評論
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I said earlier that Greece, when set against the Persian empire, was no more than a small peninsula,
我已經談到，頂住了波斯帝國強大壓力的希臘是一個小小的半島，
dotted here and there with little cities of busy merchants,
有不多的幾個小城市，那里的人們努力經商。
a country of barren mountain ranges and stony fields, able to sustain only a handful of people.
那里有荒涼的大山和多石的田地，它們只能養活少量的人。
And also, as you may remember, that the Greeks belonged to a number of tribes,
此外，如你所記得的那樣，居民屬于各個不同的部落，
the most important of them being the Dorians in the south and the Ionians and the Aeolians in the north.
主要有南方的多里安人，有北方的伊安尼爾人和埃厄里爾人。
These tribes differed little from one another, either in appearance or in language.
這些部落在語言和外貌上沒有多大區別。
They spoke different dialects, which they could all understand if they chose. But they very rarely did.
他們只是講好幾種方言而已，如果他們愿意，這些方言他們就能夠聽得懂。但是他們常常不愿意，
For, as is often the case, these close-related, neighboring tribes were unable to get on with one another.
這是常有的事，恰恰是這些彼此很相似的毗鄰部落不能和睦相處。
They spent all their time exchanging insults and ridicule, when actually they were jealous of each other.
他們互相嘲笑，其實是彼此嫉妒。
For Greece had no one king or administration in common. Instead, each city was a kingdom in itself
希臘也沒有一個共同的國王和共同的行政管理機構，每個城市自成一個王國。
