世界小史 第177期:遥远的边境

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　　因为在遥远的边境的那一边到处都有未开化的、好战的名族，他们很想侵入各富庶的行省，掠夺那里的财富。

　　The Germans, who lived in the north at the otherside of the Danube and the Rhine,

　　在北方，在多瑙河和莱茵河的彼岸，那里居住着日耳曼人，

　　were especially troublesome – Caesar hadalready clashed with them during his conquest of Gaul.

　　他们让罗马人尤其感到头疼。凯撒在占领法国时就已和他们交战过。

　　Tall and powerfully built, they towered overthe Romans and frightened the life out of them.

　　他们是身材高大、强壮有力的人，单凭其魁梧的身量就吓唬住了罗马人。

　　Not only that, but their country, nowGermany, was in those days a land of swamps and dark forests in which Romanlegions were forever losing their way.

　　他们的国家，即今日的德国，也还布满茂密的森林和黑乎乎的沼泽地，使罗马军团在其中失去方向。

　　But, above all, the Germans simply weren'tused to living in fine, centrally heated villas³.

　　但是主要是日耳曼人自己不习惯居住在有集中供暖设施的漂亮别墅里，

　　They were peasants and herdsmen, as theRomans themselves had once been, and they preferred to live as they always had,in isolated⁴ wooden farmsteads.

　　他们是农民，罗马人从前也曾是这样的农民，他们居住在很分散的、用木头构造的农家房屋里。

　　Educated Romans from the cities liked towrite about the great simplicity⁵ of the Germanic way of life, the plainness andausterity of their traditions,

　　在拉丁语论文里曾报道过他们的罗马大城市居民如今喜欢讲述日耳曼人的极度简朴而严格的生活习俗，

　　their love of warfare⁶ and their loyalty⁷ totheir chieftains.

　　他们的好斗和他们对部落首领的忠诚。

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