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Carthage could not possibly tolerate such competition. The young rival must be destroyed lest the Carthaginian rulers lose their prestige as the absolute rulers of the western Mediterranean. The rumors were duly investigated and in a general way these were the facts that came to light.
迦太基可不能容忍這樣的競爭，新興強權的出現對它就如同夢魘。必須趁羽翼未豐，扼殺掉這個年輕的對手，否則迦太基將威望大跌，失去作為西地中海絕對統治者的地位。經過仔細調查，終于搞清楚了大致的真實情形。
The west coast of Italy had long been neglected by civilisation. Whereas in Greece all the good harbours faced eastward and enjoyed a full view of the busy islands of the Aegean, the west coast of Italy contemplated nothing more exciting than the desolate waves of the Mediterranean. The country was poor. It was therefore rarely visited by foreign merchants and the natives were allowed to live in undisturbed possession of their hills and their marshy plains.
長期以來，意大利西海岸一直是被文明之光忽略的地區。在希臘，所有的良港都面朝東方，注視著商業繁忙、生意興隆的愛琴海島嶼，分享文明與通商的便利。而與此同時，意大利西海岸則一無所有，除地中海冰冷的波濤拍擊著荒蕪的海岸，再沒有任何激動人心的事情發生。這是一片極端貧窮的地區，外國的商人們少有造訪。當地的士著居民安靜寂寞地生活在綿延的丘陵和遍布沼澤的平原之上，似乎與世隔絕。
The first serious invasion of this land came from the north. At an unknown date certain Indo-European tribes had managed to find their way through the passes of the Alps and had pushed southward until they had filled the heel and the toe of the famous Italian boot with their villages and their flocks. Of these early conquerors we know nothing. No Homer sang their glory. Their own accounts of the foundation of Rome (written eight hundred years later when the little city had become the centre of an Empire) are fairy stories and do not belong in a history. Romulus and Remus jumping across each other's walls (I always forget who jumped across whose wall) make entertaining reading, but the foundation of the City of Rome was a much more prosaic affair.
這片土地上發生的第一次嚴重侵略來自北方。在某個日期不詳的時刻，一些印歐種族的游牧部落開始從歐洲大陸 向南遷移。他們在白雪皚皚的阿爾卑斯群山中婉蜒前進，發現了翻越山脈的隘口，隨即潮水般地涌進亞平寧，延伸到部族的村莊與牲畜遍布于這個形狀酷似長靴的半島。對于這些早期的征服者，我們知之甚少。如果沒有一個荷馬人曾歌唱過他們的輝煌往昔，他們的戰功與遠征則難作信史。他們自己對于羅馬城建立的記述，則產生于800年之后。當時這座小城已經成長為一個大帝國的宏偉中心。這些記述不過是些神話故事，與真實的歷史相去甚遠。羅慕洛斯和勒莫斯跳過了對方的城墻，但到底誰跳過了誰的墻，我一直記不清楚。它們是有趣的睡前讀物，讓不肯安睡的孩子們著迷。但說到羅馬城建立的真實過程，那無疑是一件乏味而單調的事情。
