视听文本

The Romans had held both halves of the Empire together for three major reasons.
罗马人能把东西两个帝国统一起来主要有3个原因。
First the Romans willingness to embrace Greek culture had made it easy to rule
首先，罗马人愿意继承希腊文化，这让他们更容易统治
the Greek speaking peoples of the Empires eastern half.
东部地区，那些使用希腊语的人。
Two Augustus' success at fixing the dead Roman republic and balancing civilian and military power had made the Pax Romana possible.
其次，奥古斯都成功地挽救了垂死的罗马共和国，平衡了平民力量和军事力量，使罗马帝国统治下的和平成为可能。
Third the Romans were just plain lucky, lucky that no evil empire or marauding Barbarians had been knocking down Rome's doors or to be more precise Rome's limes but by Theodosius' death the Greek and Roman cultures had fused as much as they were going to fuse and now they were starting to split along religious lines. The Pax Romana now existed only in fits and starts.
第三，罗马人很幸运。幸运没有邪恶的帝国或者劫掠的蛮族前来敲响罗马的大门。准确地说，是罗马的疆界。在狄奥多西死之前，罗马文明和希腊文明已经最大程度地融合在一起了。现在，二者要因为宗教原因而走向分裂。罗马帝国统治下的和平只断断续续地存在。

Finally, the Roman world was beset by dangerous enemies on almost all sides.
最后，罗马几乎是四面都受到强敌的围攻夹击。
Neither Arcadias nor Honorius was cut out to rule half of the Roman Empire.
无论是阿卡狄乌斯还是霍诺里乌斯都无力统治东西罗马帝国。
Honorius indeed was said to be such a dimbulb that "Roma" to him meant only the name of his pet chicken.
据说，霍诺里乌斯很愚蠢。“罗马城”对他来说，只是他一只小鸡宠物的名字。
Rome had come down quite a bit in other ways too.
罗马城在其他方面也每况愈下。
It had become more or less a provincial backwater thanks to its distance from the military flashpoints of the Western Empire.
由于它和西罗马帝国的军事冲突地点相去甚远，差不多已经成为了遥远地方的一汪死水。
Beginning in 402 AD Honorius would rule the Western Empire from Ravenna in Italy's far north-west,
402年以后，霍诺里乌斯龟缩在拉韦纳统治其以外的西罗马帝国，拉韦纳在意大利西北角。
an isolated garrison town surrounded by marshes and far closer to the Danube and Rhine frontiers.
是个严密布防的孤立小镇，四周沼泽环绕，更加靠近莱茵河和多瑙河的边境。
Arcadias, meanwhile, ruled from the growing city of Constantinople,
阿卡狄乌斯则统治着日益兴旺的城市即君士坦丁堡，
already a military centre and fast becoming the cultural centre of the Eastern Empire.
它已经是军事中心了，很快将成为东罗马帝国的文明中心。
Both Arcadias and Honorius left the real work of running the Empire to German generals and/or trusted confidents, each was succeeded by a rush of puppet emperors who were controlled by more of the usual generals and trusted confidents.
阿卡狄乌斯和霍诺里乌斯其实都把统治罗马的真正重任给了日耳曼将军和亲信。随后，东西罗马帝国都出现了若干傀儡皇帝，被更多的日耳曼军事首领和亲信玩弄于鼓掌之间。

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：