As the discontent increased in Constantinople, Phocas, his brutality fostered by indulgence and vice6, turned upon his subjects with increasing savagery7. Plots were discovered or suspected, and hands and feet and heads fell under the axes of the guards. At length Priscus heard that an upright and distinguished8 commander, who governed the African province, had cast off his allegiance to Phocas, and he invited Heraclius to come and seize the throne. Heraclius was too old to embark9 on so adventurous10 an enterprise, but in the spring of 609 he sent a fleet under the command of his son Heraclius and at the same time entrusted11 his nephew Nicetas with an army which was to range the coast of Africa and occupy Egypt. The curious statement, repeated in most historians, that whichever of the young men reached Constantinople first was to have the crown, is shown by a recently translated manuscript to be inaccurate,68 as we might suspect.13 Heraclius dallied12 in the Mediterranean13 until his cousin had made progress, and it was not until 3rd October 610 that the liberating14 fleet, exhibiting at the prow15 of its commander’s vessel16 a picture of the Virgin17 which angels had brought from heaven, came in sight of Constantinople. At once Phocas found a tide of desertions, and, after a feeble naval18 engagement on the following day, a Sunday, he fled in despair to the palace. So far was he abandoned that a citizen, whose wife he had violated, penetrated19 the palace during the night, dragged him to the quay20, and took him on a boat to the fleet early on the Monday morning. Nicephorus, a later patriarch of Constantinople, gives us an appalling21 picture of his fate—and of Constantinople. He was at once cut to pieces, the member by which he had notoriously sinned was carried on a pole through the city, and his bleeding trunk was dragged through the streets and burned. Of the Empress Leontia and her fate we have no information.
The young Heraclius—he was in his thirty-sixth year, a robust22, broad-chested man with fine grey eyes and light curly hair—must not be held responsible for the excesses of the Byzantine mob, though we shall not find him a man of delicate feeling. He proceeded at once, not only to assume the purple, but to provide Constantinople with an Empress. Fabia, daughter of an African noble named Rogatus, was in Constantinople with the wife of the elder Heraclius when it was announced that the African fleet lay in the Grecian waters. Phocas heard that the mother and the betrothed23 of his opponent were in the city, and they must have had a narrow escape from death. He was content, however, to confine them in a nunnery or penitentiary24, and from this hazardous25 position Fabia was released to find her lover master of Constantinople. She was a beautiful and delicate girl, and the biographer must feel some impatience26 that the69 few Empresses of this more attractive character are so slenderly noticed by the chroniclers, while they dilate28, as far as their prejudice against mere29 women will allow them, on the sins or audacities30 of the bolder Empresses.
Heraclius does not seem to have been eager to assume the purple, and, knowing as we do the accidents of imperial life and the degradation31 of the Empire, we can believe that he was sincere in offering the crown to Priscus, the son-in-law of Phocas. Priscus refused, and the long ceremonies of coronation at once proceeded. After the coronation in St Sophia he was married to Fabia, and, under the name of the Empress Eudocia, she entered the sacred palace which Leontia had vacated. But the story of Eudocia is brief and uninteresting, and we hardly make her acquaintance before a premature32 death removes her from the scene.
Indeed, the only details recorded of Eudocia are that she bore her husband two children in the first two years of her marriage and died of the strain. With the birth of her first child, Epiphania Eudocia, is connected one of those lively incidents which so well illustrate33 the character of the later Roman Empire, even under its better rulers. The patrician34 Priscus had refused the purple, but it came to the ears of Heraclius that he was secretly disaffected35 and abusive, and the Emperor chose a dramatic moment for disarming36 him. He invited Priscus to be godfather to the little Epiphania, and, in the midst of the ceremony, in view of the crowd of nobles and priests, charged him with his treachery. Striking Priscus on the face with a book which lay at hand—probably a Prayer Book—he directed that his head be shaven on the spot, and the great noble passed from the life of camp and Court to one of those monasteries37 of the Empire which harboured many such strange inmates38.
In the following May (612) Eudocia bore a son, Heraclius Constantinas, and her frail39 constitution never recovered from the strain. She had gone during the70 summer to the healthier palace at Blachern?, to the north of Constantinople, and there an attack of epilepsy carried her off in the month of August. It is painful to read that the funeral of this fine and delicate Empress was disgraced by one of the most repulsive40 exhibitions of Byzantine coarseness. The body was conveyed by water to the city, and borne solemnly through the streets to the great church between the mourning citizens. Just as the body was passing a certain window, a maid-servant, who was watching the procession, carelessly spat41 and the wind carried the spittle to the robes of the dead queen. The girl was burned alive on Eudocia’s tomb for the involuntary insult, and even her mistress escaped only by concealing42 herself.
Two years afterwards Heraclius married again. The new Byzantine Empress, whose name stands at the head of this chapter, was one of those strong and ambitious women who generally contrive43, either by their vices44 or their crimes, to break through the anti-feminist reserve of the later Greek writers, but in this case the prejudice is increased and we follow Martina with difficulty through her long and adventurous career. She was the niece of Heraclius, and, in spite of the support she gave to her husband in his brilliant defence of eastern Christendom against the Persians, she remains45 under the shadow of the sin of incest.
Historians have devised many reasons for the audacity46 of Heraclius in marrying his niece, but we need hardly assume more than that she had a beauty and charm which the ecclesiastical writers disdain47 to confess. Her father was dead, and she lived in Constantinople with her mother Maria, sister of Heraclius, who had married a second time. Young, spirited and ambitious, she welcomed the passion of the Emperor, and was prepared with him to override48 every ecclesiastical scruple49. The archbishop Sergius, a friendly and very able counsellor of the Emperor, tried in vain to dissuade51 them. Heraclius coolly observed that his objections were quite71 natural from his episcopal point of view, but it was useless to urge them, and the patriarch discreetly52 stood aside and allowed another priest to marry them. According to a reliable historian the patriarch himself afterwards crowned her in the great hall of the palace, and no doubt his bold and politic53 action silenced the angry murmurs54 which arose in the Hippodrome. It was only when, in the course of time, defective55 children were born of the marriage—the first son was wry-necked, the second deaf—when Heraclius himself ended a brilliant career in pain and humiliation56, and when Martina passed from public life under a suspicion of murder, that Constantinople discovered the action of a divine curse and darkened the memory of Martina.
So prejudiced are later historians against Martina that even Gibbon has contracted something of their feeling, and suggested that a surrender to the charms, if not the arts, of Martina explains that remarkable57 indolence which Heraclius betrayed during the next few years, when the advancing Persians were rending58 his Empire and threatening to sweep Christianity out of Asia. We need not discuss here the problem of the Emperor’s alleged59 supineness during those years of disaster. The most recent biographer of Heraclius, Signor Pernice (“L’Imperatore Eraclio”), emphatically denies that Heraclius was indolent, and more authoritative60 historians, like Professor Bury, observe that the lack of funds and troops, and other internal difficulties, placed a formidable restraint on the very capable Emperor. When the war-drums beat at length, we shall find Martina, in spite of pregnancy61, accompanying the Emperor in his long and arduous62 campaigns, and this gives us a right to assume that she supported him in the long years of preparation and organization.
At one time, three or four years after their marriage, it seemed that they would desert the sinking vessel of the Byzantine Empire and return to the tranquillity63 of Africa. Two devastating64 waves—the Persians to the72 south and the Avars to the north—were advancing across the impotent provinces, and it looked as though the little that was left of the Eastern Empire must soon be swallowed up in the mighty65 clash of their conflict. Egypt, Syria and Palestine were in the hands of the Persians, who looted and desecrated66 the most sacred shrines68 of Christendom. Famine resulted from the loss of the grain-bearing provinces, and plague followed closely upon famine. Heraclius and Martina put their treasures on a fleet of ships and resolved to transfer the throne to Africa. Then, when news came that the fleet had been destroyed in a storm, and the patriarch Sergius made the Emperor swear not to desert the city, Heraclius turned again to face his mountainous difficulties.
Raising the cry that the holy cross was in the hands of the pagans, and that the very existence of Christianity was in jeopardy69, Heraclius succeeded in concentrating on a great national issue all the religious passion which had so long been expended70 on distracting controversies71. A bargain was struck with the Church; its sacred vessels72 and incalculable treasures were to be put at the disposal of the Empire, and the value returned at the close of the war. By the beginning of the year 622 the preparations were completed, the young Heraclius Constantine was appointed nominal73 regent of the Empire, and the real administration was entrusted to the capable hands of the archbishop and one of the patricians74. On Easter Day the last stirring services were held; and on the following day the gilded75 imperial galley76, bearing the miraculous77 picture of the Virgin, the brightly painted war-galleys and the hundreds of ships which bore the last part of an army of more than a hundred thousand men, sailed bravely toward the coast of Asia.
The Persian campaigns, which have put the name of Heraclius high in the list of imperial commanders, interest us because Martina set sail with her husband and accompanied him throughout the war. Unfortunately, the literary deacon of St Sophia, George of Pisidia,73 who tells the story of the war, shares the ecclesiastical prejudice against Martina, and never mentions her name. Congenial as the task would be, therefore, to follow the Emperor through his brilliant campaigns and imagine the spirited Martina sharing his perils79 and his triumphs, it is hardly a fitting task for a biographer. George of Pisidia, addressing Heraclius in the name of the clergy80 at St Sophia, had trusted that he would redden his black military boots in the blood of the heathen. He and Martina returned to Constantinople six months later, leaving the army in safe winter quarters, with a great victory and a brilliant march across Asia Minor81 to report. Martina sailed with her husband, in the following year, on his second and more dangerous campaign, and it was in the course of this campaign that she gave birth to the son Heraclius—usually called Heraclonas, to distinguish him from the father, apparently82—whom we shall find tragically83 associated with her in her later years. She seems, indeed, to have accompanied Heraclius on all his journeys; but to what extent she kept pace with the advance of the troops—whether she reached the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, and beheld84 the oriental luxury of the fallen camps and towns of the Persians—the prejudice of the deacon of St Sophia prevents us from ascertaining85. She had at least the glory of accompanying her husband on one of the most brilliant, the most daring and the most profitable campaigns that ever illumined the Eastern Empire. Nor must her biographer forget to add that she bore several children during her six years’ wandering over the mountains and deserts of Asia Minor, Syria, Persia and Mesopotamia. Nine children, four of whom died young, were the issue of the marriage.
Martina shared, too, the splendid triumph which crowned the victories of Heraclius. In the spring of 628 the Emperor and Empress rejoined their family at the Hieria palace, on the Asiatic coast opposite Constantinople, whither, with torches by night and olive-branches74 by day, the citizens sailed to greet them. Heraclius would not return to his capital until the cross was restored to his hands, and the summer was spent by the united family in the Hieria palace. Early in September the cross arrived, and they went to Constantinople for the triumph. Preceded by the cross, Heraclius rode in a chariot drawn86 by four elephants through the Golden Gate and along the main street of the city (the Mese) to St Sophia, amidst scenes of such rejoicing as the Empire had not witnessed since the days of Belisarius. A superb entertainment in the Hippodrome followed, and then Heraclius joined his wife in the palace.
And here ends the glory of the Emperor Heraclius; the flame that had burst forth87 so splendidly in a time of dejection fell just as swiftly, and Heraclius exhibited a lamentable88 spectacle in face of an even greater peril78 than the Persians. The problem of the character of Heraclius might concern us if we had any satisfactory information about the behaviour of Martina during the next few years, but as the chroniclers almost refuse to notice her until they come to what they regard as her misdeeds, we have no occasion to linger over it. Her character induces us to believe that she attempted to awaken89 her husband from his lethargy until she saw that this was impossible, and that she then devoted90 her thoughts to securing the succession for her son and the virtual rule of the Empire for herself. This, in point of fact, is suggested by the meagre indications in the chronicles.
In the spring of 629 Heraclius took the cross back to its original shrine67 at Jerusalem, and from that time spent nine years in the provinces of Palestine, Syria and Asia Minor. During those years the Mohammedan power became a formidable menace to the Roman Empire, and the inaction of Heraclius is a scandal to historians. His nervous system was strained to the verge91 of insanity92, and he retreated like one paralysed with terror before the advance of the Mohammedans. Martina foresaw the end, and began to prepare for the succession. There75 can be no doubt that in these later years Heraclius, whose religious fervour was now greatly increased, was troubled by the cry that his “incestuous” marriage had brought these troubles on the Empire. When his nephew Theodore retreated before the invincible93 Arabs, and came to reproach Heraclius for his “sin,” the Emperor sent him under guard to Constantinople and ordered that he should be disgraced. Some writers see in this the action of Martina, but it may quite well have been due to the broody nervousness of Heraclius himself.
It was plain that Heraclius would not stem the Mohammedan tide, and everywhere men talked of the succession. By the year 638 he and Martina were back in the Hieria palace, and the struggle deepened. Heraclius had now two children by his first wife Eudocia, and five (living) children by Martina. His eldest94 child, Epiphania Eudocia, had narrowly missed a romantic career. During the Persian war Heraclius had struck an alliance with the King of the Khazars, a wild people akin95 to the Huns, and, after gorgeously entertaining and rewarding him, had shown him a miniature of his beautiful daughter, then fifteen years old, and offered him her hand. It was only the death of the King in the next year that saved the delicate young girl from being added to the rude harem of the Hunnic prince. She was still unmarried. Her brother, Heraclius Constantinus, now twenty-six years old, was already associated in the Empire, and was the obvious heir to supreme96 power. But both Heraclius and Martina knew that the Emperor’s death would at once set her religious enemies to work to eject her and her children from the palace, and they were anxious to secure her position by associating her eldest son, Heraclonas, in the Empire. There were, besides, a natural son of Heraclius by an early concubine, named Athalaric, and the sons of his cousin Nicetas, who had helped him to win the Empire.
Two of these possible candidates for the purple were summarily dismissed. Athalaric and the nephew76 Theodore were charged with conspiracy97 at Constantinople, their hands and feet were struck off, and they were sent into exile. It is conjectured98 by some writers on Martina that she dictated99 this heavy punishment, and that her hand is seen in the events which follow. Of this there is no proof; but there can be no doubt that she was eager to secure the succession of Heraclonas, and that Heraclius was now an almost feeble-minded patient under her care. He persistently100 refused to cross the strip of water from Hieria to the city, and they were compelled at length to make a bridge of boats across the narrower part of the strait, and place artificial hedges of trees along its sides, so that he could ride to Constantinople without catching101 sight of the sea. The young Constantine, his eldest son, had inherited the delicacy102 of his mother, and it was necessary to provide for the event of his death. Should his sons inherit the purple, or should it pass to “the children of incest”? The city seethed103 with discussion.
In the final decision we may confidently recognize the voice of Martina. On 4th July 638 Heraclonas, then a boy of fifteen years,14 was crowned in the palace by the patriarch Sergius; a younger son, David, was raised to the same dignity shortly afterwards, and the young daughters of Martina, Augustina and Martina, were entitled August?. On the 1st of January 639 three Emperors rode in the procession: Heraclius, Constantine and Heraclonas. Martina had, apparently, triumphed; but more prudent104 citizens must have shaken their heads in reflecting on the struggle which would inevitably105 follow the death of Heraclius.
The Emperor lingered for more than two years in his impotent condition, and Martina meantime found a fresh and most powerful ally. The patriarch Sergius had died soon after crowning Heraclonas, leaving his metropolitan77 see to a monk106, Pyrrhus, whom he had raised to the higher rank of the clergy. Pyrrhus became an ally of the Empress, who may possibly have assisted in his elevation107, and the alliance was the stronger because Pyrrhus secretly favoured the sect108 of the Monophysites. From Constantine he would receive little encouragement, whereas Martina, as events proved, was ready to allow him to impose his metaphysical distinction on the Church in return for his political support. It is even said that Martina urged her husband to send the weakly Constantine against the Mohammedans, in the hope that he would not return. Such things are easily said, and easily believed, but incapable109 of proof.
In February 641 Heraclius died. He suffered in his last years from dropsy, and those who are curious to know by what appalling means the medical men of the time relieved such an affliction, and how the theologians of the time placidly110 traced the operation of a divine curse for marrying one’s niece, may read the details of his sufferings in the patriarch Nicephorus. To the last Heraclius was faithful to his beloved wife. He divided the government of the Empire equally between Constantine and Heraclonas, and he entrusted to the patriarch Pyrrhus a large sum of money to be given to Martina in the event of her enemies succeeding in driving her from power. The struggle began at once.
Martina convoked111 a meeting of the citizens—presumably in the Hippodrome—and had the will of Heraclius read to them. When the herald112 had concluded, the sullen113 silence was broken by a cry for the Emperors. Martina, who was evidently minded to keep the youths in the background and govern in their name, summoned the Emperors, but continued to act as mistress of the Empire. But Constantinople—a compound of inferior Greek and Roman with Syrian blood—always disliked feminine rule, and in face of the advancing Mohammedans regarded it with additional concern. “Honour to you as mother of the Emperors,” the citizens cried, “but78 to them as Emperors and lords. You, mistress, would not be able to resist and reply to barbarians114 and foreigners coming against the city. God forbid that the Roman commonwealth115 should fall so low.” We may take it that the chronicler has gathered into a speech the various murmurs which arose from the crowded benches of the Hippodrome. Plausible116 as the cry was, it was a grave blunder. The ailing117, probably consumptive, Constantine had not the manliness118 of a ruler, and the palace became the theatre of the struggles of rival courtiers.
On the side of Constantine was the imperial treasurer119 Philagrius, and this man embittered120 the situation by informing the young Emperor of the money which Heraclius had left in charge of the archbishop and forcing him to pay it into the treasury121. In order further to strengthen his position Philagrius represented to Constantine that his children would be in danger from Martina if he died. It is important to notice that the death of Constantine was plainly expected by all parties. Nothing is clearer than that he had inherited the delicacy of his mother, and was either epileptic or consumptive—more probably consumptive. The patriarch Nicephorus tells us that he was “chronically ill” and lived in a palace he had built at Chalcedon for the sake of his health. His Empress, Gregoria Anastasia, was a daughter of Nicetas, the young cousin who had set out from Africa with Heraclius, but we have no further information about her. For her sake and that of the children Constantine was persuaded by his intriguing122 courtiers to send an officer, Valentine, to the troops when he felt that his end was near. Valentine had not only a letter urging the troops to protect Constantine’s children from Martina, but a large sum of money to distribute amongst them. It is strange that historians have overlooked this very obvious intrigue123 and so easily accepted the clerical prejudice against Martina. If Martina were unable to meet “barbarians and foreigners”—a point79 which might be disputed—assuredly infants could not be trusted to do so.
Constantine died about three months after the death of his father. There is no serious ground whatever for the charge that he was poisoned by agents of Martina and Pyrrhus. The patriarch Nicephorus, the best authority, knows nothing of the rumour124, and the very chroniclers, of a later date, who attach importance to it admit that Constantine suffered from a chronic27 malady125. Indeed, when we find a contemporary (and recently published) ecclesiastical writer, the Bishop50 of Nikin, saying that Constantine after three months’ illness “vomited blood, and when he had lost all his blood he died,” we may confidently acquit126 Martina, and conclude that the young Emperor died of consumption. The statement of Constantine’s son, a boy of eleven, when he came to the throne, that Pyrrhus and Martina had been justly punished, is a mere echo of the pretext127 of those who deposed128 her. The poisoning of a consumptive youth would be a new and superfluous129 crime, and we have no reason to think that Martina was even normally criminal.
Martina at once assumed the government in the name of her son and expelled the hostile faction130 from the Court. Philagrius was visited with the most humane131 punishment of the time—he was forced to become a priest—and his friends were dispersed132. But his emissary Valentine was in a strong position and he determined133 to put it to account. The large sum of money entrusted to him enabled him to purchase the devotion of an army, and he settled at Chalcedon with the ostentatious design of seeing that no evil was done to the young son of the late Emperor. Martina cleverly foiled his first move. She directed Heraclonas to become godfather to the boy, who was carefully kept in the palace at Constantinople, and to swear, with his hand on the cross, that no harm should be done to the child. Valentine then brought his troops nearer and began to ravage134 the suburbs and neighbourhood of the city, while his friends in Constantinople lit80 the flame of religious antagonism135 to Pyrrhus, who was unfortunately pressing his Monophysite tenets on the Church. Exasperated136 at the inconveniences of the siege and the heresy137 of the patriarch, the citizens now became restive138. A mob invaded and pillaged139 the great church of St Sophia, and Pyrrhus was forced to abdicate140. The power of Martina was now dangerously enfeebled, and she came to terms with Valentine. The ambitious officer was to be appointed “Count of the Excubitors,” or commander of the heavier guards, and to be excused from rendering141 an account of the money entrusted to him.
The further course of the intrigue is scantily142 known to us, as there is here a mysterious gap of thirty years in the narrative143 of Nicephorus. From later chronicles we learn that, before the end of 642, the Senate deposed Martina and Heraclonas. In spite of the notorious malady of Constantine, they were found guilty of having poisoned him, with the connivance144 of the archbishop, and were barbarously punished. The tongue of Martina and the nose of Heraclonas were slit—the text does not imply that they were cut off—and they were expelled from Constantinople. Valentine also is said to have been expelled, so that he must have changed sides. The further course of the spirited and unfortunate Empress and her son is told in the bare phrase that they “lived a private life and were buried together in the monastery145 of the Lord.” We do not know the place of exile, or the year of Martina’s death. That her punishment was unjust and barbaric seems now to be beyond question, and there is no excuse, beyond the amiable146 indiscretion of her marriage, for the evil repute which chroniclers have attached to the name of the Empress Martina. She seems to have been one of the best of the Byzantine Empresses.
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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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consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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licentiousness
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| n.放肆，无法无天 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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adventurous
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| adj.爱冒险的；惊心动魄的，惊险的，刺激的 | |
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entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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dallied
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| v.随随便便地对待( dally的过去式和过去分词 )；不很认真地考虑；浪费时间；调情 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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liberating
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| 解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 ) | |
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prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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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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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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penetrated
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| adj. 击穿的，鞭辟入里的 动词penetrate的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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appalling
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| adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的 | |
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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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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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penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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hazardous
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| adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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chronic
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| adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的 | |
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dilate
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| vt.使膨胀，使扩大 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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audacities
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| n.大胆( audacity的名词复数 )；鲁莽；胆大妄为；鲁莽行为 | |
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degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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premature
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| adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的 | |
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illustrate
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| v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图 | |
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34
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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35
disaffected
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| adj.（政治上）不满的，叛离的 | |
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36
disarming
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| adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒 | |
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37
monasteries
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| 修道院( monastery的名词复数 ) | |
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38
inmates
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| n.囚犯( inmate的名词复数 ) | |
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39
frail
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| adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的 | |
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40
repulsive
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| adj.排斥的，使人反感的 | |
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41
spat
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| n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声 | |
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42
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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43
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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44
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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45
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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46
audacity
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| n.大胆，卤莽，无礼 | |
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47
disdain
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| n.鄙视，轻视；v.轻视，鄙视，不屑 | |
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48
override
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| vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于 | |
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49
scruple
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| n./v.顾忌，迟疑 | |
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50
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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51
dissuade
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| v.劝阻，阻止 | |
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52
discreetly
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| ad.(言行)审慎地，慎重地 | |
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53
politic
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| adj.有智虑的；精明的；v.从政 | |
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54
murmurs
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| n.低沉、连续而不清的声音( murmur的名词复数 )；低语声；怨言；嘀咕 | |
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55
defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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56
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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57
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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58
rending
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| v.撕碎( rend的现在分词 )；分裂；（因愤怒、痛苦等而）揪扯（衣服或头发等）；（声音等）刺破 | |
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59
alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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60
authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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61
pregnancy
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| n.怀孕，怀孕期 | |
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62
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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63
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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64
devastating
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| adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的 | |
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65
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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66
desecrated
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| 毁坏或亵渎( desecrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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67
shrine
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| n.圣地，神龛，庙；v.将...置于神龛内，把...奉为神圣 | |
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68
shrines
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| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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69
jeopardy
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| n.危险；危难 | |
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70
expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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71
controversies
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| 争论 | |
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72
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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73
nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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74
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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75
gilded
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| a.镀金的，富有的 | |
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76
galley
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| n.（飞机或船上的）厨房单层甲板大帆船；军舰舰长用的大划艇； | |
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77
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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78
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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79
perils
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| 极大危险( peril的名词复数 )； 危险的事（或环境） | |
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80
clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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81
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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82
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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83
tragically
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| adv. 悲剧地，悲惨地 | |
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84
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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85
ascertaining
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| v.弄清，确定，查明( ascertain的现在分词 ) | |
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86
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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87
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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88
lamentable
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| adj.令人惋惜的，悔恨的 | |
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89
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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90
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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91
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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92
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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93
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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94
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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95
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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96
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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97
conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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98
conjectured
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| 推测，猜测，猜想( conjecture的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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99
dictated
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| v.大声讲或读( dictate的过去式和过去分词 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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100
persistently
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| ad.坚持地；固执地 | |
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101
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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102
delicacy
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| n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴 | |
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103
seethed
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| （液体）沸腾( seethe的过去式和过去分词 )； 激动，大怒； 强压怒火； 生闷气(~with sth|~ at sth) | |
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104
prudent
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| adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的 | |
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105
inevitably
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| adv.不可避免地；必然发生地 | |
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106
monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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107
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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108
sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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109
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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110
placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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111
convoked
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| v.召集，召开（会议）( convoke的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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112
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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113
sullen
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| adj.愠怒的，闷闷不乐的，(天气等)阴沉的 | |
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114
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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115
commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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116
plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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117
ailing
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| v.生病 | |
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118
manliness
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| 刚毅 | |
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119
treasurer
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| n.司库，财务主管 | |
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120
embittered
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| v.使怨恨，激怒( embitter的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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121
treasury
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| n.宝库；国库，金库；文库 | |
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122
intriguing
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| adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心 | |
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123
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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124
rumour
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| n.谣言，谣传，传闻 | |
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125
malady
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| n.病，疾病(通常做比喻) | |
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126
acquit
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| vt.宣判无罪；(oneself)使(自己)表现出 | |
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127
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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128
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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129
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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130
faction
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| n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争 | |
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131
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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132
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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133
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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134
ravage
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| vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废 | |
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135
antagonism
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| n.对抗，敌对，对立 | |
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136
exasperated
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| adj.恼怒的 | |
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137
heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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138
restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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139
pillaged
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| v.抢劫，掠夺( pillage的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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140
abdicate
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| v.让位，辞职，放弃 | |
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141
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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142
scantily
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| adv.缺乏地；不充足地；吝啬地；狭窄地 | |
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143
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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144
connivance
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| n.纵容；默许 | |
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145
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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146
amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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