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But they were not willing to engage in warfare for the benefit of an ambitious emperor who aspired to glory by way of a foreign campaign in the land of the Parthians or the Numidians or the Scots.
但他們不愿為羅馬帝國(guó)打仗，因?yàn)槟遣贿^(guò)是某個(gè)野心勃勃的皇帝為渴求更多更輝煌的勝利，在努米底亞或帕提亞或蘇格蘭發(fā)動(dòng)的侵略戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)。
And so conditions grew worse as the centuries went by. The first Emperors had continued the tradition of "leadership" which had given the old tribal chieftains such a hold upon their subjects. But the Emperors of the second and third centuries were Barrack-Emperors, professional soldiers, who existed by the grace of their body-guards, the so-called Pr?torians. They succeeded each other with terrifying rapidity, murdering their way into the palace and being murdered out of it as soon as their successors had become rich enough to bribe the guards into a new rebellion.
這樣，一個(gè)又一個(gè)世紀(jì)過(guò)去了，情形變得越來(lái)越糟。最初幾位羅馬皇帝還肯保持"領(lǐng)袖"傳統(tǒng)，授權(quán)部族的頭人管住各自的屬民。可二、三世紀(jì)的羅馬皇帝卻是些職業(yè)軍人，變成了地地道道的"兵營(yíng)皇帝"，其生存全系于他們的保縹，即所謂禁衛(wèi)軍的忠誠(chéng)?；饰坏妮啌Q如走馬燈，你方唱罷我登臺(tái)，靠著謀殺劈開(kāi)通向帝王寶座的道路。隨后，篡位者又迅速地被謀殺，因?yàn)榱硪粋€(gè)野心家掌握了足夠財(cái)富，能賄賂禁衛(wèi)軍發(fā)動(dòng)新一輪的政變。
Meanwhile the barbarians were hammering at the gates of the northern frontier. As there were no longer any native Roman armies to stop their progress, foreign mercenaries had to be hired to fight the invader. As the foreign soldier happened to be of the same blood as his supposed enemy, he was apt to be quite lenient when he engaged in battle. Finally, by way of experiment, a few tribes were allowed to settle within the confines of the Empire. Others followed. Soon these tribes complained bitterly of the greedy Roman tax-gatherers, who took away their last penny. When they got no redress they marched to Rome and loudly demanded that they be heard.
與此同時(shí)，野蠻民族正在頻頻敲擊北方邊境的大門。由于再?zèng)]有土生土長(zhǎng)的羅馬士兵可抵御侵略，只能招募些外國(guó)雇傭軍去對(duì)付來(lái)犯者。這些外國(guó)雇傭兵可能正巧與他抗擊的敵人屬于同一種族，不難想見(jiàn)，他們?cè)趹?zhàn)斗中很容易產(chǎn)生對(duì)敵人的憐憫之情。最后，皇帝決定實(shí)驗(yàn)一種新措施，允許一些野蠻部族在帝國(guó)境內(nèi)定居。其他的部族也接踵而至。不過(guò)他們很快就怨氣沖天，抗議貪婪的羅馬稅吏奪走他們僅有的一切。當(dāng)他們呼聲未能得到重視，他們便進(jìn)軍羅馬，更大聲的呼吁，以便得到皇帝陛下的聲音。
