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Then they would have remembered stories that Rome told about the grisly brutality of the Druids.
而隨后 他們也許會憶起 羅馬人口中的德魯伊教是何等暴虐殘忍
Perhaps they would have even taken note of the stories told by the northern savages themselves,
或許他們甚至會注意到 北方蠻族親口講述的故事
of decapitated heads who were said to speak mournfully to those who had parted them from the rest of their body,warning of vengeance to come.
被砍下的頭顱悲戚地向 讓他們身首異處的劊子手哀號著 警示著復仇即將到來
Then they would have thought, Perhaps not.Perhaps we don't want to have much to do with an island of talking heads.
而后他們大概會想 應該不算藝術品 我們可不想 與遍布著會說話頭顱的島有任何瓜葛
So why did the Romans come here, to the edge of the world,
那么 究竟是什么驅使羅馬人以身犯險
and run the gauntlet of all these ominous totems?
來到這滿布不詳圖騰的世界之端的呢
There was the lure of treasure, of course,
當然少不了對寶藏的渴望
all the pearls that Tacitus believed lay around Britain in heaps.
塔西佗所堅信的 那盈千累萬的財富
Even more seductive was what Roman generals craved the most,
但更具魅力 同時羅馬將軍最渴望的
the prestige given to those who pacified the barbarian frontier.
是平定蠻夷 開疆擴土帶來的無限榮耀
And so, in the written annals of Western history,
因此 在西方編年史中
the islands now had not only a name,Britannia, but a date.
不列顛尼亞已不僅是島嶼的名字 還標刻著一個年代
In 55 BC Julius Caesar launched his galleys across the Channel.
公元前55年 凱撒大帝帶兵橫穿英吉利海峽
Julius Caesar must have supposed that all he had to do was land his legions in force
凱撒大帝定是認為 他只需帶領大批羅馬軍團登陸
and the Britons, just cowed by the spectacle of the glittering helmets and eagle standards,would simply queue up to surrender.
耀眼的鎧甲與威武的鷹旗 自會讓不列顛人聞風喪膽 不費吹灰之力便能讓他們列隊投降
