美国学生人类历史 第113期:罗马帝国的衰亡(6)

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Civilisation¹-the product of thousands of years of patient labor² on the part of Egyptians and Babylonians and Greeks and Romans, 曾经兴盛的商业贸易停顿了，繁荣的意大利变成了一块死寂之地。世界的文明--一历经埃及人、巴比伦人、希腊人、罗马人几千年的辛苦工作所创造的成果，

which had lifted man high above the most daring dreams of his earliest ancestors, threatened to perish from the western continent. 曾把人类的生活提升到他们的远祖不敢梦想的境界，如今却面临在西方大陆 上消亡的危险。

It is true that in the far east, Constantinople continued to be the centre of an Empire for another thousand years. 当然，远东的君士坦丁堡作为帝国的中心还继续存在了1000年。

But it hardly counted as a part of the European continent. 不过它很难被看作是欧洲大陆的一部分。

Its interests lay in the east. 它的兴趣和心思都朝向东方，

It began to forget its western origin. 忘记了自己是欧洲出身。

Gradually the Roman language was given up for the Greek. 渐渐地，拉丁语让位于希腊语，

The Roman alphabet was discarded and Roman law was written in Greek characters and explained by Greek judges. 罗马字母被废弃不用，罗马法律用希腊文重写，并由希腊法官加以解释。

The Emperor became an Asiatic despot, worshipped as the god-like kings of Thebes had been worshipped in the valley of the Nile, three thousand years before. 东罗马皇帝成为受到神一样崇拜的君主，其情形如同3000年前尼罗河谷的底比斯。

When missionaries³ of the Byzantine church looked for fresh fields of activity, 当拜占庭的传教士想要寻找新的活动领地时，

they went eastward⁴ and carried the civilisation of Byzantium into the vast wilderness⁵ of Russia. 他们便向东行进，把拜占庭文明带到俄罗斯的广阔荒野。

As for the west, it was left to the mercies of the Barbarians⁶. 至于西方，已落人了蛮族之手。

For twelve generations, murder, war, arson⁷, plundering⁸ were the order of the day. 在大约12个世代里，谋杀、战争、纵火、劫掠成为统治世界的原则。

One thing-and one thing alone-saved Europe from complete destruction, from a return to the days of cave-men and the hyena⁹. 只有这一样东西，它使得欧洲文明免于彻底的毁灭，使人们不至重返穴居与茹毛饮血的时代。

This was the church-the flock of humble¹⁰ men and women who for many centuries had confessed themselves the followers¹¹ of Jesus, 这就是教会--由那些千百年来承认是拿撒勒木匠耶稣的追随者的谦卑男女所组成的群体。

the carpenter of Nazareth, who had been killed that the mighty¹² Roman Empire might be saved the trouble of a street-riot in a little city somewhere along the Syrian frontier. 而这位卑微的拿撒勒人之死，原是为了使光荣的罗马帝国免于发生在叙利亚边境上一个小城市的街头暴乱。

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