評論
打印
No, the progress of the last six hundred years would not have been possible without the existence of cities. I shall, therefore, have to make this chapter a little longer than many of the others. It is too important to be reduced to three or four pages, devoted to mere political events.The ancient world of Egypt and Babylonia and Assyria had been a world of cities. Greece had been a country of City-States. The history of Phoenicia was the history of two cities called Sidon and Tyre. The Roman Empire was the "hinterland" of a single town. Writing, art, science, astronomy, architecture, literature, the theatre-the list is endless-have all been products of the city.
不過，如果不是因為城市的存在，過去六百年來的進步將是完全不可能的。因此，我將用比其它各章稍長一點的篇幅來談論這個問題。它太重要了，不可能像對待單純的政治時間那樣，用三四頁文字便概括了。古代的埃及、巴比倫、亞述都是以城市為中心的世界。古希臘則完全是由許多小城邦組成的國家。而腓尼基的歷史幾乎就是西頓和提爾這兩個城市的歷史。再看看偉大的羅馬帝國，它遼闊的行省無非是羅馬這個城市的"腹地"。書寫、藝術、科學、天文學、建筑學、文學--這是一個可以無窮開列的名單，它們全都屬于城市的產物。
For almost four thousand years the wooden bee-hive which we call a town had been the workshop of the world. Then came the great migrations. The Roman Empire was destroyed. The cities were burned down and Europe once more became a land of pastures and little agricultural villages. During the Dark Ages the fields of civilisation had lain fallow.
在整整四千年的漫長歲月里，我們稱為城市的這個木制蜂房，其間居住著大量像工蜂一樣生活勞碌的人群，它一直就是世界的大作坊，它出產商品，推動文明，催化文學與藝術。可隨后就到了日爾曼人大遷移的時代。他們滅亡了燦爛一時的羅馬帝國，一個勁地焚毀他們并不理解的城市，使歐洲再度成為一塊由草原和小村莊構成的土地。在這段黑暗愚昧的歲月，歐洲文明進入了休耕期。
The Crusades had prepared the soil for a new crop. It was time for the harvest, but the fruit was plucked by the burghers of the free cities.
十字軍東征為文明的重新播種準備好了適合的土壤。快到收獲的季節了，但果實卻被自由城市的自由民搶先一步摘走。
I have told you the story of the castles and the monasteries, with their heavy stone enclosures-the homes of the knights and the monks, who guarded men's bodies and their souls.
我曾經給你們講過關于城堡與修道院的故事。在它們高大沉重的石墻后面，居住著騎士和他的朋友僧侶，一個負責照顧人們的肉體，一個則悉心看護著人們的靈魂。
