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Chapter 16
第十六章
Greek life
古希臘人的生活
How the Greeks Lived
古希臘人是怎樣生活的
But how, you will ask, did the ancient Greeks have time to look after their families and their business if they were forever running to the marketplace to discuss affairs of state? In this chapter I shall tell you.
我想你們會問，如果古希臘人總是一聽到召喚，就趕去集市討論城邦的事務，他們怎會有時間來照顧家庭和自己的生意？在這一章，我會給你們解釋這個問題。
In all matters of government, the Greek democracy recognised only one class of citizens-the freemen. Every Greek city was composed of a small number of free born citizens, a large number of slaves and a sprinkling of foreigners.
對于政府的所有事務，希臘的民主 制度只承認一類市民擁有參與的權利，那就是自由 民。而每一個希臘城市都是由少數生來自由 的市民、大量的奴隸和零星的外國人組成的。
At rare intervals (usually during a war, when men were needed for the army) the Greeks showed themselves willing to confer the rights of citizenship upon the "barbarians" as they called the foreigners. But this was an exception. Citizenship was a matter of birth. You were an Athenian because your father and your grandfather had been Athenians before you. But however great your merits as a trader or a soldier, if you were born of non-Athenian parents, you remained a "foreigner" until the end of time.
只在少數時候（通常是發生戰爭，需要征召兵員時），希臘人才愿意給予他們所謂的"野蠻人"即外國人以公民權。但這種情形純屬例外。公民資格是一個出身問題。你是一個雅典人，因為你的父親和祖父在你之前就是雅典人。除此而外，無論你是一個多么出色的士兵或商人，只要你的父母不是雅典人，你終其一生都只能是住在雅典的"外國人"。
The Greek city, therefore, whenever it was not ruled by a king or a tyrant, was run by and for the freemen, and this would not have been possible without a large army of slaves who outnumbered the free citizens at the rate of six or five to one and who performed those tasks to which we modern people must devote most of our time and energy if we wish to provide for our families and pay the rent of our apartments.
因此，只要不是由一位"國王"或"暴君"統治時，希臘的各個城市便歸這個自由 民階層管理，并為其利益服務。這種體制，如果離開了一個數量六、七倍于自由 民的奴隸階層，根本就無法運轉。奴隸為有幸成為自由 民的古希臘主人承擔了種種繁重勞動，而現代人卻不得不為這些養家糊口的工作，付出他們大部分的時間與精力。
