视听文本

Segment 14a: Introduction
14章 第一部分 简介
To this day most people assume that the entire Roman Empire fell in 476 AD with a boy Emperor named Romulus Augustus
直到今天还有很多人认为整个罗马帝国在公元476年灭亡，年幼的皇帝罗慕路·奥古斯都路斯被废黜。
and that the Mediterranean world immediately descended into chaos afterward.
地中海国家随之立即陷入混乱。
The western Emperor Romulus Augustus did indeed step down in 476 AD,
西罗马帝国的皇帝罗慕路·奥古斯都路斯的确是在公元476年退位的，
I know this much is true, but most people forget that the tetrarchy officially divided the west Empire into a western,
我知道，这点没错，但是人们都忘记了罗马四帝共治。事实上已经正式把西罗马帝国分成了东西两个部分，
Latin speaking half and an eastern, Greek speaking half,
东部地区使用拉丁语，而西部地区使用希腊语，

as we will see, ruling the entire Roman Empire was just barely possible even for a strong Emperor like Constantine the Great,
我们都知道，要统治整个罗马帝国，连君士坦丁大帝这样的强硬人物都几乎有些困难，
for a weak Emperor it was downright impossible and it's lord heaven luck had it,
对于软弱的皇帝来说，就更不可能了，
the eastern half was far more coherent than the western half.
东罗马比西罗马幸运历史更加连贯，清晰一致。
Segment 14b: Rome as a Christian Empire
14章 第二部分 基督教罗马帝国
discusses the Christianization processes of the Roman world, which was hardly the alleged "blank cheque" written by Constantine.
罗马帝国皈依基督教的过程并不是像君士坦丁大帝所声称的那样，之前完全是一张“空白支票”。
In fact the 313 AD edict of Milan merely tolerated the Christian faith, it was better than what they had before.
事实上313年颁布的米兰赦令已经容忍了基督教信仰的存在。
Although Constantine personally supported Christianity and he founded his new capital of Constantinople as a Christian city,
这已经超越了以往的历次法令，虽然君士坦丁本人支持基督教，并把新都君士坦丁堡建成了基督教城，
he himself did not become a Christian until just before his death in 337 AD.
但他在337年去世一直之前都不是一个基督教徒。
The fact that all of Constantine's successors, except for one, the Pagan, Julian the Apostate,
事实上，所有君士坦丁的继任者除了一个异教徒即背教者朱利安以外，
were Christians sped up the process of Christianisation.
其他都是基督教徒，这加速了基督化进程。
But Paganism would not be made illegal for another half century and the Christians very quickly began persecuting each other
但之后的半个世纪，异教信仰都不视为违法，基督教徒却很快开始互相迫害致死，
even more viciously than the Pagans had persecuted them.
手段比异教徒对基督教徒的迫害还要残忍可怕。

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：