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The long process by which Roman Britannia morphed into the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms was gradual not sudden,
羅馬不列顛尼亞被盎格魯撒克遜王國取代 歷經了鯨吞蠶食的漫長過程而絕非一瞬
an adaptation, not an annihilation.
是平穩的演變 而非驟變
For a long time the Saxons were a tiny minority,
很長時間 撒克遜族只是一支少數民族
numbered in hundreds rather than thousands,and lived in an overwhelmingly Romano-British population.
人口數百 不及上千 在羅馬不列顛壓倒性的人口夾縫求存
As different as these cultures were, they were still neighbours.
即使文化迥異 卻仍能和平共處
The vast majority tried and succeeded to live some sort of Roman life.
龐大的民族仍舊維持著原有的羅馬式生活
Here at Wroxeter, Shropshire,the Roman Veraconium,
在希羅普郡的沃克斯特 羅馬時期的威爾克尼亞
there's wonderful evidence of this make-do, hybrid, improvised world
保留了兩種文明交融的完美證據
poised between Roman ruins and Anglo-Saxon beginnings.
泰然于羅馬廢墟與盎格魯撒克遜朝陽之間
When the bath house stopped functioning,the citizens here just took the tiles and used them for paving.
當大浴池不再運作 市民挖來浴池的瓷磚用來鋪路
When the roof of the great basilica threatened to fall in,
當他們的屋頂與大教堂搖搖欲墜
the citizens simply went and demolished the building themselves.
市民們便順勢拆掉 并動工新建
Inside the shell they put up a new timber structure spacious and elegant enough to give them the sense they were still living some sort of Roman lifestyle,
他們運用木質結構作為骨架 寬敞而考究 讓他們認為自己仍保持著羅馬生活方式
although in an increasingly phantom Britannia.
即使 此時的不列顛尼亞已名存實亡
Eventually though, the adaptations became ever more makeshift,
然而 演變終會進入其最終章
the fabric of Roman life increasingly threadbare,until it did indeed fall apart altogether.
羅馬式生活宛若一件破衣 已襤褸不堪 直到最終殘片也消失殆盡
