評論
打印
The Legacy of Rome is enormous;
羅馬的遺產十分豐富；
the Roman influence on Western language and culture can be traced along with the influence on Western Political Institutions.
羅馬文化對西方語言和文化的影響和它對政治體制的影響一樣深遠。
But the influence of Rome the idea is more elusive and that is what we have to try to trace now.
但是羅馬的影響這個說法很晦澀，也是我們要試著去探尋的。
The first question to ask in assessing is which Rome,
我們要問的第一個問題是，哪個才是真正的羅馬？
the plucky peasants who dropped their ploughs, picked up their swords and conquered Italy, and returned home just in time for the harvest?
是那個有一群勇猛的丟下鋤頭，佩起寶劍征服意大利，隨后又在秋收時回家的農民的羅馬？
The aspiring superpower of the first Punic War which built its first navy to defeat the Mediterranean's greatest sea power?
還是那個在第一次布匿戰爭中崛起的超級大國，那個建立了第一支海軍并擊敗了地中海海上霸權的羅馬？
The near loser of the second Punic War which obligingly matched 2 enormous armies into Hannibal's trap but somehow won the war anyway?
還是那個在第二次布匿戰爭中險些失敗，兩支龐大的軍隊陷入漢尼拔陷阱，但最終卻打了勝仗的羅馬？
The fright resettle nation which wasted most of the 1st century BC fighting civil wars
還是那個浪費了公元前一世紀打內戰，
but followed that by giving the entire Mediterranean world the Pox Romana two and a half centuries of peace and prosperity?
繼而為整個地中海地區贏得兩個半世紀和平及繁榮的羅馬？
The liberty loving Republic with its multiple assemblies and bitterly contested annual elections?
是哪個自由博愛的、有許多人民大會在一年一度的選舉中激烈辯論的羅馬？
The carefully disguised military despotism of Augustus's principate?
是奧古斯都君主精心偽裝的軍事獨裁政權？
Or the totalitarianism of Diocletian's dominion or for that matter the Greek speaking empire of the so called Romaioi?
還是戴克里先的集權主義，還是那個因此被稱作Romaioi的講希臘語的帝國？
