视听文本

As imperial powers went the roman hand fell very lightly on the East during the time of the Pax Romano.
在罗马和平时期，罗马帝国对于东部地区的干涉非常少。
In the far less urbanized west the Roman culture did not have to compete with Hellenistic ways it therefore established deeper roots and did so more quickly.
在欠城市化的西部地区，罗马文化不需要与希腊文化竞争，因此扎根更深，也更快。
In northern Africa and coastal Spain, once Carthaginian territory,
在北非和原本是迦太基的西班牙海滨地区，
great cities already existed and were allowed much the same rights as Greek cities.
大城市已经存在了，它们和希腊城市一样 拥有了同样的权利。
In the roman provinces of Spain, Gaul, Germany and Britain however people passed more or less directly from tribal government and tribal culture to an urban culture and roman citizenship.
在西班牙，高卢，德国和英国的罗马行省中，人们直接从部落政府部落文化一跃到了城市文化和罗马公民身份。

Latin was never more than a second or third language, however important it was in the Greek east.
不管拉丁语在希腊东部有多重要，都只是第二，第三外语。
But in the Romanized western provinces Latin or some variant of Latin became the native tongue.
但是在罗马化的西部行省，拉丁或变体拉丁语已经成了当地人的母语。
To these former tribal people the divinity of the Roman Empire and the Roman emperor made perfect sense.
对于这些前部落人民而言，罗马帝国和罗马皇帝的神圣性。
Accepting the imperial call was no problem for them, since the Romans were the first to bring urban civilization to most of Western Europe
毋庸置疑，对他们而言，接受帝国的召唤当然不成问题，因为罗马人首先把城市文明带到了西欧大部分地区，
the West's great cities tend to have developed out of Roman military bases such as Lundenium, and Lutitia Parosorum.
西部的大城市倾向于从罗马军事基地发展而来，例如伦敦等。
As we have seen the Roman Empire brought the benefits of Roman government and law to an enormous territory.
我们看到 罗马帝国把罗马政府和法律的益处传播到了非常广袤的地区。
At the same time the Romans willingly accepted what other cultures had to offer.
与此同时，罗马也非常乐于接受其它文化。
Especially in the case of the Greeks, whose science, art, literature and philosophy
尤其是希腊文化，科学文学艺术和哲学，
the Romans had assimilated as Hellenism long before the republic fell.
罗马在共和国衰亡之前就已经同化了希腊。
The Romans also embraced the influence of other eastern civilizations such as the Jews,
罗马人也吸收了其它东部文明的影响，例如犹太文明
the Persian, the Babylonians and the ancient Egyptians.
波斯文明，巴比伦文明和古埃及文明。
Jews, Egyptians, Persians and ancient Egyptians were allowed to become roman citizens and Rome was again that much the richer for the needed new blood.
犹太人，埃及人，波斯人，和古埃及人都被允许可以成为罗马公民，罗马再次得到了所需的新鲜血液。
Many of these new Romans, men and women alike rose to high and responsible positions in roman life.
这些新罗马人，不管男女都在罗马生活中攀到了高位。
For a nation so fixated on its own Mos Majorum, so in love with the way of its own elders the Romans demonstrated a surprisingly amazing ability to adapt.
罗马这样依恋自己祖先遗风的国家，这样喜欢自己祖先的方式的国家表现出了惊人的适应能力。
Back in one second.
休息一下，回来再讲。

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：