NONES
In which justice is meted1 out, and there is the embarrassing impression that everyone is wrong.
Bernard Gui took his place at the center of the great walnut2 table in the chapter hall. Beside him a Dominican performed the function of notary3, and two prelates of the papal legation sat flanking him, as judges. The cellarer was standing4 before the table, between two archers5.
The abbot turned to William and whispered: “I do not know whether this procedure is legitimate7. The Lateran Council of 1215 decreed in its Canon Thirty-?seven that a person cannot be summoned to appear before judges whose seat is more than two days’ march from his domicile. Here the situation is perhaps different; it is the judge who has come from a great distance, but ...”
“The inquisitor is exempt8 from all normal jurisdiction,” William said, “and does not have to follow the precepts9 of ordinary law. He enjoys a special privilege and is not even bound to hear lawyers.”
I looked at the cellarer. Remigio was in wretched shape. He looked around like a frightened animal, as if he recognized the movements and gestures of a liturgy11 he feared. Now I know he was afraid for two reasons, equally terrifying: one, that he had been caught, to all appearances, in flagrant crime; the other, that the day before, when Bernard had begun his inquiry12, collecting rumors13 and insinuations, Remigio had already been afraid his past would come to light; and his alarm had grown when he saw them arrest Salvatore.
If the hapless Remigio was in the grip ;of his own fear, Bernard Gui, for his part, knew how to transform his victims’ fear into terror. He did not speak: while all were now expecting him to begin the interrogation, he kept his hands on the papers he had before him, pretending to arrange them, but absently. His gaze was really fixed14 on the accused, and it was a gaze in which hypocritical indulgence (as if to say: Never fear, you are in the hands of a fraternal assembly that can only want your good) mixed with icy irony15 (as if to say: You do not yet know what your good is, and I will shortly tell you) and merciless severity (as if to say: But in any case I am your judge here, and you are in my power). All things that the cellarer already knew, but which the judge’s silence and delay served to make him feel more deeply, so that, as he became more and more humiliated16, his uneasiness would be transformed into desperation instead of relaxation17, and he would belong entirely18 to the judge, soft wax in his hands.
Finally Bernard broke the silence. He uttered some ritual formulas, told the judges they would now pro6?ceed to the interrogation of the defendant19 with regard to two equally odious20 crimes, one of which was obvious to all but less deplorable than the other, because the defendant had been surprised in the act of murder when he was actually being sought for the crime of heresy21.
It was said. The cellarer hid his face in his hands, which he could move only with difficulty because they were bound in chains. Bernard began the questioning.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Remigio of Varagine. I was born fifty-two years ago, and while still a boy, I entered the convent of the Minorites in Varagine.”
“And how does it happen that today you are found in the order of Saint Benedict?”
“Years ago, when the Pope issued the bull Sancta Romana, because I was afraid of being infected by the heresy of the Fraticelli … though I had never shared their notions ... I thought it was better for my sinning soul to escape an atmosphere filled with seductions, and I applied22 and was received among the monks24 of this abbey, where for more than eight years I have served as cellarer.”
“You escaped the seductions of heresy,” Bernard mocked, “or, rather, you escaped the investigation26 of those who had determined27 to discover the heresy and uproot28 it, and the good Cluniac monks believed they were performing an act of charity in receiving you and those like you. But changing habit is not enough to erase29 from the soul the evil of heretical depravity, and so we are here now to find out what lurks30 in the recesses31 of your impenitent32 soul and what you did before arriving at this holy place.”
“My soul is innocent and I do not know what you mean when you speak of heretical depravity,” the cellar?er said cautiously.
“You see?” Bernard cried, addressing the other judges. “They’re all alike! When one of them is arrested, he faces judgment33 as if his conscience were at peace and without remorse34. And they do not realize this is the most obvious sign of their guilt35, because a righteous man on trial is uneasy! Ask him whether he knows the reason why I had ordered his arrest. Do you know it, Remigio?”
“My lord,” the cellarer replied, “I would be happy to learn it from your lips.”
I was surprised, because it seemed to me the cellarer was answering the ritual questions with equally ritual words, as if he were well versed36 in the rules of the investigation and its pitfalls37 and had long been trained to face such an eventuality.
“There,” Bernard cried, “the typical reply of the impenitent heretic! They cover trails like foxes and it is very difficult to catch them out, because their beliefs grant them the right to lie in order to evade38 due punishment. They recur39 to tortuous40 answers, trying to trap the inquisitor, who already has to endure contact with such loathsome41 people. So then, Remigio, you have never had anything to do with the so-called Fraticelli or Friars of the Poor Life, or the Beghards?”
“I experienced the vicissitudes42 of the Minorites when there was long debate about poverty, but I have never belonged to the sect43 of the Beghards!”
“You see?” Bernard said. “He denies ever having been a Beghard, because the Beghards, though they share the heresy of the Fraticelli, consider the latter a dead branch of the Franciscan order and consider themselves more pure and perfect. But much of the behavior of one group is like that of the others. Can you deny, Remigio, that you have been seen in church, huddled44 down with your face against the wall, or pros45?trate with your hood46 over your head, instead of kneel?ing with folded hands like other men?”
“Also in the order of Saint Benedict the monks pros?trate themselves, at the proper times. …”
“I am not asking what you did at the proper times, but at the improper47 ones! So do not deny that you assumed one posture48 or the other, typical of the Beghards! But you are not a Beghard, you say. ... Tell me, then: what do you believe?”
“My lord, I believe everything a good Christian49 should. ...”
“A holy reply! And what does a good Christian believe?”
“What the holy church teaches.”
“And which holy church? The church that is so considered by those believers who call themselves perfect, the Pseudo Apostles, the heretical Fraticelli, or the church they compare to the whore of Babylon, in which all of us devoutly50 believe?”
“My lord,” the cellarer said, bewildered, “tell me which you believe is the true church. ...”
“I believe it is the Roman church, one, holy, and apostolic, governed by the Pope and his bishops51.”
“So I believe,” the cellarer said.
“Admirable shrewdness!” the inquisitor cried. “Admir?able cleverness de dicto! You all heard him: he means to say he believes that I believe in this church, and he evades the requirement of saying what he believes in! But we know well these weasel tricks! Let us come to the point. Do you believe that the sacraments were instituted by our Lord, that to do true penance53 you must confess to the servants of God, that the Roman church has the power to loosen and to bind54 on this earth that which will be bound and loosened in heaven?”
“Should I not believe that?”
“I did not ask what you should believe, but what you do believe!”
“I believe everything that you and the other good doctors command me to believe,” the frightened cellar?er said.
“Ah! But are not the good doctors you mention perhaps those who command your sect? Is this what you meant when you spoke55 of the good doctors? Are these perverse56 liars57 the men you follow in recognizing your articles of faith? You imply that if I believe what they believe, then you will believe me; otherwise you will believe only them!”
“I did not say that, my lord,” the cellarer stammered58. “You are making me say it. I believe you, if you teach me what is good.”
“Oh, what impudence59!” Bernard shouted, slamming his fist on the table. “You repeat from memory with grim obstinacy60 the formula they teach in your sect. You say you will believe me only if I preach what your sect considers good. Thus the Pseudo Apostles have always answered and thus you answer now, perhaps without realizing it, because from your lips again the words emerge that you were once trained for deceiving inquisitors. And so you are accusing yourself with your own words, and I would fall into your trap only if I had not had a long experience of inquisition. ... But let us come to the real question, perverse man! Have you ever heard of Gherardo Segarelli of Parma?”
“I have heard him spoken of,” the cellarer said, turning pale,, if one could still speak of pallor on that destroyed face.
“Have you ever heard of Fra Dolcino of Novara?”
“I have heard him spoken of.”
“Have you ever seen him in person and had conversa?tion with him?”
The cellarer remained silent for a few moments, as if to gauge61 how far he should go in telling a part of the truth. Then he made up his mind and said’ in a faint voice, “I have seen him and spoken with him.”
“Louder!” Bernard shouted. “Let a word of truth finally be heard escaping your lips! When did you speak with him?”
“My lord,” the cellarer said, “I was a monk23 in a convent near Novara when Dolcino’s people gathered in those parts, and they even went past my convent, and at first no one knew clearly who they were. ...”
“You lie! How could a Franciscan of Varagine be in a convent in the Novara region? You were not in a convent, you were already a member of a band of Fraticelli roaming around those lands and living on alms, and then you joined the Dolcinians!”
“How can you assert that, sir?” the cellarer asked, trembling.
“I will tell you how I can, indeed I must, assert it,” Bernard said, and he ordered Salvatore to be brought in.
The sight of the wretch10, who had certainly spent the night under his own interrogation, not public and more severe than this one, moved me to pity. Salvatore’s face, as I have said, was horrible normally, but that morning it was more bestial62 than ever. And though it showed no signs of violence, the way his chained body moved, the limbs disjointed, almost incapable63 of walking, the way he was dragged by the archers like a monkey tied to a rope, revealed very clearly how his ghastly questioning must have proceeded.
“Bernard has tortured him ...” I murmured to William.
“Not at all,” William answered. “An inquisitor never tortures. The custody64 of the defendant’s body is always entrusted65 to the secular66 arm.”
“But it’s the same thing!” I said.
“Not in the least. It isn’t the same thing for the inquisitor, whose hands remain clean, or for the accused, who, when the inquisitor arrives, suddenly finds sup?port in him, an easing of his sufferings, and so he opens his heart.”
I looked at my master. “You’re jesting,” I said, aghast.
“Do these seem things to jest about?” William replied.
Bernard was now questioning Salvatore, and my pen cannot transcribe67 the man’s broken words—if it were possible, more Babelish than ever, as he answered, unmanned, reduced to the state of a baboon68, while all understood him only with difficulty. Guided by Bernard, who asked the questions in such a way that he could reply only yes or no, Salvatore was unable to tell any lies. And what Salvatore said my reader can easily imagine. He told, or confirmed that he had told during the night, a part of that story I had already pieced together: his wanderings as a Fraticello, Shepherd, and Pseudo Apostle; and how in the days of Fra Dolcino he met Remigio among the Dolcinians and escaped with him, following the Battle of Monte Rebello, taking refuge after various ups and downs in the Casale convent. Further, he added that the heresiarch Dolcino, near defeat and capture, had entrusted to Remigio certain letters, to be carried he did not know where or to whom. And Remigio always carried those letters with him, never daring to deliver them, and on his arrival at the abbey, afraid of keeping them on his person but not wanting to destroy them, he entrusted them to the librarian, yes, to Malachi, who was to hide them some?where in the recesses of the Aedificium.
As Salvatore spoke, the cellarer was looking at him with hatred69, and at a certain point he could not restrain himself from shouting, “Snake, lascivious70 monkey, I was your father, friend, shield, and this is how you repay me!”
Salvatore looked at his protector, now in need of protection, and answered, with an effort, “Lord Remigio, while I could be, I was your man. And you were to me dilectissimo. But you know the chief constable’s family. Qui non habet caballum vadat cum pede. …”
“Madman!” Remigio shouted at him again. “Are you hoping to save yourself? You, too, will die as a heretic, you know? Say that you spoke under torture; say you invented it all!”
“What do I know, lord, what all these heresias are called. ... Patarini, gazzesi, leoniste, arnaldiste, speroniste, circoncisi ... I am not homo literatus. I sinned with no malicia, and Signor Bernardo Magnificentissimo knows it, and I am hoping in his indulgencia in nomine patre et filio et spiritis sanctis …”
“We shall be indulgent insofar as our office allows,” the inquisitor said, “and we shall consider with paternal71 benevolence72 the good will with which you have opened your spirit. Go now, go and meditate73 further in your cell, and trust in the mercy of the Lord. Now we must debate a question of quite different import. So, then, Remigio, you were carrying with you some letters from Dolcino, and you gave them to your brother monk who is responsible for the library. ...”
“That is not true, not true!” the cellarer cried, as if such a defense75 could still be effective. And, rightly, Bernard interrupted him: “But you are not the one who must confirm this: it is Malachi of Hildesheim.”
He had the librarian called, but Malachi was not among those present. I knew he was either in the scriptorium or near the infirmary, seeking Benno and the book. They went to fetch him, and when he appeared, distraught, trying to look no one in the face, William muttered with dismay, “And now Benno is free to do what he pleases.” But he was mistaken, because I saw Benno’s face peep up over the shoulders of the other monks crowding around the door of the hall, to follow the interrogation. I pointed76 him out to William. We thought that Benno’s curiosity about what was happen?ing was even stronger than his curiosity about the book. Later we learned that, by then, he had already conclud?ed an ignoble77 bargain of his own.
Malachi appeared before the judges, his eyes never meeting those of the cellarer.
“Malachi,” Bernard said, “this morning, after Salvatore’s confession78 during the night, I asked you whether you had received from the defendant here present any letters. ...”
“Malachi!” the cellarer cried. “You swore you would do nothing to harm me!”
Malachi shifted slightly toward the defendant, to whom his back was turned, and said in a low voice, which I could barely hear, “I did not swear falsely. If I could have done anything to harm you, it was done already. The letters were handed over to Lord Bernard this morning, before you killed Severinus. ...”
“But you know, you must know. I didn’t kill Severinus! You know because you were there before me!”
“I?” Malachi asked. “I went in there after they discovered you.”
“Be that as it may,” Bernard interrupted, “what were you looking for in Severinus’s laboratory, Remigio?”
The cellarer turned to William with dazed eyes, then looked at Malachi, then at Bernard again. “But this morning I ... I heard Brother William here present tell Severinus to guard certain papers ... and since last night, since Salvatore was captured, I have been afraid those letters—”
“Then you know something about those letters!” Bernard cried triumphantly79. The cellarer at this point was trapped. He was caught between two necessities: to clear himself of the accusation80 of heresy, and to dispel81 the suspicion of murder. He must have decided82 to face the second accusation—instinctively, because by now he was acting83 by no rule, and without counsel. “I will talk about the letters later. ... I will explain ... I will tell how they came into my possession. ... But let me tell what happened this morning. I thought there would be talk of those letters when I saw Salvatore fall into the hands of Lord Bernard; for years the memory of those letters has been tormenting84 my heart ... Then when I heard William and Severinus speaking of some papers ... I cannot say ... overcome with fear, I thought Malachi had got rid of them and given them to Severinus. ... I wanted to destroy them and so I went to Severinus. ... The door was open and Severinus was already dead, I started searching through his things for the letters. ... I was just afraid. ...”
William whispered into my ear, “Poor fool, fearing one danger, he has plunged85 headlong into another. ...”
“Let us assume that you are telling almost—I say, almost—the truth,” Bernard intervened. “You thought Severinus had the letters and you looked for them in his laboratory. And why did you think he had them? Why did you first kill the other brothers? Did you perhaps think those letters had for some time been passing through many hands? Is it perhaps customary in this abbey to gather relics86 of burned heretics?”
I saw the abbot start. Nothing could be more insidi?ous than an accusation of collecting relics of heretics, and Bernard was very sly in mixing the murders with heresy, and every thing with the life of the abbey. I was interrupted in my reflections by the cellarer, who was shouting that he had nothing to do with the other crimes. Bernard indulgently calmed him: this, for the moment, was not the question they were discussing, Remigio was being interrogated87 for a crime of heresy, and he should not attempt (and here Bernard’s voice became stern) to draw attention away from his heretical past by speaking of Severinus or trying to cast suspicion on Malachi. So he should therefore return to the letters.
“Malachi of Hildesheim,” he said, addressing the witness. “You are not here as a defendant. This morn?ing you answered my questions and my request with no attempt to hide anything. Now you will repeat here what you said to me this morning, and you will have nothing to fear.”
“I repeat what I said this morning,” Malachi said. “A short time after Remigio arrived up here, he began to take charge of the kitchen, and we met frequently for reasons connected with our duties—as librarian, I am charged with shutting up the whole Aedificium at night, and therefore also the kitchen. I have no reason to deny that we became close friends, nor had I any reason to harbor suspicions of this man. He told me that he had with him some documents of a secret nature, entrusted to him in confession, which should not fall into profane88 hands and which he dared not keep himself. Since I was in charge of the only part of the monastery89 forbidden to all the others, he asked me to keep those papers, far from any curious gaze, and I consented, never suspecting the documents were of a heretical nature, nor did I even read them as I placed them … I placed them in the most inaccessible90 of the secret rooms of the library, and after that I forgot this matter, until this morning, when the lord inquisitor mentioned the papers to me, and then I fetched them and handed them over to him. ...”
The abbot, frowning, took the floor. “Why did you not inform me of this agreement of yours with the cellarer? The library is not intended to house things belonging to the monks!” The abbot had made it clear that the abbey had no connection with this business.
“My lord,” Malachi answered, confused, “it seemed to me a thing of scarce importance. I sinned without malice91.”
“Of course, of course,” Bernard said, in a cordial tone, “we are all convinced the librarian acted in good faith, and his frankness in collaborating92 with this court is proof. I fraternally beg Your Magnificence not to chastise93 him for this imprudent act of the past. We believe Malachi. And we ask him only to confirm now, under oath, that the papers I will now show him are those he gave me this morning and are those that Remigio of Varagine consigned94 to him years ago, after his arrival at the abbey.” He displayed two parchments among the papers lying on the table. Malachi looked at them and said in a firm voice, “I swear by God the Father Almighty95, by the most holy Virgin96, and by all the saints that so it is and so it was.”
“That is enough for me,” Bernard said. “You may go, Malachi of Hildesheim.”
Just before Malachi reached the door, his head bowed, a voice was heard from the curious crowd packed at the rear of the hall: “You hid his letters and he showed you the novices’ asses97 in the kitchen!” There was some scattered98 laughter, and Malachi hurried out, pushing others aside left and right. I could have sworn the voice was Aymaro’s, but the words had been shouted in falsetto. The abbot, his face purple, shouted for silence and threatened terrible punishments for all, command?ing the monks to clear the hall. Bernard smiled treacherously99; Cardinal100 Bertrand, at one side of the hall, bent101 to the ear of Jean d’Anneaux and said something to him. The other man reacted by covering his mouth with his hand and bowing his head as if he were coughing. William said to me, “The cellarer was not only a carnal sinner for his own purposes; he also acted as procurer. But Bernard cares nothing about that, except that it embarrasses Abo, the imperial mediator102. …”
He was interrupted by Bernard, who now spoke straight to him. “I would also be interested to know from you, Brother William, what papers you were talking about this morning with Severinus, when the cellarer overheard you and misunderstood.”
William returned his gaze. “He did misunderstand me, in fact. We were referring to a copy of the treatise103 on canine104 hydrophobia by Ayyub al-Ruhawi, a remarka?bly erudite book that you must surely know of by reputation, and which must often have been of great use to you. Hydrophobia, Ayyub says, may be recog?nized by twenty-five evident signs. ...”
Bernard, who belonged to the order of the Dominicans, the Domini canes105, the Lord’s dogs, did not consider it opportune106 to start another battle. “So the matters were extraneous107 to the case under discussion,” he said rapidly. And the trial continued.
“Let us come back to you, Brother Remigio, Minorite, far more dangerous than a hydrophobic dog. If Broth74?er William in these past few days had paid more atten?tion to the drool of heretics than to that of dogs, perhaps he would also have discovered what a viper108 was nesting in the abbey. Let us go back to these letters. Now, we know for certain that they were in your hands and that you took care to hide them as if they were a most poisonous thing, and that you actually killed”—?with a gesture he forestalled109 an attempt at denial?—“and of the killing110 we will speak later ... that you killed, I was saying, so that I would never have them. So you recognize these papers as your possessions?”
The cellarer did not answer, but his silence was sufficiently111 eloquent112. So Bernard insisted: “And what are these papers? They are two pages written in the hand of the heresiarch Dolcino, a few days before his capture. He entrusted them to a disciple113 who would take them to others of his sect still scattered about Italy. I could read you everything said in them, how Dolcino, fearing his imminent114 end, entrusts115 a message of hope—he says to his brethren—in the Devil! He consoles them, and though the dates he announces here do not coincide with those of his previous letters, when for the year 1305 he promised the complete destruction of all priests at the hand of the Emperor Frederick, still, he declares, this destruction was not far off. Once again the heresiarch was lying, because twenty and more years have gone by since that day, and none of his sinful predictions has come true. But it is not the ridiculous presumption116 of these prophecies that we must discuss but, rather, the fact that Remigio was their bearer. Can you still deny, heretical and impenitent monk, that you had traffic and cohabitation with the sect of the Pseudo Apostles?”
The cellarer at this point could deny no longer. “My lord,” he said, “my youth was filled with the direst errors. When I learned of the preaching of Dolcino, already seduced117 as I was by the Friars of the Poor Life, I believed in his words and I joined his band. Yes, it is true, I was with them in the regions of Brescia and Bergamo, I was with them at Como and in Valsesia, with them I took refuge on Bald Mountain and in the Rassa Valley, and finally on Monte Rebello. But I never took part in any evil deed, and when they began their sacking and their violence, I still maintained within me the spirit of meekness118 that was the quality of the sons of Francis, and on Monte Rebello itself I told Dolcino I no longer felt capable of participating in their battle, and he gave me permission to leave, because, he said, he did not want cowards with him, and he asked me only to take those letters for him to Bologna. ...”
“To whom?” Cardinal Bertrand asked.
“To some sectarians of his, whose names I believe I can remember, and when I remember them, I will tell them to you, my lord,” Remigio hastily affirmed. And he uttered the names of some men that Cardinal Bertrand seemed to know, because he smiled with a contented119 look, exchanging a nod of approval with Bernard.
“Very well,” Bernard said, and he made a note of those names. Then he asked Remigio, “And why are you now handing your friends over to us?”
“They are not friends of mine, my lord, and the proof is that I never delivered the letters. Indeed, I went further, and I will say it now after having tried to forget it for so many years: in order to leave that place without being seized by the Bishop52 of Vercelli’s army, which was awaiting us on the plain, I managed to get in touch with some of his men, and in exchange for a safe-conduct I told them the passages that were good for attacking Dolcino’s fortifications, so that the success of the church’s troops was in part due to my collabora?tion. …”
“Very interesting. This tells us that you were not only a heretic, but also a coward and a traitor120. Which does not alter your situation. just as today you tried to save yourself by accusing Malachi, who had done you a favor, so, then, to save yourself you handed your com?panions in sin over to the forces of law. But you betrayed their bodies, never their teachings, and you kept those letters as relics, hoping one day to have the courage, and the opportunity without running any risks, to deliver them, to win again the favor of the Pseudo Apostles.”
“No, my lord, no,” the cellarer said, covered with sweat, his hands shaking. “No, I swear to you that ...”
“An oath!” Bernard said. “Here is another proof of your guile121! You want to swear because you know that I know how Waldensian heretics are prepared to use any duplicity, and even to suffer death, rather than swear! And if fear overcomes them, they pretend to swear and mutter false oaths! But I am well aware you do not belong to the sect of the Poor of Lyons, you wicked fox, and you are trying to convince me you are not what you are not so I will not say you are what you are! You swear, do you? You swear, hoping to be absolved122, but I tell you this: a single oath is not enough for me! I can require one, two, three, a hundred, as many as I choose. I know very well that you Pseudo Apostles grant dispensations to those who swear false oaths rather than betray the sect. And so every oath will be further proof of your guilt!”
“But what must I do, then?” the cellarer shouted, falling to his knees.
“Do not prostrate123 yourself like a Beghard! You must do nothing. At this point, only I know what must be done,” Bernard said, with a terrible smile. “You must only confess. And you will be damned and condemned124 if you confess, and damned and condemned if you do not confess, because you will be punished as a perjurer125! So confess, then, if only to shorten this most painful interrogation, which distresses126 our consciences and our sense of meekness and compassion127!”
“But what must I confess?”
“Two orders of sins: That you were in the sect of Dolcino, that you shared, its heretical notions, and its actions and its offenses128 to the dignity of the bishops and the city magistrates130, that you impenitently131 continue in those lies and illusions, even though the heresiarch is dead and the sect has been dispersed132, though not entirely extirpated133 and destroyed. And that, corrupted134 in your innermost spirit by the practices learned among the foul135 sect, you are guilty of the disorders136 against God and man perpetrated in this abbey, for reasons that still elude137 me but which need not even be totally clarified, once it has been luminously138 demonstrated (as we are doing) that the heresy of those who preached and preach poverty, against the teachings of the lord Pope and his bulls, can only lead to criminal acts. This is what the faithful must learn, and this will be enough for me. Confess.”
What Bernard wanted was clear. Without the slightest interest in knowing who had killed the other monks, he wanted only to show that Remigio somehow shared the ideas propounded139 by the Emperor’s theologians. And once he had shown the connection between those ideas, which were also those of the chapter of Perugia, and the ideas of the Fraticelli and the Dolcinians, and had shown that one man in that abbey subscribed140 to all those heresies141 and had been the author of many crimes, he would thus have dealt a truly mortal blow to his adversaries142. I looked at William and saw that he had understood but could do nothing, even though he had foreseen it all. I looked at the abbot and saw his face was grim: he was realizing, belatedly, that he, too, had been drawn143 into a trap, and that his own authority as mediator was crumbling144, now that he was going to appear to be lord of a place where all the evils of the century had chosen to assemble. As for the cellarer, by now he no longer knew of what crime he might still try to proclaim his innocence145. But perhaps at that moment he was incapable of any calculation; the cry that es?caped25 his throat was the cry of his soul, and in it and with it he was releasing years of long and secret remorse. Or, rather, after a life of uncertainties146, enthusiasms, and disappointments, cowardice147 and betrayal, faced with the ineluctability of his ruin, he decided to profess148 the faith of his youth, no longer asking himself whether it was right or wrong; but as if to prove to himself that he was capable of some faith.
“Yes, it is true,” he shouted, “I was with Dolcino, and I shared in his crimes, his license149; perhaps I was mad, I confused the love of our Lord Jesus Christ with the need for freedom and with hatred of bishops. It is true that I have sinned, but I am innocent of everything that has happened in the abbey, I swear!”
“For the present we have achieved something,” Bernard said, “since you admit having practiced the heresy of the Dolcinians, the witch Margaret, and her companions. Do you admit being with them near Trivero, when they hanged many faithful Christians150, including an innocent child of ten? And when they hanged other men in the presence of their wives and parents because they would not submit to the whim151 of those dogs? Because, by then, blinded by your fury and pride, you thought no one could be saved unless he belonged to your com?munity? Speak!”
“Yes, I believed those things and did those things!”
“And you were present when they captured some followers152 of the bishops and starved some to death in prison, and they cut off the arm and the hand of a woman with child, leaving her then to give birth to a baby who immediately died, unbaptized? And you were with them when they set fire and razed153 to the ground the villages of Mosso, Trivero, Cossila, and Clecchia, and many other localities in the zone of Crepacorio, and many houses of Mortiliano and Quorino, and they burned the church in Trivero after befouling the sacred images, tearing tombstones from the altars, breaking an arm of the statue of the Virgin, looting the chalices154 and vessels155 and books, destroying the spire156, shattering the bells, seizing all the vessels of the confraternity and the possessions of the priest?”
“Yes, yes, I was there, and none of us knew what we were doing by then, we wanted to herald157 the moment of punishment, we were the vanguard of the Emperor sent by heaven and the holy Pope, we were to hasten the descent of the angel of Philadelphia, when all would receive the grace of the Holy Spirit and the church would be renewed, and after the destruction of all the perverse, only the perfect would reign158!”
The cellarer seemed at once possessed159 and illuminated160, the dam of silence and simulation now seemed broken, his past was returning not only in words but also in images, and he was feeling again the emotions that at one time had exalted161 him.
“So,” Bernard resumed, “you confess that you have revered162 Gherardo Segarelli as a martyr163, that you have denied all power to the Roman church and declared that neither the Pope nor any authority could ordain164 for you a life different from the one your people led, that no one had the right to excommunicate you, that since the time of Saint Sylvester all the prelates of the church had been prevaricators and seducers except Peter of Morrone, that laymen165 are not required to pay tithes166 to priests who do not practice a condition of absolute perfection and poverty as the first apostles practiced, that tithes therefore should be paid to your sect alone, who are the only apostles and paupers167 of Christ, that to pray to God in a stable or in a consecrat?ed church is the same thing; you also confess that you went through villages and seduced people crying ‘Penitenziagite,’ that you treacherously sang the ‘Salve Regina’ to draw crowds, and you passed yourselves off as penitents168 leading a perfect life before the eyes of the world and then allowed yourselves every license and every lustfulness169 because you did not believe in the sacrament of matrimony or in any other sacrament, and, deeming yourselves purer than anyone else, you could allow yourselves every filthiness170 and every offense129 to your bodies and the bodies of others? Speak!”
“Yes, yes, I confess the true faith which I then be?lieved with my whole soul, I confess that we took off our garments in sign of renunciation, that we renounced172 all our belongings173 while you, race of dogs, will never renounce171 anything; and from that time on we never accepted money from anyone or carried any about our persons, and we lived on alms and we saved nothing for the morrow, and when they received us and set a table for us, we ate and went away, leaving on the table anything that remained. ...”
“And you burned and looted to seize the possessions of good Christians!”
“And we burned and looted because we had proclaimed poverty the universal law, and we had the right to appropriate the illegitimate riches of others, and we wanted to strike at the heart of the network of greed that extended from parish to parish, but we never looted in order to possess, or killed in order to loot; we killed to punish, to purify the impure174 through blood. Perhaps we were driven by an overweening. desire for justice: a man can sin also through overweening love of God, through superabundance of perfection. We were the true spiritual congregation sent by the Lord and destined175 for the glory of the last days; we sought our reward in paradise, hastening the time of your destruc?tion. We alone were the apostles of Christ, all the others had betrayed him, and Gherardo Segarelli had been a divine plant, planta Dei pullulans in radice fidei; our Rule came to us directly from God. We had to kill the innocent as well, in order to kill all of you more quickly. We wanted a better world, of peace and sweetness and happiness for all, we wanted to kill the war that you brought on with your greed, because you reproached us when, to establish justice and happiness, we had to shed a little blood. ... The fact is ... the fact is that it did not take much, the hastening, and it was worth turning the waters of the Carnasco red that day at Stavello, there was our own blood, too, we did not spare ourselves, our blood and your blood, much of it, at once, immediately, the times of Dolcino’s prophecy were at hand, we had to hasten the course of events. ...”
His whole body trembling, he rubbed his hands over his habit as if he wanted to cleanse176 them of the blood he was recalling. “The glutton177 has become pure again,” William said to me.
“But is this purity?” I asked, horrified178.
“There must be some other kind as well,” William said, “but, however it is, it always frightens me.”
“What terrifies you most in purity?” I asked.
“Haste,” William answered.
“Enough, enough,” Bernard was saying now. “We sought a confession from you, not a summons to massacre179. Very well, not only have you been a heretic: you are one still. Not only have you been a murderer: you have murdered again. Now tell us how you killed your brothers in this abbey, and why.”
The cellarer stopped trembling, looked around as if he were coming out of a dream. “No,” he said, “I have nothing to do with the crimes in the abbey. I have confessed everything I did: do not make me confess what I have not done. ...”
“But what remains180 that you cannot have done? Do you now say you are innocent? O lamb, O model of meekness! You have heard him: he once had his hands steeped in blood and now he is innocent! Perhaps we were mistaken, Remigio of Varagine is a paragon181 of virtue182, a loyal son of the church, an enemy of the enemies of Christ, he has always respected the order that the hand of the church has toiled183 to impose on villages and cities, the peace of trade, the craftsmen’s shops, the treasures of the churches. He is innocent, he has committed nothing. Here, come to my arms, Broth?er Remigio, that I may console you for the accusations184 that evil men have brought against you!” And as Remigio looked at him with dazed eyes, as if he were all of a sudden believing in a final absolution, Bernard re?sumed his demeanor185 and addressed the captain of the archers in a tone of command:
“It revolts me to have recourse to measures the church has always criticized when they are employed by the secular arm. But there is a law that governs and directs even my personal feelings. Ask the abbot to provide a place where the instruments of torture can be installed. But do not proceed at once. For three days let him remain in a cell, with his hands and feet in irons. Then have the instruments shown him. Only shown. And then, on the fourth day, proceed. justice is not inspired by haste, as the Pseudo Apostles believe, and the justice of God has centuries at its disposal. Proceed slowly, and by degrees. And, above all, remember what has been said again and again: avoid mutilations and the risk of death. One of the benefits this procedure grants the criminal is precisely186 that death be savored187 and expected, but it must not come before confession is full, and voluntary, and purifying.”
The archers bent to lift the cellarer, but he planted his feet on the ground and put up resistance, indicating he wanted to speak. Given leave, he spoke, but the words could hardly come from his mouth, and his speech was like a drunkard’s mumbling188, and there was something obscene about it. Only gradually did he regain189 that kind of savage190 energy that had marked his confession a moment before.
“No, my lord. No, not torture. I am a cowardly man. I betrayed then, I denied for eleven years in this monastery my past faith, collecting tithes from vine?dressers and peasants, inspecting stables and sties so that they would flourish and enrich the abbot; I have collaborated191 readily in the management of this estate of the Antichrist. And I was well off, I had forgotten my days of revolt, I wallowed in the pleasures of the palate and in others as well. I am a coward. Today I sold my former brothers of Bologna, then I sold Dolcino. And as a coward, disguised as one of the men of the crusade, I witnessed the capture of Dolcino and Margaret, when on Holy Saturday they were taken in the castle of Bugello. I wandered around Vercelli for three months until Pope Clement’s letter arrived with the death sentence. And I saw Margaret cut to pieces before Dolcino’s eyes, and she screamed, disemboweled as she was, poor body that I, too, had touched one night. ... And as her lacerated body was burning, they fell on Dolcino and pulled off his nose and his testicles with burning tongs192, and it is not true what they said afterward193, that he did not utter even a moan. Dolcino was tall and strong, he had a great devil’s beard and red hair that fell in curls to his shoulder blades, he was handsome and powerful when he led us, in his broad-brimmed hat with a plume194, with his sword girded over his habit. Dolcino made men fear and women cry out with pleasure. ... But when they tortured him he, too, cried, in pain, like a woman, like a calf195, he was bleeding from all his wounds as they carried him from one corner to another, and they continued to wound him slightly, to show how long an emissary of the Devil could live, and he wanted to die, he asked them to finish him, but he died too late, after he reached the pyre and was only a mass of bleeding flesh. I followed him and I congratu?lated myself on having escaped that trial, I was proud of my cleverness, and that rogue196 Salvatore was with me, and he said to me: How wise we were, Brother Remigio, to act like sensible men, there is nothing nastier than torture! I would have foresworn a thousand religions that day. And for years, many years, I have told myself how base I was, and how happy I was to be base, and yet I was always hoping that I could demonstrate to myself that I was not such a coward. Today you have given me this strength, Lord Bernard; you have been for me what the pagan emperors were for the most cowardly of the martyrs197. You have given me the cour?age to confess what I believe in my soul, as my body falls away from it. But do not demand too much courage of me, more than this mortal frame can bear. No, not torture. I will say whatever you want. Better the stake at once: you die of suffocation198 before you burn. Not torture, like Dolcino’s. No. You want a corpse199, and to have it you need me to assume the guilt for other corpses200. I will be a corpse soon in any case. And so I will give you what you want. I killed Adelmo of Otranto out of hatred for his youth and for his wit in taunting201 monsters like me, old, fat, squat202, and ignorant. I killed Venantius of Salvemec because he was too learned and read books I did not understand. I killed Berengar of Arundel out of hatred of his library, I, who studied theology by clubbing priests that were too fat. I killed Severinus of Sankt Wendel ... why? Because he gathered herbs, I, who was on Monte Rebello, where we ate herbs and grasses without wondering about their properties. In truth, I could also kill the others, includ?ing our abbot: with the Pope or with the empire, he still belongs to my enemies, and I have always hated him, even when he fed me because I fed him. Is that enough for you? Ah, no, you also want to know how I killed all those people. ... Why, I killed them ... let me see ... by calling up the infernal powers, with the help of a thousand legions brought under my command by the art that Salvatore taught me. To kill someone it is not necessary to strike: the Devil does it for you, if you know how to command the Devil.”
He gave the onlookers203 a sly glance, laughing. But by now it was the laughter of a madman, even if, as William pointed out to me afterward, this madman was clever enough to drag Salvatore down with him also, to avenge204 his betrayal.
“And how could you command the Devil?” Bernard insisted, taking this delirium205 as a legitimate confession.
“You yourself know: it is impossible to traffic for so many years with the possessed and not wear their habit! You yourself know, butcher of apostles! You take a black cat—isn’t that it?—that does not have even one white hair (you know this), and you bind his four paws, and then you take him at midnight to a crossroads and you cry in a loud voice: O great Lucifer, Emperor of Hell, I call you and I introduce you into the body of my enemy just as I now hold prisoner this cat, and if you will bring my enemy to death, then the following night at midnight, in this same place, I will offer you this cat in sacrifice, and you will do what I command of you by the powers of the magic I now exercise according to the secret book of Saint Cyprian, in the name of all the captains of the great legions of hell, Adramelch, Alastor, and Azazel, to whom now I pray, with all their brothers. ...” His lip trembled, his eyes seemed to bulge206 from their sockets207, and he began to pray—or, rather, he seemed to be praying, but he addressed his implora?tions to all the chiefs of the infernal legions: “Abigor, pecca pro nobis ... Amon, miserere nobis ... Samael, libera nos a bono … Belial eleison ... Focalor, in cor?ruptionem meam intende ... Haborym, damnamus dominum … Zaebos, anum meum aperies ... Leonard, asperge me spermate tuo et inquinabor. …”
“Stop, stop!” everyone in the hall cried, making the sign of the cross. “O Lord, have mercy on us all!”
The cellarer was now silent. When he had uttered the names of all these devils, he fell face down, a whitish saliva208 drooling from his twisted mouth and the clenched209 rows of his teeth. His hands, though tormented210 by his chains, opened and closed convulsively, his feet kicked the air in irregular fits. Seeing me gripped by a trembling of horror, William put his hand on my head and clasped me almost at the nape, pressing it, which calmed me again. “You see?” he said to me. “Under torture or the threat of torture, a man says not only what he has done but what he would have liked to do even if he didn’t know it. Remigio now wants death with all his soul.”
The archers led the cellarer away, still in convulsions. Bernard, gathered his papers. Then he looked hard at those present, motionless, but in great agitation211.
“The interrogation is over. The accused, guilty by his own confession, will be taken to Avignon, where the final trial will be held, as a scrupulous212 safeguard of truth and justice, and only after that formal trial will he be burned. He no longer belongs to you, Abo, nor does he belong any longer to me, who am only the humble213 instrument of the truth. The fulfillment of justice will take place elsewhere; the shepherds have done their duty, now the dogs must separate the infected sheep from the flock and purify it with fire. The wretched episode that has seen this man commit such ferocious214 crimes is ended. Now may the abbey live in peace. But the world”—here he raised his voice and addressed the group of envoys—“the world has still not found peace. The world is riven by heresy, which finds refuge even in the halls of imperial palaces! Let my brothers remember this: a cingulum diaboli binds215 Dolcino’s perverse sectarians to the honored masters of the chapter of Perugia. We must not forget: in the eyes of God the ravings of the wretch we have just handed over to justice are no different from those of the masters who feast at the table of the excommunicated German of Bavaria. The source of the heretics’ wickedness springs from many preachings, even respected, still unpunished. Hard passion and humble Calvary are the lot of him who has been called by God, like my own sinful person, to distinguish the viper of heresy wherever it may nest. But in carrying out this holy task, we learn that he who openly practices heresy is not the only kind of heretic. Heresy’s supporters can be distinguished216 by five indicators217. First, there are those who visit heretics secretly when they are in prison; second, those who lament218 their capture and have been their intimate friends (it is, in fact, unlikely that one who has spent much time with a heretic remains ignorant of his activity); third, those who declare the heretics have been unjustly condemned, even when their guilt has been proved; fourth, those who look askance and criticize those who persecute219 heretics and preach against them successfully, and this can be discovered from the eyes, nose, the expression they try to conceal220, showing hatred toward those for whom they feel bitterness and love toward those whose misfortune so grieves them; the fifth sign, finally, is the fact that they collect the charred221 bones of burned heretics and make them an object of veneration222. ... But I attach great value also to a sixth sign, and I consider open friends of heretics the authors of those books where (even if they do not openly offend orthodoxy) the heretics have found the premises223 with which to syllogize in their perverse way.”
As he spoke, he was looking at Ubertino. The whole French legation understood exactly what Bernard meant. By now the meeting had failed, and no one would dare repeat the discussion of that morning, knowing that every word would be weighed in the light of these latest, disastrous224 events. If Bernard had been sent by the Pope to prevent a reconciliation225 between the two groups, he had succeeded.
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meted
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| v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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walnut
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| n.胡桃，胡桃木，胡桃色，茶色 | |
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notary
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| n.公证人，公证员 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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archers
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| n.弓箭手，射箭运动员( archer的名词复数 ) | |
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pro
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| n.赞成，赞成的意见，赞成者 | |
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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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exempt
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| adj.免除的；v.使免除；n.免税者，被免除义务者 | |
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precepts
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| n.规诫，戒律，箴言( precept的名词复数 ) | |
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wretch
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| n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人 | |
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liturgy
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| n.礼拜仪式 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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humiliated
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| 感到羞愧的 | |
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relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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defendant
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| n.被告；adj.处于被告地位的 | |
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odious
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| adj.可憎的，讨厌的 | |
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heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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monk
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| n.和尚，僧侣，修道士 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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caped
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| 披斗篷的 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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uproot
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| v.连根拔起，拔除；根除，灭绝；赶出家园，被迫移开 | |
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erase
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| v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹 | |
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lurks
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| n.潜在，潜伏；（lurk的复数形式）vi.潜伏，埋伏（lurk的第三人称单数形式） | |
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recesses
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| n.壁凹( recess的名词复数 )；（工作或业务活动的）中止或暂停期间；学校的课间休息；某物内部的凹形空间v.把某物放在墙壁的凹处( recess的第三人称单数 )；将（墙）做成凹形，在（墙）上做壁龛；休息，休会，休庭 | |
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impenitent
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| adj.不悔悟的，顽固的 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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remorse
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| n.痛恨，悔恨，自责 | |
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guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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versed
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| adj. 精通，熟练 | |
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pitfalls
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| （捕猎野兽用的）陷阱( pitfall的名词复数 )； 意想不到的困难，易犯的错误 | |
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evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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recur
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| vi.复发，重现，再发生 | |
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tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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loathsome
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| adj.讨厌的，令人厌恶的 | |
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vicissitudes
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| n.变迁，世事变化；变迁兴衰( vicissitude的名词复数 )；盛衰兴废 | |
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sect
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| n.派别，宗教，学派，派系 | |
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huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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pros
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| abbr.prosecuting 起诉；prosecutor 起诉人；professionals 自由职业者；proscenium （舞台）前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 )；赞成的理由；抵偿物；交换物 | |
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46
hood
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| n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖 | |
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improper
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| adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的 | |
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posture
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| n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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devoutly
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| adv.虔诚地，虔敬地，衷心地 | |
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51
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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53
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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54
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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55
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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56
perverse
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| adj.刚愎的；坚持错误的，行为反常的 | |
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57
liars
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| 说谎者( liar的名词复数 ) | |
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stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
impudence
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| n.厚颜无耻；冒失；无礼 | |
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60
obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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61
gauge
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| v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器 | |
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62
bestial
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| adj.残忍的；野蛮的 | |
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63
incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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64
custody
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| n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留 | |
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65
entrusted
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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66
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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67
transcribe
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| v.抄写，誉写；改编(乐曲)；复制，转录 | |
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68
baboon
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| n.狒狒 | |
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69
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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70
lascivious
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| adj.淫荡的，好色的 | |
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71
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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72
benevolence
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| n.慈悲，捐助 | |
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73
meditate
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| v.想，考虑，（尤指宗教上的）沉思，冥想 | |
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74
broth
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| n.原(汁)汤(鱼汤、肉汤、菜汤等) | |
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75
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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76
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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77
ignoble
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| adj.不光彩的，卑鄙的；可耻的 | |
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78
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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79
triumphantly
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| ad.得意洋洋地；得胜地；成功地 | |
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80
accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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81
dispel
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| vt.驱走，驱散，消除 | |
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82
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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83
acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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84
tormenting
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| 使痛苦的，使苦恼的 | |
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85
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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86
relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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87
interrogated
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| v.询问( interrogate的过去式和过去分词 )；审问；（在计算机或其他机器上）查询 | |
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88
profane
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| adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污 | |
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89
monastery
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| n.修道院，僧院，寺院 | |
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90
inaccessible
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| adj.达不到的，难接近的 | |
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91
malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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92
collaborating
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| 合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国 | |
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93
chastise
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| vt.责骂，严惩 | |
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94
consigned
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| v.把…置于（令人不快的境地）( consign的过去式和过去分词 )；把…托付给；把…托人代售；丟弃 | |
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95
almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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96
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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97
asses
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| n. 驴，愚蠢的人，臀部 adv. (常用作后置)用于贬损或骂人 | |
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98
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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99
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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100
cardinal
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| n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的 | |
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101
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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102
mediator
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| n.调解人，中介人 | |
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103
treatise
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| n.专著；(专题)论文 | |
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104
canine
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| adj.犬的，犬科的 | |
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105
canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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106
opportune
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| adj.合适的，适当的 | |
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107
extraneous
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| adj.体外的；外来的；外部的 | |
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108
viper
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| n.毒蛇；危险的人 | |
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109
forestalled
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| v.先发制人，预先阻止( forestall的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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110
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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111
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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112
eloquent
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|
| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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113
disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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114
imminent
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| adj.即将发生的，临近的，逼近的 | |
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115
entrusts
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| v.委托，托付( entrust的第三人称单数 ) | |
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116
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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117
seduced
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| 诱奸( seduce的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾引； 诱使堕落； 使入迷 | |
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118
meekness
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| n.温顺，柔和 | |
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119
contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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120
traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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121
guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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122
absolved
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| 宣告…无罪，赦免…的罪行，宽恕…的罪行( absolve的过去式和过去分词 )； 不受责难，免除责任 [义务] ,开脱（罪责） | |
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123
prostrate
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| v.拜倒，平卧，衰竭；adj.拜倒的，平卧的，衰竭的 | |
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124
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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125
perjurer
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| n.伪誓者，伪证者 | |
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126
distresses
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| n.悲痛( distress的名词复数 )；痛苦；贫困；危险 | |
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127
compassion
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| n.同情，怜悯 | |
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128
offenses
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| n.进攻( offense的名词复数 )；（球队的）前锋；进攻方法；攻势 | |
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129
offense
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| n.犯规，违法行为；冒犯，得罪 | |
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130
magistrates
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| 地方法官，治安官( magistrate的名词复数 ) | |
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131
impenitently
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| adv.不知悔改地 | |
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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
extirpated
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| v.消灭，灭绝( extirpate的过去式和过去分词 )；根除 | |
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134
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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135
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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136
disorders
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| n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调 | |
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137
elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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138
luminously
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| 发光的； 明亮的； 清楚的； 辉赫 | |
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139
propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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140
subscribed
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| v.捐助( subscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；签署，题词；订阅；同意 | |
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141
heresies
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| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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142
adversaries
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| n.对手，敌手( adversary的名词复数 ) | |
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143
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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144
crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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145
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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146
uncertainties
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| 无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物 | |
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147
cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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148
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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149
license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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150
Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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151
whim
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| n.一时的兴致，突然的念头；奇想，幻想 | |
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152
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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153
razed
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| v.彻底摧毁，将…夷为平地( raze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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154
chalices
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| n.高脚酒杯( chalice的名词复数 )；圣餐杯；金杯毒酒；看似诱人实则令人讨厌的事物 | |
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155
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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156
spire
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| n.(教堂)尖顶，尖塔，高点 | |
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157
herald
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| vt.预示...的来临，预告，宣布，欢迎 | |
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158
reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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159
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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160
illuminated
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| adj.被照明的；受启迪的 | |
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161
exalted
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| adj.(地位等)高的，崇高的；尊贵的，高尚的 | |
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162
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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163
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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164
ordain
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| vi.颁发命令；vt.命令，授以圣职，注定，任命 | |
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165
laymen
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| 门外汉，外行人( layman的名词复数 )； 普通教徒（有别于神职人员） | |
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166
tithes
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| n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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167
paupers
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| n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 )；贫民；贫穷 | |
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168
penitents
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| n.后悔者( penitent的名词复数 )；忏悔者 | |
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169
lustfulness
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170
filthiness
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171
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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172
renounced
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| v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 )；宣布放弃；宣布与…决裂；宣布摒弃 | |
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173
belongings
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| n.私人物品，私人财物 | |
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174
impure
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| adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的 | |
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175
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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176
cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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177
glutton
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| n.贪食者，好食者 | |
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178
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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179
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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180
remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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181
paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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182
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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183
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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184
accusations
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| n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名 | |
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185
demeanor
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| n.行为；风度 | |
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186
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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187
savored
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| v.意味，带有…的性质( savor的过去式和过去分词 )；给…加调味品；使有风味；品尝 | |
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188
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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189
regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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190
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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191
collaborated
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| 合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国 | |
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192
tongs
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| n.钳；夹子 | |
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193
afterward
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| adv.后来；以后 | |
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194
plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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195
calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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196
rogue
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| n.流氓；v.游手好闲 | |
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197
martyrs
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| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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198
suffocation
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| n.窒息 | |
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199
corpse
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| n.尸体，死尸 | |
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200
corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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201
taunting
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| 嘲讽( taunt的现在分词 )； 嘲弄； 辱骂； 奚落 | |
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202
squat
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| v.蹲坐，蹲下；n.蹲下；adj.矮胖的，粗矮的 | |
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203
onlookers
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| n.旁观者，观看者( onlooker的名词复数 ) | |
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204
avenge
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| v.为...复仇，为...报仇 | |
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205
delirium
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| n. 神智昏迷,说胡话;极度兴奋 | |
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206
bulge
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| n.突出，膨胀，激增；vt.突出，膨胀 | |
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207
sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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208
saliva
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| n.唾液，口水 | |
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209
clenched
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| v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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210
tormented
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| 饱受折磨的 | |
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211
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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212
scrupulous
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| adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的 | |
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213
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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214
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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215
binds
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| v.约束( bind的第三人称单数 )；装订；捆绑；（用长布条）缠绕 | |
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216
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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217
indicators
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| （仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号 | |
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218
lament
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| n.悲叹，悔恨，恸哭；v.哀悼，悔恨，悲叹 | |
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219
persecute
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| vt.迫害，虐待；纠缠，骚扰 | |
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220
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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221
charred
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| v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦 | |
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222
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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223
premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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224
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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225
reconciliation
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| n.和解，和谐，一致 | |
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