| n.评论员( commentator的名词复数 )；时事评论员；注释者；实况广播员 | |
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96
betrothed
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| n. 已订婚者 动词betroth的过去式和过去分词 | |
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97
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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98
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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99
incurred
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| [医]招致的，遭受的； incur的过去式 | |
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100
incur
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| vt.招致，蒙受，遭遇 | |
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101
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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102
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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103
inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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104
autocrat
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| n.独裁者；专横的人 | |
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105
amassed
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| v.积累，积聚( amass的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
extorted
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| v.敲诈( extort的过去式和过去分词 )；曲解 | |
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107
squander
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| v.浪费，挥霍 | |
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108
rumoured
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| adj.谣传的；传说的；风 | |
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109
connivance
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| n.纵容；默许 | |
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110
penetration
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| n.穿透，穿人，渗透 | |
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111
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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112
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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113
tunic
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| n.束腰外衣 | |
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114
alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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115
chagrin
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| n.懊恼；气愤；委屈 | |
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116
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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117
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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118
tranquil
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| adj. 安静的, 宁静的, 稳定的, 不变的 | |
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119
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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120
besieged
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| 包围，围困，围攻( besiege的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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122
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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123
genially
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| adv.亲切地，和蔼地；快活地 | |
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124
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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125
vegetating
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| v.过单调呆板的生活( vegetate的现在分词 )；植物似地生长；（瘤、疣等）长大 | |
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126
vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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127
disarm
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| v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和 | |
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128
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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129
mingles
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| 混合，混入( mingle的第三人称单数 )； 混进，与…交往[联系] | |
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130
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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131
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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132
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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133
robust
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| adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的 | |
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134
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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135
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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136
mediocre
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| adj.平常的，普通的 | |
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137
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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138
seething
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| 沸腾的，火热的 | |
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139
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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140
appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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141
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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142
regularity
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| n.规律性，规则性；匀称，整齐 | |
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143
piously
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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144
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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145
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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146
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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147
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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148
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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149
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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150
jeering
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| adj.嘲弄的，揶揄的v.嘲笑( jeer的现在分词 ) | |
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151
execration
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| n.诅咒，念咒，憎恶 | |
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152
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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153
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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154
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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155
insurgent
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| adj.叛乱的，起事的；n.叛乱分子 | |
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156
outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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157
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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158
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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159
scourging
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| 鞭打( scourge的现在分词 )； 惩罚，压迫 | |
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160
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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161
monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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162
deformed
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| adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的 | |
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163
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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164
quell
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| v.压制，平息，减轻 | |
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165
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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166
overthrow
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| v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆 | |
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167
plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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168
treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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169
detailed
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| adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的 | |
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170
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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171
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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172
conspirator
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| n.阴谋者，谋叛者 | |
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173
secrecy
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| n.秘密，保密，隐蔽 | |
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174
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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175
manliness
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| 刚毅 | |
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176
tyrant
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| n.暴君，专制的君主，残暴的人 | |
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177
revile
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| v.辱骂，谩骂 | |
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178
ferociously
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| 野蛮地，残忍地 | |
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179
conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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180
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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181
enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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182
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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183
confinement
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| n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限 | |
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184
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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185
reminders
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| n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信 | |
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186
patricians
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| n.（古罗马的）统治阶层成员( patrician的名词复数 )；贵族，显贵 | |
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187
mangled
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| vt.乱砍（mangle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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188
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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