評(píng)論
打印
The newly formed Empire must be brought under the influence of the Greek mind. The people must be taught the Greek language-they must live in cities built after a Greek model. The Alexandrian soldier now turned school-master. The military camps of yesterday became the peaceful centres of the newly imported Greek civilisation. Higher and higher did the flood of Greek manners and Greek customs rise, when suddenly Alexander was stricken with a fever and died in the old palace of King Hammurabi of Babylon in the year 323.
熱愛(ài)希臘的亞歷山大宣布，新建立的帝國(guó)必須置于希臘精神的影響之下。他要求自己的子民學(xué)習(xí) 希臘語(yǔ)，居住在按希臘樣式建成的城市里。現(xiàn)在，亞歷山大的士兵脫去甲胄，放下刀劍，變成了傳播希臘文化的教師。昨天的軍營(yíng)成為了輸入希臘文明的和平中心。希臘的風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣和生活方式像席卷世界的洪水，一浪高過(guò)一浪。可就在此時(shí)，年輕的亞歷山大突然遭到熱病的襲擊，于公元前323年死于漢謨拉比國(guó)王修筑的舊巴比倫王宮。
Then the waters receded. But they left behind the fertile clay of a higher civilisation and Alexander, with all his childish ambitions and his silly vanities, had performed a most valuable service. His Empire did not long survive him. A number of ambitious generals divided the territory among themselves. But they too remained faithful to the dream of a great world brotherhood of Greek and Asiatic ideas and knowledge.
之后潮水開(kāi)始退去，但留下了一片希臘文明的肥沃土壤。憑著孩子氣的雄心與愚蠢的自負(fù)，亞歷山大做出了一項(xiàng)極有價(jià)值的貢獻(xiàn)。他的帝國(guó)在他死后不久便開(kāi)始土崩瓦解，一批野心勃勃的將軍瓜分了世界，可他們?nèi)耘f忠實(shí)于亞歷山大的夢(mèng)想--建立一個(gè)融合希臘文明與亞洲精神的偉大世界。
They maintained their independence until the Romans added western Asia and Egypt to their other domains. The strange inheritance of this Hellenistic civilisation (part Greek, part Persian, part Egyptian and Babylonian) fell to the Roman conquerors. During the following centuries, it got such a firm hold upon the Roman world, that we feel its influence in our own lives this very day.
這些分裂出來(lái)的國(guó)家一直保持獨(dú)立，直到羅馬人發(fā)動(dòng)遠(yuǎn)征，將整個(gè)西亞和埃及囊括進(jìn)自己的版圖。于是，亞歷山大留下的這份奇特的精神遺產(chǎn)（包括部分希臘、部分波斯、部分埃及和部分巴比倫），被新來(lái)的羅馬征服者照單全收。在接下來(lái)的幾個(gè)世紀(jì)里，它牢牢地扎根于羅馬的世界，直到今天我們還能感受到它的影響。
