1. Introduction导论

Early Rome was a Latin city influenced by Greek colonies in the south of Italy and by the Etruscan to the north. Rome expelled its Etruscan kings in 509 B.C. and became a republic.

早期的罗马是一座受意大利南部希腊殖民者和北部伊特鲁里亚人影响的拉丁城市。罗马于公元前509年驱逐了它的伊特鲁里亚国王并成了共和国。

Early Rome society was divided between the patricians and the plebeians. At first most officials were patricians, but by the fourth century B.C. the plebeians had won the right to hold most offices, including consul.

早期的罗马社会分为贵族（古罗马共和国的贵族家庭的成员，公元前3世纪前，在元老院和执政官方面拥有特殊权利）和平民。一开始大部分官员都是贵族，但是到了公元前4世纪，平民们赢得了掌握大多数官职的权利，包括议会。

By the third century B.C. Rome had conquered all of Italy and destroyed Carthage in three wars (264-241, 218-202, and 149-146 B.C.). At same time Rome began to expand to the east, conquering Macedon and Greece and dominating Egypt and most of Asia Minor by 133 B.C.

到了公元前3世纪，罗马已征服了意大利的全部，并在三次战争（公元前264—241年，公元前218—202年，公元前149—146年）中毁灭了迦太基（非洲北部一古代城邦，位于今突尼斯东北部突尼斯湾沿岸。由腓尼基人于公元前9世纪创立，并在公元前6世纪之后成为地天一上迦太基政权中心。第三次布匿战争结束时（前146年）被罗马人毁灭，不久即被尤里乌斯·凯撒重建，此后（公元439-533年）在被阿拉伯人灭掉之前（1698年）是汪尔达人的首都）。与此同时，罗马开始向天一扩张，征服马其顿王国（古代巴尔干半岛中部一奴隶制国家）和希腊，并在公元前133年统治了埃及和小亚细亚的大部分。

Overseas expansion led to economic, social, and political trouble in Rome. The institutions of a small city-state could not cope with an empire. Small farms were increasingly replaced by large estates owned by rich generals and profiteers and worked by slaves. Attempts at reform failed as civil strife ultimately developed into civil war.

海外扩张导致了罗马经济、社会和政治的麻烦问题。小城邦的制度无法应付一个帝国。小农场越来越被富有的将军们、投机商暴发户们拥有的大块地产所代替，并由奴隶们工作。尝试改革的努力失败了，成了国内斗争，最终发展为国内战争。

In the last years of the Republic, various generals either seized power or dominated the state: Marius, Sulla, and Pompey. Finally in 45 B.C. Julius Caesar, who had conquered Gaul, emerged as the master of Rome. Caesar was assassinated in 44 B.C., but his nephew and heir, Octavian Augustus, was able to defeat his rivals and become the first Roman emperor.

共和国的后期，各种各样的将军们，或者掌握权利，或者统治国家：马略（盖厄斯·马略，前155?-86，罗马将军和政治家，七次被选为执政官，他改革了军队，但在与其政治对手苏拉的内战中惨败）、苏拉（卢西乌斯·科内利乌斯·苏拉，前138-78，罗马统帅和独裁者（前82-79年），率军队进入罗马城，从他的对手马略手中夺取了政权（前88年））、庞培（古罗马将军和政治领导人，和凯撒和克拉苏一起组成了三人寡头统治(前60-50年)，后被凯撒击败并在埃及被谋杀）。最后，在前45年，已征服了高卢（加利亚西欧一古老地区，在莱茵河南部和西部，阿尔卑斯山西部，比利牛斯山北部，基本相当于现代的法国和比利时；罗马人把其疆域扩展到包括北意大利，尤其是当朱利乌斯·凯撒在高卢一战中征服此地区后（前58-51年））的尤利乌斯·凯撒（前100-44，罗马将军、政治家、历史学家，他入侵了大不列颠王国（前55年）并征服了政敌庞培的军队（前48年），又追击其它敌人至埃及，立克娄巴特拉为女王（前47年），返回罗马后，被罗马人民授予终身一人统治的权力（前45年）；次年3月15日，被卡西乌和布鲁图斯领导的一群共和主义者谋杀身亡，这些人担心他图谋建立由他个人统治的君主制政权）崭露头角，并成为罗马的统治者。凯撒在公元前44年被刺杀，但他的侄子孙和继承人，屋大维·奥古斯都（罗马帝国第一任皇帝（前27年─公元14年），尤利斯·凯撒的侄孙。于公元前31年打败马克·安东尼及克娄巴特拉，得到了整个帝国的统治权，公元前29年称皇帝，并于公元前27年被授予奥古斯都荣誉称号），罗马法的相关论文。能够打败他的对手并成了罗马第一任皇帝。

Augustus’ rule (27 B.C.-A.D.14) inaugurated the Pax Romana, two centuries of relative peace, stability, and prosperity for the Mediterranean world. His successors developed the bureaucracy, extended Roman citizenship, and carried out a vast program of public works. Although the Romans failed to conquer Germany east of the Rhine River, Britain and Romania were added to the Empire during this period.

奥古斯都的统治（公元前27—公元14年）开创了罗马帝国统治下的和平，地天一沿岸地区世界（地天一周围地区，一些最古老的文明曾在这里繁荣兴盛；这一地区先后为腓尼基人、迦太基人、希腊人、西西里人以及罗马所统治）两个世纪的相对的和平、稳定和繁荣。他的继任者发展了行政系统和官僚制度，扩展了罗马的公民身份制，还实施了庞大的公共工程计划。在这段时期里，虽然征服莱茵河东面的德国失败了，但不列颠和罗马尼亚（欧洲东南部一国家，有沿黑海的短海岸线；最初为古罗马的一个省，1861年统一并于1878年独立；首都和最大城市是布加勒斯特；人口22,533,074）加进了帝国（版图）。

Women in Rome had many more rights and played a much more public role than in Greece, though their position depended in part on the number of children they had borne. Perhaps the result of plague against which ancient medicine could do little made the Romans concerned by their declining population.

女性在罗马比希腊拥有更多权利，并扮演一种内容丰富得多的公众角色，然而她们的地位部分取决于她们生孩子的数目。可能是古代医药对之不起作用的瘟疫，使罗马人开始关注他们正在下降的人口。

After A.D.180 civil wars and struggles over the succession disrupted Roman society and weakened the economy. The barbarians began to push across the European frontiers. The reforms of Diocletian and Constantine staved off collapse but imposed new burdens on an overtaxed and demoralized population.

公元180年以后，国内战争和对继承权的争斗使罗马社会陷于混乱瓦解，并削弱了经济。野蛮人开始入侵欧洲边境。戴克里先（罗马皇帝（284-305年），为试图更有效地控制帝国，将其分为东西两个帝国（286年）；其恢复罗马宗教的愿望导致了最后对基督教徒的严重迫害（303年））和康斯坦丁（288?-337，罗马皇帝）的改革阻止了崩溃，却又强加了新的负担给被过重课税、道德败坏意志消沉的人民。

Roman culture was deeply influenced by Greece. Latin literature often imitated Greek forms. Among the greatest Roman writers were Cicero, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Livy, and Tacitus.

罗马文化深受希腊影响。拉丁文学经常模仿希腊的形式。最伟大的罗马作家是：西塞罗（Marcus Tullius Cicero，马库斯·图留斯·西塞罗，前106-前43，罗马政治家、演说家和哲学家，共和时期最后几年的主要人物，以同喀提林的雄辩和对拉丁散文的精通而闻名）、维吉尔（前70-前19，古罗马诗人，他最伟大的史诗《埃涅阿斯纪》讲述了埃涅阿斯在特洛伊陷落后的流浪经历）、贺瑞斯（前65—前8，古罗马抒情诗人，他的《颂歌》和讽刺作品对英国诗歌产生了重要影响）、奥维德（前43—后17，罗马诗人，以其对爱的研究，尤其是《爱的艺术》（前1)和《变形记》（8）而闻名）、利维（前59—后17，罗马历史学家古罗马历史学家，所著的罗马史共142卷，现存仅35卷）和塔西佗（55？—120？，普布留斯·科内利乌斯·塔西佗，古罗马元老院议员和历史学家，他的两部最伟大的著作，《历史》和《编年史》，记述了从奥古斯都之死(公元14年)到多米西安之死（96年）期间的史实）。

Their system of law was one of the Roman’s most enduring achievements. The law of much of Western Europe and Latin American today goes back to its provisions.

罗马的法律体系是他们最长久的成就之一。今天西欧和拉丁美洲的大多数法律都能追溯到它的条款。

Roman art was also heavily influenced by Greece, but the Romans also made significant contributions of their own: for example, the barred vault and the dome in architecture, and the realistic portrayal of individuals in sculpture.

罗马的艺术也深受希腊影响，但罗马人也做出了自己的重大贡献：例如，建筑学方面的桶形拱顶和穹隆结构，雕塑方面人物的现实主义描绘。

2. Roman Thought and Culture 罗马的思想和文化

Greek Influence 希腊的影响

Greece, though conquered, took her conqueror captive. In the arts, the Romans found much of their inspiration in Greek models. In literature, the Greeks supplied the forms and much of the spirit, though they have a Roman spirit and quality. In science and engineering, the Romans accomplished more than the Greeks, as they did in law and government.

希腊，虽然被征服了，却俘虏了它的征服者。艺术方面，罗马人在希腊模式中发现了他们的大多数灵感。文学方面，希腊人提供了形式和大部分精神活力，虽然他们有罗马的精神和品质。在科学和工程方面，罗马人的成就比希腊人多，就像他们在法律和管理方面一样。

The Greece the Romans gradually conquered was the Greece of the decades after the death of Alexander. Literature, much of it produced in Alexandria, was more artificial, more charming and graceful, often trivial, less grand, less concerned with the central themes of human existence. When the Romans first began to imitate the Greeks, the greatest Greek works, though deeply respected, were no longer being written.

罗马人逐渐征服了的希腊，是亚历山大死后十年中的希腊。大部分在亚历山大城（埃及北部城市，位于尼罗河三角洲西端的地天一沿岸；公元前332年由亚历山大大帝建立，并成为犹太、阿拉伯和希腊文化的博物馆，尤以其广博的收藏品而闻名；法罗斯岛灯塔是世界七大奇迹之一；人口2,821,000）产生的文学，更加矫揉造作而不自然，更迷人和优雅，经常是琐细轻浮的，更少宏大威严，更少关注人类生存的中心主题。当罗马人一开始模仿希腊人，最伟大的希腊作品，虽然被深深尊敬，却再没被写出来过。

Religion 宗教

The Romans evolved their own religion —— the worship of the household spirits, the lares and penates, that governed their every day affairs. The Roman Vesta presided over the hearth and had in her service specially trained Vestal Virgins. From the Etruscans the Romans took the belief in omens. They foretold the future through observing the flight of birds and examining the entrails of sacrificed animals. Form Greece there came the entire Olympic collection of gods and goddess. But the Romans had nothing like the Greek Olympic games or the festivals of Dionysus that led to the writing of Athenian tragedy and comedy. For the Romans religion was largely social in function.

罗马人发展了他们自己的宗教——对家庭神灵、家庭守护神和珀那忒斯（罗马家神，家庭和领土之守护神，在人们膜拜时，将之与家庭守护神共同施以祭礼）的崇拜，这些神管理罗马人的日常事务。罗马的维斯塔女灶神（供奉在庙里，里面有由灶炉仙女们照料的圣火）管理主持着炉火，并有特别训练的维斯塔处女（古罗马在维斯塔神庙照料圣火的妇女之一，她们作为维斯塔的祭司，在服侍期内独身）为她服务。从伊特鲁里亚（意大利中西部古国）开始，罗马人就相信预兆。他们通过观察鸟类的飞翔和检查献祭动物的内脏来预测未来。从希腊来了整群的奥林匹克男女神祗。但是罗马人没有什么东西与希腊奥林匹克运动会或导致了雅典悲剧和喜剧写作的戴奥尼索斯酒神节相像。因为罗马的宗教在功能方面很大程度上是社会的。

Julius Caesar, Augustus, and many of their successors were of deified after their death. But except for certain notable social festivals each year, the individual Roman took little part either in the imperial cult or in other religious rites. The official priests performed most rites. The state religion early lost its appeal for the Romans. Moreover, there was no reason they could not worship as many other gods as they chose, after rendering due veneration to the ordinary deities, including the emperor. Rome therefore imported cults from other places, chiefly the East, which competed for popularity.

朱利乌斯·凯撒、奥古斯都和他们的许多继任者，死后都被当作神来崇拜。但是，除了每年的某个著名的社会节日外，罗马人几乎不参加皇帝的或帝国的宗教仪式，或其它宗教礼拜式。官方的祭司们执行大多数仪式。国家宗教早早就对罗马人失去了吸引力。此外，不知为什么，在给予对包括皇帝在内的普通神祗应有的崇拜之后，他们不能崇拜他们选择的那么多的其他神祗。罗马因此而主要从天一引入了宗教崇拜仪式，为流行而竞争。

Literature 文学

One of the great unifying forces of the Roman Empire was its language; Latin slowly became the universal language of the Roman world and the most influential language of all time, for it formed the basis of the great Romance languages of Western Europe, Romania, and Latin America, and it was the language of universal scholarship until the nineteenth century. Until displaced by French, it was the language of diplomacy, and until displaced in the twentieth century by English, it was the language of technology.

罗马帝国伟大的统一力量之一就是它的语言；拉丁语慢慢地成了罗马世界的通用语言和所有时代中最有影响的语言，因为它构成了西欧、罗马尼亚和拉丁美洲的大罗曼斯语言（属于、有关或从拉丁语发展而来的一种语言，主要指意大利语、法语、葡萄牙语、罗马尼亚语和西班牙语。它的其它语言还包括加泰罗尼亚语、普罗旺斯语、雷蒂亚-罗马语、撒丁语和拉地诺语）的基础，它还是直到十九世纪的通用学术语言。它一直都是外交用语言，直到被法语取代，它还一直都是技术用语言，直到二十世纪被英语取代。

A people self-consciously interested in their own civilization strive to preserve their language and to use it well. To the Romans, to speak and write well were significant indication of the civilized mind. For the Romans, their literature——in history, poetry, drama, and prose——was an indication of both their unity and their sense of a separate identity, it also posed for them intriguing questions of translation when they sought to render Greek works into Latin. For as, therefore, Latin literature takes on a dual significance; first it tells us about the Romans themselves and, second, it shows how the Romans used language to incorporate other cultures, chiefly Greek, into their own.

一个自觉地对自己的文明感兴趣的民族，会为保存他们的语言而斗争并好好地使用它。对于罗马人来说，说得好和写得好是文明头脑的重大标志。对罗马人来说，他们的文学——在历史、诗歌、戏剧和散文方面——是他们团结统一和单独个性感的一个标志；当他们试图把希腊作品翻译成拉丁语时，它也为他们提出了令人感兴趣的翻译问题。因此，拉丁语文学呈现出双重的重要性：首先，它告诉我们罗马人自己的生活；其次，它显示了罗马人是如何用语言把其它文化，主要是希腊文化，合并进他们自己的文化中的。

The figure known to us as the “father of Latin poetry”, Quintus Ennius (239-169 B.C.), was born and brought up in Magna Graecia and therefore naturally turned to Homer for inspiration when he put into epic form his patriotic account of Roman successes down to his own time. Although only fragments (between six and seven hundred lines) of the Annals are preserved, we have enough to appreciate Ennius’ admiration for military virtues, and to understand his lasting influence on later Roman writers.

我们知道的著名人物，“拉丁语诗歌之父”克恩图斯·爱尼尔斯（前239—169，罗马诗人，著作包括戏剧、编年史和讽刺诗，对后来作家影响甚大，但今天仅存片言只字），出生并长大在Magna Graecia，因此，当他将他所处时代之前的罗马人的成功的爱国的记述写成史诗形式时，自然地向荷马寻求灵感。虽然这部《编年史》只有片段（六到七百行）保留下来，我们也有了足够的东西来赏识他对军事美德的赞赏，并理解他对后来的罗马作家们的持久影响。

Plautus (254-184 B.C.) took inspiration from the Greek New Comedy of Menander. He was the more raucous and knockabout. Many of his characters recur throughout European literature. Gentler and milder in every sense, Terence (190-159 B.C.) remained closer to the Greek originals. He was not a success in his own day, but was a major influence during the Renaissance and later on French playwright Moliere. The Roman also enjoyed crude farces of the kind that had always been staged in the villages.

普劳图斯（前254—前184，Titus Maccius Plautus 提图斯·麦克休斯·普劳图斯，罗马喜剧作家，其作品影响了莎士比亚和莫里哀）从米南德（前342—前292，希腊戏剧家，他的浪漫主义作品对喜剧发展有影响）的希腊新喜剧中获得了灵感。他更加吵闹嘈杂和喧闹粗陋。他的许多人物在欧洲文学中到处重新出现。泰伦斯（前190—前159，生于希腊的古罗马剧作家。身为一位元老院议员的奴隶，被带到罗马并在那里接受教育，后被主人释放。其喜剧如《福尔弥昂》和《阿德尔菲》，以巧妙的幽默和精采的对话为特征）在所有感觉层面都更加文雅和柔和，保持了对希腊源头的接近。他在自己的时代并不太成功，但在文艺复兴时期，和后来对法国剧作家Moliere莫里哀（1622-1673，法国喜剧作家、演员、戏剧活动家。法国芭蕾舞喜剧创始人；本名为让－巴蒂斯特·波克兰（Jean Baptiste Poquelin），莫里哀是艺名；莫里哀是法国17世纪古典主义文学最重要的作家，古典主义喜剧的创建者，在欧洲戏剧史上占有十分重要的地位），都是主要影响。罗马人还喜欢那种总是在乡村上演的粗俗的轻喜剧。

During the late Republic appeared two of Rome’s greatest poets——Lucretius (96-55 B.C.) and Catullus (84-54 B.C.). Lucretius, a disciple of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, wrote a long poem, De rerum natura (On the Nature of Things), putting into moving verse his master’s beliefs that there is no human survival after death, the universe is made up of atoms. Catullus wrote passionate love lyrics recording his feelings for his mistress. These brief poems seem to some readers the highest achievement of Roman literature.

共和国后期，出现了两个罗马最伟大的诗人——卢克莱修（前96—55，罗马哲学家和诗人。他的 De Rerum Natura（《论事物的本性》），是一首为把人们从迷信和对不可知的恐惧中解放出来而试图用科学词汇解释宇宙的长诗）和卡塔路斯（前84—54，盖厄斯·瓦勒里乌斯，古罗马抒情诗人，以写给“丽斯比雅”的爱情诗而闻名，丽斯比雅是古罗马贵妇，真名为克洛狄亚）。卢克莱修，希腊哲学家伊壁鸠鲁（前342?-270,古希腊哲学家，杰出唯物主义和无神论者，公元前306年在雅典创立了颇具影响力的伊壁鸠鲁学派）的弟子，写了首长诗《论事物的本性》，把他老师的信仰——人死后没有残存，宇宙由原子组成——写进了感人的诗篇中。卡塔路斯写了充满热情的爱情诗来记录他对情妇的感情。这些简洁的诗歌对某些读者来说似乎就是罗马文学的最高成就。

In Cicero (106-43 B.C.) the late Republic produced its greatest writer of prose, who adjusted the ideas of Greek philosophy to distinctive Roman values. His oratorical skill furthered his career as a successful lawyer and politician. As the recognized supreme master of oratory, he wrote treatises on the art. We also have almost a thousand letters that Cicero wrote to his friends that reveal his personal joys and sorrows.

共和国后期产生了它最伟大的散文作家——西塞罗（公元前106—43），他调整了希腊哲学思想使之适应罗马人特别的价值观念。他演说的技艺推进了他作为成功律师和政治家的事业。作为公认的演讲术首席大师，他写了关于艺术的长篇高深论文。我们也有将近一千封西塞罗给他朋友的书信，这些书信显示了他个人的欢乐和悲伤。

Philosophically, Cicero largely agreed with the Stoics and admitted that one can have some virtues without possessing all knowledge. Cicero helped popularize these ideas in his essays on Old Age, on Friendship, on The Nature of the Gods, and on other political and social subjects; he introduced into the Latin languages terms capable of conveying the meaning of the Greek concepts he was discussing.

在哲学上，西塞罗在很大程度上赞同斯多葛派学派（希腊哲学学派，为芝诺于约公元前380年创立，认为人不应为情感所动，应把各种事情当作神意或自然法则的不可避免的结果来坦然地接受），并承认一个人即使没获得全部知识也能有某些美德。在他的关于旧时代、关于友谊、关于上帝的本性和其它政治和社会的主题的散文中，西塞罗帮助普及了这些思想；他把一些术语引入拉丁语言中，这些术语能传达他正在讨论的那些希腊观念的含意。

He tutored his fellow Romans about the concepts of “natural law” that existed independently of all human legislation and a “law of nations” that should regulate the relationships of different people with each other. Practical, perhaps conservative, Cicero believed that law, custom, and tradition led to stability, which was essential to liberty, from which sprang a person’s true security. The influence of these Ciceronian works radiated far into human history: the early Christian fathers studied Cicero, as did the humanists of the Italian Renaissance and the man who made the eighteenth century revolutions in America and France and who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.

他教导同时代罗马人关于独立于所有人类法律而存在的“自然法则”，和应该管理不同民族相互关系的“国家间的法律”的观念。务实/实用的，可能是保守的，西塞罗相信，法律、风俗习惯和传统导致稳定，稳定是自由所必须的，一个人真正的安全从稳定中生出。这些西塞罗作品的影响辐射到人类历史中：早期的基督教先辈们学习研究过他，意大利文艺复兴的人文主义者们、发动了十八世纪美国和法国革命的人们、写出了《独立宣言》和《美利坚合众国宪法》的人也一样。

The writers who came after Cicero gave Rome its literary Golden Age. Augustus himself recited and subsidized talent, even genius, to proclaim the glories of the new era, the Augustan Age. For example, Vergil (70-19 B.C.), in his Georgics and Ecologues, which followed the models of Greek pastoral poetry, praised the pleasures and satisfactions of rural life. Augustus persuaded Vergil to write the Aeneid, the great national epic of Rome’s beginnings, in which the poet could “predict” the future glories that Augustus’ rule world bring. Though designed in part to pleasure Augustus, these passages nonetheless reveal Vergil’s own sincere and intense patriotism. Vergil often reflected upon the sacrifices that necessarily accompany a rise to greatness, on sorrow, and on death. In the sweep of his interests, Vergil also reflected on the brotherhood of man.