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Our best guess is that the Etruscans came originally from Asia Minor and that a great war or a pestilence in that country had forced them to go away and seek a new home elsewhere. Whatever the reason for their coming, the Etruscans played a great r?le in history. They carried the pollen of the ancient civilisation from the east to the west and they taught the Romans who, as we know, came from the north, the first principles of architecture and street-building and fighting and art and cookery and medicine and astronomy.
我們能做出的最接近事實的推測是：伊特拉斯坎人最初來自小亞細亞，可能是由于戰爭，也可能是因為一場大瘟疫，他們不得不離鄉背井，到別處去尋找新的棲居之所。不管使他們流浪到意大利的原因為何，伊特拉斯坎人在歷史上都擔當了非常重要的角色。他們把古代文明的花粉從東方傳到了西方，他們教會了來自北方的羅馬人文明生活的基本原理，包括建筑術、修建街道、作戰、藝術、烹調、醫藥以及天文。
But just as the Greeks had not loved their ?gean teachers, in this same way did the Romans hate their Etruscan masters. They got rid of them as soon as they could and the opportunity offered itself when Greek merchants discovered the commercial possibilities of Italy and when the first Greek vessels reached Rome. The Greeks came to trade, but they stayed to instruct. They found the tribes who inhabited the Roman country-side(and who were called the Latins) quite willing to learn such things as might be of practical use. At once they understood the great benefit that could be derived from a written alphabet and they copied that of the Greeks. They also understood the commercial advantages of a well-regulated system of coins and measures and weights. Eventually the Romans swallowed Greek civilisation hook, line and sinker.
不過正如希臘人不喜歡他們的愛琴海人導師一樣，羅馬人也同樣憎恨他們的伊特拉斯坎師傅。當希臘商人發現與意大利通商的好處，當第一艘希臘商船滿載貨物抵達羅馬城時，羅馬人便迅速擺脫了伊特拉斯坎人。希臘人本是來意大利做生意的，后來卻居留下來，擔任羅馬人的新指導。他們發現這些居住在羅馬鄉間（被稱為拉丁人）的部族非常樂于接受有實用價值的新事物。一當羅馬人意識到可以從書寫文字中得到巨大的好處，他們便模仿希臘字母的樣子，創造了拉丁文。他們還發現，統一制定的貨幣與度量方式將大大促進商業的發展，于是他們就毫不猶豫地如法炮制。最終，羅馬人不僅咬上了希臘文明的魚鉤，甚至連魚線和墜子都一古腦地吞了下去。
They even welcomed the Gods of the Greeks to their country. Zeus was taken to Rome where he became known as Jupiter and the other divinities followed him. The Roman Gods however never were quite like their cheerful cousins who had accompanied the Greeks on their road through life and through history.
他們還歡天喜地地把希臘的諸神也請進了自己的國家。宙斯移居羅馬，新名字叫朱庇特。其余的希臘神抵接踵而至。不過，羅馬的諸神可不像他們那些陪伴希臘人度過一生、走完整條歷史長河的表兄妹們那樣神采飛揚、喜笑顏開。
