Idol1 is derived2 from the Greek word “eidos,” figure; “eidolos,” the representation of a figure, and “latreuein,” to serve, revere5, or adore.
It does not appear that there was ever any people on earth who took the name of idolaters. This word is an offence, an insulting term, like that of “gavache,” which the Spaniards formerly6 gave to the French; and that of “maranes,” which the French gave to the Spaniards in return. If we had demanded of the senate of the Areopagus of Athens, or at the court of the kings of Persia: “Are you idolaters?” they would scarcely have understood the question. None would have answered: “We adore images and idols7.” This word, idolater, idolatry, is found neither in Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, nor any other author of the religion of the Gentiles. There was never any edict, any law, which commanded that idols should be adored; that they should be treated as gods and regarded as gods.
When the Roman and Carthaginian captains made a treaty, they called all their gods to witness. “It is in their presence,” said they, “that we swear peace.” Yet the statues of these gods, whose number was very great, were not in the tents of the generals. They regarded, or pretended to regard, the gods as present at the actions of men as witnesses and judges. And assuredly it was not the image which constituted the divinity.
In what view, therefore, did they see the statues of their false gods in the temples? With the same view, if we may so express ourselves, that the Catholics see the images, the object of their veneration8. The error was not in adoring a piece of wood or marble, but in adoring a false divinity, represented by this wood and marble. The difference between them and the Catholics is, not that they had images, and the Catholics had none; the difference is, that their images represented the fantastic beings of a false religion, and that the Christian9 images represent real beings in a true religion. The Greeks had the statue of Hercules, and we have that of St. Christopher; they had ?sculpius and his goat, we have St. Roch and his dog; they had Mars and his lance, and we have St. Anthony of Padua and St. James of Compostella.
When the consul10 Pliny addresses prayers to the immortal11 gods in the exordium of the panegyric12 of Trajan, it is not to images that he addresses them. These images were not immortal.
Neither the latest nor the most remote times of paganism offer a single fact which can lead to the conclusion that they adored idols. Homer speaks only of the gods who inhabited the high Olympus. The palladium, although fallen from heaven, was only a sacred token of the protection of Pallas; it was herself that was venerated14 in the palladium. It was our ampoule, or holy oil.
But the Romans and Greeks knelt before their statues, gave them crowns, incense15, and flowers, and carried them in triumph in the public places. The Catholics have sanctified these customs, and yet are not called idolaters.
The women in times of drouth carried the statues of the Gods after having fasted. They walked barefooted with dishevelled hair, and it quickly rained bucketfuls, says Pretonius: “Et statim urceatim pluebat.” Has not this custom been consecrated16; illegitimate indeed among the Gentiles, but legitimate18 among the Catholics? In how many towns are not images carried to obtain the blessings20 of heaven through their intercession? If a Turk, or a learned Chinese, were a witness of these ceremonies, he would, through ignorance, accuse the Italians of putting their trust in the figures which they thus promenade21 in possession.
§ II.
Examination of the Ancient Idolatry.
From the time of Charles I., the Catholic religion was declared idolatrous in England. All the Presbyterians are persuaded that the Catholics adore bread, which they eat, and figures, which are the work of their sculptors22 and painters. With that which one part of Europe reproaches the Catholics, they themselves reproach the Gentiles.
We are surprised at the prodigious23 number of declamations uttered in all times against the idolatry of the Romans and Greeks; and we are afterwards still more surprised when we see that they were not idolaters.
They had some temples more privileged than others. The great Diana of Ephesus had more reputation than a village Diana. There were more miracles performed in the temple of ?sculapius at Epidaurus, than in any other of his temples. The statue of the Olympian Jupiter attracted more offerings than that of the Paphlagonian Jupiter. But to oppose the customs of a true religion to those of a false one, have we not for several ages had more devotion to certain altars than to others?
Has not Our Lady of Loretto been preferred to Our Lady of Neiges, to that of Ardens, of Hall, etc.? That is not saying there is more virtue24 in a statue at Loretto than in a statue of the village of Hall, but we have felt more devotion to the one than to the other; we have believed that she whom we invoked25, at the feet of her statues, would condescend26, from the height of heaven, to diffuse28 more favors and to work more miracles in Loretto than in Hall. This multiplicity of images of the same person also proves that it is the images that we revere, and that the worship relates to the person who is represented; for it is not possible that every image can be the same thing. There are a thousand images of St. Francis, which have no resemblance to him, and which do not resemble one another; and all indicate a single Saint Francis, invoked, on the day of his feast, by those who are devoted29 to this saint.
It was precisely30 the same with the pagans, who supposed the existence only of a single divinity, a single Apollo, and not as many Apollos and Dianas as they had temples and statues. It is therefore proved, as much as history can prove anything, that the ancients believed not the statue to be a divinity; that worship was not paid to this statue or image, and consequently that they were not idolaters. It is for us to ascertain31 how far the imputation32 has been a mere33 pretext34 to accuse them of idolatry.
A gross and superstitious35 populace who reason not, and who know neither how to doubt, deny, or believe; who visit the temples out of idleness, and because the lowly are there equal to the great; who make their contributions because it is the custom; who speak continually of miracles without examining any of them; and who are very little in point of intellect beyond the brutes36 whom they sacrifice — such a people, I repeat, in the sight of the great Diana, or of Jupiter the Thunderer, may well be seized with a religious horror, and adore, without consciousness, the statue itself. This is what happens now and then, in our own churches, to our ignorant peasantry, who, however, are informed that it is the blessed mortals received into heaven whose intercession they solicit37, and not that of images of wood and stone.
The Greeks and Romans augment38 the number of their gods by their apotheoses39. The Greeks deified conquerors40 like Bacchus, Hercules, and Perseus. Rome devoted altars to her emperors. Our apotheoses are of a different kind; we have infinitely42 more saints than they have secondary gods, but we pay respect neither to rank nor to conquest. We consecrate17 temples to the simply virtuous43, who would have been unknown on earth if they had not been placed in heaven. The apotheoses of the ancients were the effect of flattery, ours are produced by a respect for virtue.
Cicero, in his philosophical44 works, only allows of a suspicion that the people may mistake the statues of the gods and confound them with the gods themselves. His interlocutors attack the established religion, but none of them think of accusing the Romans of taking marble and brass45 for divinities. Lucretius accuses no person of this stupidity, although he reproaches the superstitious of every class. This opinion, therefore, has never existed; there never have been idolaters.
Horace causes an image of Priapus to speak, and makes him say: “I was once the trunk of a fig4 tree, and a carpenter being doubtful whether he should make of me a god or a bench, at length determined46 to make me a divinity.” What are we to gather from this pleasantry? Priapus was one of the subaltern divinities, and a subject of raillery for the wits, and this pleasantry is a tolerable proof that a figure placed in the garden to frighten away the birds could not be very profoundly worshipped.
Dacier, giving way to the spirit of a commentator47, observes that Baruch predicted this adventure. “They became what the workmen chose to make them:” but might not this be observed of all statues? Had Baruch a visionary anticipation48 of the “Satires of Horace”?
A block of marble may as well be hewn into a cistern49, as into a figure of Alexander, Jupiter, or any being still more respectable. The matter which composed the cherubim of the Holy of Holies might have been equally appropriated to the vilest50 functions. Is a throne or altar the less revered51 because it might have been formed into a kitchen table?
Dacier, instead of concluding that the Romans adored the statue of Priapus, and that Baruch predicted it, should have perceived that the Romans laughed at it. Consult all the authors who speak of the statues of the gods, you will not find one of them allude52 to idolatry; their testimony53 amounts to the express contrary. “It is not the workman,” says Martial54, “who makes the gods, but he who prays to them.”
Qui finxit sacros auro vel marmore vultus
Non facit ille deos, qui rogat ille facit.
“It is Jove whom we adore in the image of Jove,” writes Ovid: “Colitur pro13 Jove, forma Jovis.”
“The gods inhabit our minds and bosoms,” observes Statius, “and not images in the form of them:”
Nulla autem effigies55, nulli commissa metallo.
Forma Dei, mentes habitare et pectora gaudet.
Lucan, too, calls the universe the abode56 and empire of God: “Estne Dei, sedes, nisi terra, et pontus, et aer?” A volume might be filled with passages asserting idols to be images alone.
There remains58 but the case in which statues became oracles59; notions that might have led to an opinion that there was something divine about them. The predominant sentiment, however, was that the gods had chosen to visit certain altars and images, in order to give audience to mortals, and to reply to them. We read in Homer and in the chorus of the Greek tragedies, of prayers to Apollo, who delivered his responses on the mountains in such a temple, or such a town. There is not, in all antiquity60, the least trace of a prayer addressed to a statue; and if it was believed that the divine spirit preferred certain temples and images, as he preferred certain men, it was simply an error in application. How many miraculous61 images have we? The ancients only boasted of possessing what we possess, and if we are not idolaters for using images, by what correct principle can we term them so?
Those who profess62 magic, and who either believe, or affect to believe it, a science, pretend to possess the secret of making the gods descend27 into their statues, not indeed, the superior gods, but the secondary gods or genii. This is what Hermes Trismegistus calls “making” gods — a doctrine63 which is controverted64 by St. Augustine in his “City of God.” But even this clearly shows that the images were not thought to possess anything divine, since it required a magician to animate65 them, and it happened very rarely that a magician was successful in these sublime66 endeavors.
In a word, the images of the gods were not gods. Jupiter, and not his statue, launched his thunderbolts; it was not the statue of Neptune67 which stirred up tempests, nor that of Apollo which bestowed68 light. The Greeks and the Romans were Gentiles and Polytheists, but not idolaters.
We lavished69 this reproach upon them when we had neither statues nor temples, and have continued the injustice70 even after having employed painting and sculpture to honor and represent our truths, precisely in the same manner in which those we reproach employed them to honor and personify their fiction.
§ III.
Whether the Persians, the Sab?ans, the Egyptians, the Tartars, or the Turks, have been Idolaters, and the Extent of the Antiquity of the Images Called Idols — History of Their Worship.
It is a great error to denominate those idolaters who worship the sun and the stars. These nations for a long time had neither images nor temples. If they were wrong, it was in rendering71 to the stars that which belonged only to the creator of the stars. Moreover, the dogma of Zoroaster, or Zerdusht, teaches a Supreme72 Being, an avenger73 and rewarder, which opinion is very distant from idolatry. The government of China possesses no idol, but has always preserved the simple worship of the master of heaven, Kien-tien.
Genghis Khan, among the Tartars, was not an idolater, and used no images. The Mahometans, who inhabit Greece, Asia Minor74, Syria, Persia, India, and Africa, call the Christians75 idolaters and giaours, because they imagine that Christians worship images. They break the statues which they find in Sancta Sophia, the church of the Holy Apostles; and others they convert into mosques76. Appearances have deceived them, as they are eternally deceiving man, and have led them to believe that churches dedicated77 to saints who were formerly men, images of saints worshipped kneeling, and miracles worked in these churches, are invincible78 proofs of absolute idolatry; although all amount to nothing. Christians, in fact, adore one God only, and even in the blessed, only revere the virtues79 of God manifested in them. The image-breakers (iconoclasts), and the Protestants, who reproach the Catholic Church with idolatry, claim the same answer.
As men rarely form precise ideas, and still less express them with precision, we call the Gentiles, and still more the Polytheists, idolaters. An immense number of volumes have been written in order to develop the various opinions upon the origin of the worship rendered to the deity80. This multitude of books and opinions proves nothing, except ignorance.
It is not known who invented coats, shoes, and stockings, and yet we would know who invented idols. What signifies a passage of Sanchoniathon, who lived before the battle of Troy? What does he teach us when he says that Chaos81 — the spirit, that is to say, the breath — in love with his principles, draws the veil from it, which renders the air luminous82; that the wind Colp, and his wife Bau, engendered83 Eon; that Eon engendered Genos, that Chronos, their descendant, had two eyes behind as well as before; that he became a god, and that he gave Egypt to his son Thaut? Such is one of the most respectable monuments of antiquity.
Orpheus will teach us no more in his “Theogony,” than Damasius has preserved to us. He represents the principles of the world under the figure of a dragon with two heads, the one of a bull, the other of a lion; a face in the middle, which he calls the face of God, and golden wings to his shoulders.
But, from these fantastic ideas may be drawn84 two great truths — the one that sensible images and hieroglyphics85 are of the remotest antiquity; the other that all the ancient philosophers have recognized a First Principle.
As to polytheism, good sense will tell you that as long as men have existed — that is to say, weak animals capable of reason and folly86, subject to all accidents, sickness and death — these men have felt their weakness and dependence87. Obliged to acknowledge that there is something more powerful than themselves; having discovered a principle in the earth which furnishes their aliment; one in the air which often destroys them; one in fire which consumes; and in water which drowns them — what is more natural than for ignorant men to imagine beings which preside over these elements? What is more natural than to revere the invisible power which makes the sun and stars shine to our eyes? and, since they would form an idea of powers superior to man, what more natural than to figure them in a sensible manner? Could they think otherwise? The Jewish religion, which preceded ours, and which was given by God himself, was filled with these images, under which God is represented. He deigns88 to speak the human language in a bush; He appeared once on a mountain; the celestial89 spirits which he sends all come with a human form: finally, the sanctuary90 is covered with cherubs91, which are the bodies of men with the wings and heads of animals. It is this which has given rise to the error of Plutarch, Tacitus, Appian, and so many others, of reproaching the Jews with adoring an ass’s head. God, in spite of his prohibition92 to paint or form likenesses, has, therefore, deigned93 to adapt himself to human weakness, which required the senses to be addressed by sensible beings.
Isaiah, in chapter vi., sees the Lord seated on a throne, and His train filled the temple. The Lord extends His hand, and touches the mouth of Jeremiah, in chap. i. of that prophet. Ezekiel, in chap. i., sees a throne of sapphire94, and God appeared to him like a man seated on this throne. These images alter not the purity of the Jewish religion, which never employed pictures, statues, or idols, to represent God to the eyes of the people.
The learned Chinese, the Parsees, and the ancient Egyptians, had no idols; but Isis and Osiris were soon represented. Bel, at Babylon, was a great colossus. Brahma was a fantastic monster in the peninsula of India. Above all, the Greeks multiplied the names of the gods, statues, and temples, but always attributed the supreme power to their Zeus, called Jupiter by the Latins, the sovereign of gods and men. The Romans imitated the Greeks. These people always placed all the gods in heaven, without knowing what they understood by heaven.
The Romans had their twelve great gods, six male and six female, whom they called “Dii majorum gentium”; Jupiter, Neptune, Apollo, Vulcar., Mars, Mercury, Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Venus, and Diana; Pluto95 was therefore forgotten: Vesta took his place.
Afterwards, came the gods “minorum gentium,” the gods of mortal origin; the heroes, as Bacchus, Hercules, and ?sculapius: the infernal gods, Pluto and Proserpine: those of the sea, as Tethys, Amphitrite, the Nereids, and Glaucus. The Dryads, Naiads, gods of gardens; those of shepherds, etc. They had them, indeed, for every profession, for every action of life, for children, marriageable girls, married, and lying-in women: they had even the god Peditum; and finally, they idolized their emperors. Neither these emperors nor the god Peditum, the goddess Pertunda, nor Priapus, nor Rumilia, the goddess of nipples; nor Stercutius, the god of the privy96, were, in truth, regarded as the masters of heaven and earth. The emperors had sometimes temples, the petty gods — the penates — had none; but all had their representations, their images.
There were little images with which they ornamented97 their closets, the amusements of old women and children, which were not authorized98 by any public worship. The superstition99 of every individual was left to act according to his own taste. These small idols are still found in the ruins of ancient towns.
If no person knows when men began to make these images, they must know that they are of the greatest antiquity. Terah, the father of Abraham, made them at Ur in Chald?a. Rachel stole and carried off the images of Laban, her father. We cannot go back further.
But what precise notion had the ancient nations of all these representations? What virtue, what power, was attributed to them? Believed they that the gods descended100 from heaven to conceal101 themselves in these statues; or that they communicated to them a part of the divine spirit; or that they communicated to them nothing at all? There has been much very uselessly written on this subject; it is clear that every man judged of it according to the degree of his reason, credulity, or fanaticism102. It is evident that the priests attached as much divinity to their statues as they possibly could, to attract more offerings. We know that the philosophers reproved these superstitions103, that warriors104 laughed at them, that the magistrates105 tolerated them, and that the people, always absurd, knew not what they did. In a word, this is the history of all nations to which God has not made himself known.
The same idea may be formed of the worship which all Egypt rendered to the cow, and that several towns paid to a dog, an ape, a cat, and to onions. It appears that these were first emblems106. Afterwards, a certain ox Apis, and a certain dog Anubis, were adored; they always ate beef and onions; but it is difficult to know what the old women of Egypt thought of the holy cows and onions.
Idols also often spoke107. On the day of the feast of Cybele at Rome, those fine words were commemorated108 which the statue pronounced when it was translated from the palace of King Attilus: “I wish to depart; take me away quickly; Rome is worthy109 the residence of every god.”
Ipsa peti volui; ne sit mora, mitte volentum;
Dignus Roma locus110 quo Deus omnis eat.
— Ovid’s Fasti, iv, 269-270.
The statue of Fortune spoke; the Scipios, the Ciceros, and the C?sars, indeed, believed nothing of it; but the old woman, to whom Encolpus gave a crown to buy geese and gods, might credit it.
Idols also gave oracles, and priests hidden in the hollow of the statues spoke in the name of the divinity.
How happens it, in the midst of so many gods and different theogonies and particular worships, that there was never any religious war among the people called idolaters? This peace was a good produced from an evil, even from error; for each nation, acknowledging several inferior gods, found it good for his neighbors also to have theirs. If you except Cambyses, who is reproached with having killed the ox Apis, you will not see any conqueror41 in profane111 history who ill-treated the gods of a vanquished112 people. The heathens had no exclusive religion, and the priests thought only of multiplying the offerings and sacrifices.
The first offerings were fruits. Soon after, animals were required for the table of the priests; they killed them themselves, and became cruel butchers; finally, they introduced the horrible custom of sacrificing human victims, and above all, children and young girls. The Chinese, Parsees, and Indians, were never guilty of these abominations; but at Hieropolis, in Egypt, according to Porphyrius, they immolated113 men.
Strangers were sacrificed at Taurida: happily, the priests of Taurida had not much practice. The first Greeks, the Cypriots, Ph?nicians, Tyrians, and Carthaginians, possessed115 this abominable116 superstition. The Romans themselves fell into this religious crime; and Plutarch relates, that they immolated two Greeks and two Gauls to expiate117 the gallantries of three vestals. Procopius, contemporary with the king of the Franks, Theodobert, says that the Franks sacrificed men when they entered Italy with that prince. The Gauls and Germans commonly made these frightful118 sacrifices. We can scarcely read history without conceiving horror at mankind.
It is true that among the Jews, Jeptha sacrificed his daughter, and Saul was ready to immolate114 his son; it is also true that those who were devoted to the Lord by anathema119 could not be redeemed120, as other beasts were, but were doomed121 to perish.
We will now speak of the human victims sacrificed in all religions.
To console mankind for the horrible picture of these pious122 sacrifices, it is important to know, that amongst almost all nations called idolatrous, there have been holy theologies and popular error, secret worship and public ceremonies; the religion of sages57, and that of the vulgar. To know that one God alone was taught to those initiated123 into the mysteries, it is only necessary to look at the hymn124 attributed to the ancient Orpheus, which was sung in the mysteries of the Eleusinian Ceres, so celebrated125 in Europe and Asia: “Contemplate divine nature; illuminate126 thy mind; govern thy heart; walk in the path of justice, that the God of heaven and earth may be always present to thy eyes: He only self-exists, all beings derive3 their existence from Him; He sustains them all; He has never been seen by mortals, and He sees all things.”
We may also read the passage of the philosopher Maximus, whom we have already quoted: “What man is so gross and stupid as to doubt that there is a supreme, eternal, and infinite God, who has engendered nothing like Himself, and who is the common father of all things?”
There are a thousand proofs that the ancient sages not only abhorred127 idolatry, but polytheism.
Epictetus, that model of resignation and patience, that man so great in a humble128 condition, never speaks of but one God. Read over these maxims129: “God has created me; God is within me; I carry Him everywhere. Can I defile130 Him by obscene thoughts, unjust actions, or infamous131 desires? My duty is to thank God for all, to praise Him for all; and only to cease blessing19 Him in ceasing to live.” All the ideas of Epictetus turn on this principle. Is this an idolater?
Marcus Aurelius, perhaps as great on the throne of the Roman Empire as Epictetus was in slavery, often speaks, indeed, of the gods, either to conform himself to the received language, or to express intermediate beings between the Supreme Being and men; but in how many places does he show that he recognizes one eternal, infinite God alone? “Our soul,” says he, “is an emanation from the divinity. My children, my body, my mind, are derived from God.”
The Stoics132 and Platonics admitted a divine and universal nature; the Epicureans denied it. The pontiffs spoke only of a single God in their mysteries. Where then were the idolaters? All our declaimers exclaim against idolatry like little dogs, that yelp133 when they hear a great one bark.
As to the rest, it is one of the greatest errors of the “Dictionary” of Moreri to say, that in the time of Theodosius the younger, there remained no idolaters except in the retired134 countries of Asia and Africa. Even in the seventh century there were many people still heathen in Italy. The north of Germany, from the Weser, was not Christian in the time of Charlemagne. Poland and all the south remained a long time after him in what was called idolatry; the half of Africa, all the kingdoms beyond the Ganges, Japan, the populace of China, and a hundred hordes135 of Tartars, have preserved their ancient religion. In Europe there are only a few Laplanders, Samoyedes, and Tartars, who have persevered136 in the religion of their ancestors.
Let us conclude with remarking, that in the time which we call the middle ages, we dominated the country of the Mahometans pagan; we treated as idolaters and adorers of images, a people who hold all images in abhorrence137. Let us once more avow138, that the Turks are more excusable in believing us idolaters, when they see our altars loaded with images and statues.
A gentleman belonging to Prince Ragotski assured me upon his honor, that being in a coffee-house at Constantinople, the mistress ordered that he should not be served because he was an idolater. He was a Protestant, and swore to her that he adored neither host nor images. “Ah! if that is the case,” said the woman, “come to me every day, and you shall be served for nothing.”
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idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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fig
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| n.无花果(树) | |
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revere
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| vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏 | |
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formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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idols
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| 偶像( idol的名词复数 )； 受崇拜的人或物； 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物； 神像 | |
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veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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panegyric
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| n.颂词，颂扬 | |
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pro
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| n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者 | |
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venerated
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| 敬重（某人或某事物），崇敬( venerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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incense
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| v.激怒；n.香，焚香时的烟，香气 | |
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consecrated
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| adj.神圣的，被视为神圣的v.把…奉为神圣，给…祝圣( consecrate的过去式和过去分词 )；奉献 | |
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consecrate
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| v.使圣化，奉…为神圣；尊崇；奉献 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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promenade
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| n./v.散步 | |
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sculptors
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| 雕刻家，雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 )； [天]玉夫座 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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26
condescend
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| v.俯就，屈尊；堕落，丢丑 | |
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27
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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diffuse
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| v.扩散；传播；adj.冗长的；四散的，弥漫的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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30
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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31
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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32
imputation
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| n.归罪，责难 | |
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33
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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34
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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35
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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36
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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37
solicit
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| vi.勾引；乞求；vt.请求，乞求；招揽(生意) | |
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38
augment
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| vt.(使)增大，增加，增长，扩张 | |
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39
apotheoses
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| n.尊为神圣( apotheosis的名词复数 )；神化；美化；颂扬 | |
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40
conquerors
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| 征服者，占领者( conqueror的名词复数 ) | |
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41
conqueror
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| n.征服者，胜利者 | |
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42
infinitely
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| adv.无限地，无穷地 | |
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43
virtuous
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| adj.有品德的，善良的，贞洁的，有效力的 | |
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44
philosophical
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| adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的 | |
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45
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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46
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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47
commentator
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| n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员 | |
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48
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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49
cistern
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| n.贮水池 | |
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50
vilest
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| adj.卑鄙的( vile的最高级 )；可耻的；极坏的；非常讨厌的 | |
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51
revered
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| v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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52
allude
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| v.提及，暗指 | |
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53
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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54
martial
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| adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的 | |
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55
effigies
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| n.（人的）雕像，模拟像，肖像( effigy的名词复数 ) | |
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56
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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57
sages
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| n.圣人( sage的名词复数 )；智者；哲人；鼠尾草（可用作调料） | |
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58
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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59
oracles
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| 神示所( oracle的名词复数 )； 神谕； 圣贤； 哲人 | |
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60
antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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61
miraculous
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| adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的 | |
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62
profess
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| v.声称，冒称，以...为业，正式接受入教，表明信仰 | |
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63
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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controverted
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| v.争论，反驳，否定( controvert的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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67
Neptune
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| n.海王星 | |
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68
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
lavished
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| v.过分给予，滥施( lavish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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injustice
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| n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利 | |
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71
rendering
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| n.表现，描写 | |
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72
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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73
avenger
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| n. 复仇者 | |
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74
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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75
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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76
mosques
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| 清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 ) | |
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77
dedicated
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| adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的 | |
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78
invincible
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| adj.不可征服的，难以制服的 | |
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79
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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80
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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81
chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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82
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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83
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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84
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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85
hieroglyphics
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| n.pl.象形文字 | |
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86
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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87
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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88
deigns
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的第三人称单数 ) | |
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89
celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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90
sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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91
cherubs
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| 小天使，胖娃娃( cherub的名词复数 ) | |
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92
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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93
deigned
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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94
sapphire
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| n.青玉，蓝宝石；adj.天蓝色的 | |
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95
Pluto
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| n.冥王星 | |
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96
privy
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| adj.私用的；隐密的 | |
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97
ornamented
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| adj.花式字体的v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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98
authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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99
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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100
descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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101
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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102
fanaticism
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| n.狂热，盲信 | |
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103
superstitions
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| 迷信，迷信行为( superstition的名词复数 ) | |
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104
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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105
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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106
emblems
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| n.象征，标记( emblem的名词复数 ) | |
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107
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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108
commemorated
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| v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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109
worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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110
locus
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| n.中心 | |
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111
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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112
vanquished
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| v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制 | |
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113
immolated
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| v.宰杀…作祭品( immolate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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114
immolate
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| v.牺牲 | |
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115
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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116
abominable
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| adj.可厌的，令人憎恶的 | |
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117
expiate
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| v.抵补，赎罪 | |
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118
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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119
anathema
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| n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物) | |
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120
redeemed
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| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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121
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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122
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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123
initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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124
hymn
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌 | |
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125
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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126
illuminate
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| vt.照亮，照明；用灯光装饰；说明，阐释 | |
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127
abhorred
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| v.憎恶( abhor的过去式和过去分词 )；（厌恶地）回避；拒绝；淘汰 | |
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128
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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129
maxims
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| n.格言，座右铭( maxim的名词复数 ) | |
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130
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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131
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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132
stoics
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| 禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 ) | |
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133
yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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134
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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135
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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136
persevered
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| v.坚忍，坚持( persevere的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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137
abhorrence
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| n.憎恶；可憎恶的事 | |
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138
avow
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| v.承认，公开宣称 | |
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