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Rome needed professional armies and experienced generals to fight its wars.
羅馬需要職業軍隊和有經驗的將領指揮戰爭，
These generals had to be kept happy.
得讓這些將領開心才行。
And nothing made a general happier than a long-term grant of proconsular imperium, a great big blank check to fight Rome's enemies just one wanted to.
而沒有什么比給他們長期地方總督統治權和可以讓他們隨心所欲的攻打羅馬敵人的空頭支票更讓他們高興的了。
In sixty seven BC, young Pompey, who now called himself Gnaeus Pompey the Great, received a five year grant of proconsular imperium to rid the Mediterranean of pirates. It took him nine months.
公元前67年，年輕的龐培(現在自稱為偉大的格涅烏斯·龐培) 接受了為期五年的地方總督統治權受命清剿地中海海盜，他僅用9個月就完成了任務。
In the next year, another law gave Pompey proconsular imperium to defeat King Mithridates of Pontus once and for all, finishing the work Sulla had left behind.
第二年另一項法令授予龐培地方總督統治權命其徹底擊敗本都王國國王米特里達提，結束蘇拉沒能完成的戰爭
And this, Pompey accomplished by December sixty two BC.
龐培于公元前62年12月完成了這一任務。
So far, Pompey had not abused either of his grants of proconsular imperium.
到那時龐培都沒有濫用授予他的兩次地方總督統治權，
All Rome still awaited his return with great anxiety.
全羅馬都在焦急地等待他的歸來，
Rome had already endured another minor civil war in sixty three BC when the popularis Catiline was caught plotting to overthrow the state.
公元前63年羅馬已經經受了另一場小型內戰，當時喀提林陰謀企圖推翻國家政權被抓。
Catiline's backers were Crassus and Marius's ambitious but impoverished nephew, the pontifex maximus Julius Caesar.
喀提林的支持者是克拉蘇和馬略滿腹雄心但是貧困潦倒的侄子，大祭司朱利葉斯·凱撒，
The mighty mouth of the consul Cicero was enough to put Catiline out of commission, but Crassus and Caesar remained free, hoping to gain leverage against their joint adversary Pompey.
執政官西塞羅可以將喀提林打倒，但是克拉蘇和凱撒依然是自由的，他們希望能制衡共同的敵人龐培，
As far as the Senate was concerned, all of the potential Sullas needed to be put on the sideline, especially Pompey, Crassus and Caesar.
在元老院看來，所有可能成為下一個蘇拉的人其勢力都要被消除，尤其是龐培，克拉蘇和凱撒，
The great Roman powder keg was about to blow sky high.
偉大羅馬的火藥桶將要炸的天高了，
Segment Ten C: The First Triumvirate.
十C: 前三頭同盟
The cursus honorum, as it had evolved at first, worked just fine,
光榮晉升體系從建立起一直運行良好，
even for a city-state which had absorbed all of Italy.
即使對這個收服了整個意大利的城邦來說，
Even a Scipio Africanus, the conqueror of Hannibal and darling of the Roman masses, had been content to fade into the woodwork once his job was done.
即使是非洲的征服者西庇阿他征服了漢尼拔，并在羅馬民眾中聲望很高，但是也甘愿在完成工作后退隱從事木匠工作。
No Roman was greater than the Roman state, and the Gracchi had learned the hard way not to stick one's neck out against the Senate.
現在的羅馬比羅馬城邦更強大了，格拉古兄弟也知道了招惹元老院的殘酷代價。
Even Sulla, murderous thug that he was, tried to ensure there would be no more warlords like him.
即使是蘇拉這個兇惡的暴徒也想保證不要再出現他這樣的軍閥。
By increasing the Senate's power he thought he would save the Roman Republic yet.
他以為通過加強元老院的權力可以拯救羅馬共和國，
But those were different times. Rome...
但是此時不同于彼時。羅馬······
