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Four. The Seeds That They Let Grow.?The Romans,
第四，任它生長的種子?
nevertheless, ignored certain glaring problems
但是羅馬人忽略了某些顯眼的問題
until they became catastrophic. Among these
最終造成了毀滅
were the decline of the small farmer class,
包括小農階級的衰落
the refusal of full Roman citizenship to all Italian
拒絕所有意大利同盟獲得羅馬完全公民權
allies, and general political corruption.
已經將軍的政治腐敗
Allowing the small farmer class to disintegrate in
讓小農階級在羅馬的征服戰爭中衰落
Rome's wars of conquest, and allowing the
縱容大莊園制
latifundia to push the survivors out of business
把幸存者趕出商業競爭
was a big mistake and led to the rise of client armies.
都是很大的錯誤并導致了個人軍隊的崛起
The solution would not have been simple but the
解決辦法不會容易
Gracchi paid with their lives for trying to find one.
但是格拉古付出了生命來尋找一個解決辦法
Refusal to allow all Italian allies to become citizens
拒絕意大利同盟成為公民這一問題可以通過
could have been fixed with the passage of a law,
法律來解決
but it took the death of Livius Drusus, the Social War,
但是蘇斯用生命以及經過同盟者戰爭
and the war against Mithridates to teach the Romans
和反對米特達拉提的戰爭來給
that particualr lesson. Finally, political corruption
羅馬人上了一課
made a mockery of the annual elections,
最后，政治腐敗讓每年的選舉變為笑柄
with its rampant bribery and other back door deals.
賄賂橫行，到處充斥著走后門的交易
Optimates jockeyed with populares and populares
貴族派欺騙平民派
jockeyed with optimates, when each was basically
平民派欺騙貴族派
just a somewhat different side of the same sad coin.
他們只是同一個可悲硬幣的兩個不同面而已
Whoever had the most money and the most clients
誰擁有了最多的錢和最多的追隨者
usually won, which did not bode well for actual
通常會贏，而這并不預示著真正的民主
democracy. As one of Rome's old enemies observed,
在羅馬的老敵人眼中
Rome was a truly a city for sale.
羅馬是真正可以買賣的城市
