In the year 203 B.C. Scipio had crossed the African Sea and had carried the war into Africa.
公元前203年，西皮奥率军渡过阿非利加海，将战火烧到非洲。
Carthage had called Hannibal back. Badly supported by his mercenaries, Hannibal had been defeated near Zama.
迦太基紧急召回汉尼拔。由于汉尼拔率领的雇佣军士气低落，并不真心为迦太基而战，因此他在扎马附近被击败。
The Romans had asked for his surrender and Hannibal had fled to get aid from the kings of Macedonia and Syria, as I told you in my last chapter.
罗马人要求他投降，但汉尼拔逃往亚洲的叙利亚和马其顿寻求支持。这些是我在上一章告诉过你们的。
The rulers of these two countries (remnants of the Empire of Alexander the Great) just then were contemplating an expedition against Egypt.
叙利亚和马其顿的统治者（二者都是亚历山大的帝国分裂后的残余）当时正策划远征埃及，
They hoped to divide the rich Nile valley between themselves.
企图瓜分富饶的尼罗河谷。
The king of Egypt had heard of this and he had asked Rome to come to his support.
埃及国王听闻了风声，急忙向罗马人求援。
The stage was set for a number of highly interesting plots and counter-plots.
看样子，一连串富于戏剧性的阴谋与反阴谋即将上演。
But the Romans, with their lack of imagination, rang the curtain down before the play had been fairly started.
可是，一贯缺乏想象力的罗马人在大戏还未开演前就粗暴地拉上了帷幕。
Their legions completely defeated the heavy Greek phalanx which was still used by the Macedonians as their battle formation.
罗马军团 一举摧毁了马其顿人沿用的希腊重装步兵方阵。
That happened in the year 197 B.C. at the battle in the plains of Cynoscephal, or "Dogs' Heads," in central Thessaly.
这场战役发生在公元前197年，地点位于色萨利中部的辛诺塞法利平原，也称"狗头山"。
The Romans then marched southward to Attica and informed the Greeks that they had come to "deliver the Hellenes from the Macedonian yoke."
随后，罗马人向半岛南部的阿提卡进军，并通知希腊人，要把他们"从马其顿的重轭下解放出来"。
The Greeks, having learned nothing in their years of semi-slavery, used their new freedom in a most unfortunate way.
可多年的半奴役生涯，并未使希腊人学得聪明一点，他们把新获得的自由 耗费在最无意义事情上。