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There was one emperor, Spanish by birth, who understood that even the world's biggest empire needed to know its limits.
一位西班牙血統(tǒng)皇帝深明 無論帝國疆域如何廣闊 終有疆界
He of course was destined, in Britain at any rate, to be remembered by a wall.
在不列顛 他注定因一堵墻而流芳百世
When we think of Hadrian's Wall,we tend to think of the Romans rather like US cavalrymen deep in Indian country, defending the flag,
想到哈德良長城 我們自然會想到羅馬人 如同深入印第安保衛(wèi)國旗的美國騎兵
peering through the cracks and waiting nervously for war drums and smoke signals.
提心吊膽地等待著 戰(zhàn)鼓與烽煙
A place where paranoia sweated from every stone.
所及之處 風聲鶴唳 草木皆兵
It wasn't really like that at all.
但事實并非如此
As fantastically ambitious as this was,stretching 73 miles from coast to coast from the Solway to the Tyne,
它彰顯著令人難以置信的雄心 綿延七十三英里 橫貫東西海岸 西至索爾韋灣 東至泰恩河口
and though Hadrian probably conceived it in response to a rebellion
縱然哈德良筑此長城的初衷是抵御叛亂
on the part of those people in the Romans loftily referred to as "Brittunculi"--nasty wretched little Brits.
即一部分羅馬人口中所指的 卑鄙下流的小不列顛人
Almost certainly, he didn't mean it as an impermeable barrier against barbarian onslaught from the north.
當然 他從未有意 將此作為抵御北方蠻族侵襲的堅實戰(zhàn)壕
The wall was studded with milecastles and turrets and forts like this one at Housesteads.
長城上設有眾多烽火臺 炮塔 以及類似豪斯戴斯的堡壘
But as Britain settled down in the second century AD,
但當不列顛人于公元二世紀在此定居
these places became up-country hill stations more like social centres and business centres
這些地方便成為了遠離喧囂的避暑勝地 更像是社交與商業(yè)的中心
than really grim, heavily-manned barracks.
而非重兵駐扎的軍營所在
So the purpose of these forts became not to prevent people going to and fro so much as to control and observe them.
所以這些堡壘的作用就變?yōu)?并非用于阻止人們穿行 而更大程度上起到了監(jiān)控作用
The forts in particular,became a place where a kind of customs scam was imposed on those trying to do business on one side or the other.
這些堡壘的作用 就成了對往來其間的商人 收取賦稅的關卡
It's better to think of the wall not so much as a fence but rather a spine around which control of northern Britain toughened, hardened and prospered.
與其說這是防護墻 不如說是一條中樞脊柱 控制著頑強 堅韌與繁榮的不列顛北部
