视听文本

Four. The Seeds That They Let Grow.?The Romans,

第四，任它生长的种子?

nevertheless, ignored certain glaring problems

但是罗马人忽略了某些显眼的问题

until they became catastrophic. Among these

最终造成了毁灭

were the decline of the small farmer class,

包括小农阶级的衰落

the refusal of full Roman citizenship to all Italian

拒绝所有意大利同盟获得罗马完全公民权

allies, and general political corruption.

已经将军的政治腐败

Allowing the small farmer class to disintegrate in

让小农阶级在罗马的征服战争中衰落

Rome's wars of conquest, and allowing the

纵容大庄园制

latifundia to push the survivors out of business

把幸存者赶出商业竞争

was a big mistake and led to the rise of client armies.

都是很大的错误并导致了个人军队的崛起

The solution would not have been simple but the

解决办法不会容易

Gracchi paid with their lives for trying to find one.

但是格拉古付出了生命来寻找一个解决办法

Refusal to allow all Italian allies to become citizens

拒绝意大利同盟成为公民这一问题可以通过

could have been fixed with the passage of a law,

法律来解决

but it took the death of Livius Drusus, the Social War,

但是苏斯用生命以及经过同盟者战争

and the war against Mithridates to teach the Romans

和反对米特达拉提的战争来给

that particualr lesson. Finally, political corruption

罗马人上了一课

made a mockery of the annual elections,

最后，政治腐败让每年的选举变为笑柄

with its rampant bribery and other back door deals.

贿赂横行，到处充斥着走后门的交易

Optimates jockeyed with populares and populares

贵族派欺骗平民派

jockeyed with optimates, when each was basically

平民派欺骗贵族派

just a somewhat different side of the same sad coin.

他们只是同一个可悲硬币的两个不同面而已

Whoever had the most money and the most clients

谁拥有了最多的钱和最多的追随者

usually won, which did not bode well for actual

通常会赢，而这并不预示着真正的民主

democracy. As one of Rome's old enemies observed,

在罗马的老敌人眼中

Rome was a truly a city for sale.

罗马是真正可以买卖的城市

视频及简介

课程介绍:
本课程对罗马帝国和前苏联的兴衰进行回顾，探讨它们历史变迁的内在规律，并将现代的超级大国——美国与它们进行比较，从而作出对未来可能的一些预测。

原声视频：