书城英文图书美国学生世界历史
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第36章 被看做神明的皇帝

A persn is famus wh has a twnr a street named after himr her.

Will yu ever d anything great enugh t have even an alley named after yu?

Just suppse a mnth,nef the twelve mnthsf the year, was given yur name!

Millins upn millinsf peple wuld then write and speak yur name frever!

I"m ging t tell yu abut a man wh ntnly had a mnth named after him but wh was made a gd!

After Caesar had been killed, three men ruled the Rman Empire.nef these three men was Antny, the friendf Caesar, wh made the famus speechver his dead bdy. The secnd was Caesar"s adpted sn, wh was namedctavius. The namef the third yu dn"t need t knw, fr Antny andctavius sn gt ridf him. Then n sner had they frced himut than eachf these tw began t plt t get the sharef thether.

Antny"s share,ver which he ruled, was the eastern partf the empire. The capitalf this part was Alexandria in Egypt, hence Antny went there t live.

In Egypt Antny fell in lve with Clepatra, as Caesar befre him had dne,and he finally married her.

ctavius, in the west, which was his share, then made warn Antny and Clepatra tgether, and in the end beat them bth. Antny felt s bad at being beaten byctavius that he cmmitted suicide.

His widw, Clepatra, thereupn, flirted withctavius as she had with Julius Caesar and Antny, hping t make him als fall in lve with her and s win him in that way.

It was n use.ctavius was a different kindf man frm bth Julius Caesar and Antny. He was cld-blded and businesslike. He had n heart fr lve- making. He wuld nt let a wman charm himr turn him aside frm his plan, which was t be the greatest man in the wrld!

Clepatra saw that it was n use trying t fl him. Then she heard that she was ging t be taken back t Rme and paraded thrugh the streets, as wasdne with anyther prisners taken in battle. She culd nt stand such a shame as that, and s she made up her mind she wuld nt be taken back t Rme.

Nw, in Egypt there is a kindf snake called an asp, which is deadly pisnus. Takingnef these asps in her hand, she uncvered her breast and let it bite her, and s she died.

ctavius was nw rulerver all the cuntries that belnged t Rme, and when he returned hme t that city, the peple hailed him Emperr. He then gave up the namectavius and had himself called Augustus Caesar, which is like saying, His Majesty, Caesar. This was in 27 B.C. The Rmans had gt ridf their kings in 509. Frm nwn Rme had emperrs, wh were mre than kings, fr they ruledver many cuntries.

ctavius, nw with his name changed t Augustus Caesar, wasnly thirty- six yearsld when he became sle masterf the Rman wrld. Rme was the great capitalf this vast empire.

Augustus set t wrk t make Rme a beautiful city. He tre dwn a great manyf theld buildings madef brick and put up in their place a remarkable numberf new and handsme buildingsf marble. Augustus always bragged that he fund Rme brick and left it marble.

nef the finest buildings in Rme, the Panthen was built. Panthen means the templef all the gds. D nt mix this with the Parthenn in Athens, fr the tw buildings are quite different, and thugh the names lk smething alike and sund smething alike, they mean quite different things. Parthenn is frm the gddess Athena Parthens; Panthen is frm the tw wrds Pan then, which means all gds.

Rman Panthen ( 罗马万神庙 )

The Panthen has a great dme madef brick and mrtar. This dme is shaped like a bwl turned upside dwn, and in the very centerf the tpf the dme is a rundpening called an eye. Thispen eye is thenly "windw" in the building, but thrugh it, evenn a cludy day, enugh light cmes s that yu can clearly see the whle handsme interir.

S magnificent did the city becme with all these wnderful buildings, and s permanently did it seem t be built, that it was knwn as The Eternal City and is still s spkenf.

There was a public square in Rme called the Frum. Here markets were held and the peple came tgether fr all srtsf things. Arund the Frum were erected temples t the gds, curt-huses, andther public buildings. The curt-huses were smething like the temples that the Greeks built,nly the clumns were putn the insidef the building insteadfn theutside.

Triumphal arches als were erected t celebrate great victries. When a cnquering her returned frm the war, he and his army passed thrugh such an arch in a triumphal parade.

There had been in Rme a great amphitheater that is suppsed t have held mre peple than any structure that has ever been built-tw hundred thusand, it is said,r mre than all the peple wh live in sme gd-sized cities. This was called the Circus Maximus. It was at last trn dwn t make rm frther buildings.

Anther amphitheater was the Clsseum, but this was nt built until sme time after Augustus had died. It held abut the same number as the largest stadium in this cuntry des tday. Here were held thse fights between men, called gladiatrs, and wild animals that I have already tld yu abut. It is still standing, and, thugh it is in ruins, yu can sit in the same seats where theld Rman emperrs did, see the dens where the wild animals were kept, the drs where they were let int the arena, and even bldy marks that are said t be the stains made by the slain men and beasts.

S many famus writers lived at the timef Augustus that this has been called the Augustan Age. Twf the best knwn Latin pets lived at this time. These pets were Virgil and Hrace. Virgil wrte the ?neid, which tldf the wanderingsf ?neas, the Trjan, wh settled in Italy, and was the great-great- great-grandfatherf Rmulus and Remus. Hrace wrte many shrt pems calleddes. They were lng sngsf shepherds and shepherdesses and sngsf the farm and cuntry life. Peple liked his sngs, and many still name their sns after him.

When Augustus Caesar died, he was made a gd because he had dne s much fr Rme; temples were built in which he was wrshiped, and the mnthf August was named after him.

【中文阅读】

如果一个城市或街道是以一个人的名字命名的,那么这个人一定很出名。 你将来会不会做点了不起的大事,甚至能让一条小街以你的名字命名呢? 设想一下,假如一年中的某个月份是以你的名字命名的! 那么,千千万万的人从此以后就会经常写下和说出你的名字了! 我要给你讲的这个人,人们不但以他的名字命名一个月份,而且还把他奉为神灵呢!

恺撒被杀之后,三个人在统治罗马帝国。这三人中的一个就是恺撒的朋友安东 尼,正是他在恺撒的遗体旁发表了那篇著名的演说。另一个是恺撒的义子,名叫屋 大维。还有一个人的名字你就不必知道了,因为安东尼和屋大维很快就把他除掉了。 但是,这个人刚刚被除掉,另外两个就开始钩心斗角,想要谋取对方的领地。

安东尼统治的那部分是帝国的东部。这部分的都城是埃及的亚历山大城,所以 他就去那里居住。

在埃及,安东尼像之前的恺撒一样,也爱上了克娄巴特拉,最后娶了她。 帝国西部属于屋大维,但屋大维并不甘心只在西部,他向安东尼和克娄巴特拉发起战争,并最终打败了他们。安东尼被屋大维打败后非常难过,受不了就自杀了。 他的遗孀克娄巴特拉随即向屋大维调情,一如她过去向恺撒和安东尼调情一样,希望自己的魅力也让屋大维爱上自己,从而赢得他的信任。 这样做没有用。屋大维与恺撒和安东尼不是同一类的人。他冷酷无情,讲求实际。他对谈情说爱不感兴趣,他可不会被一个女人迷住,或者不会因为女人放弃自 己雄心勃勃的计划,他的目的是要成为世界上最伟大的人!

克娄巴特拉看出用美色诱惑屋大维丝毫没用。然后,她还听说她要被带回罗马, 要被游行示众,凡是从战场上带回的俘虏都要受到这样的处置。她无法忍受这样的 羞辱,因此,她决意不能被带回罗马。

埃及有一种毒蛇叫"角蝰",其毒性剧烈,足以致命。她解开胸前的衣服,手拿 一条角蝰,让它咬了一口,她就这样死了。

屋大维现在是罗马所有属地的统治者,当他回到罗马的时候,罗马人民欢呼拥 立他为"皇帝"。他随后放弃了"屋大维"这个名字,让别人称自己"奥古斯都 恺 撒",就像通常尊称的"恺撒陛下"。这是在公元前 27 年。罗马在公元前 509 年废除 了国王,从现在开始,罗马有了皇帝,皇帝比国王的权利更大,因为皇帝统治着很 多国家。

改名为奥古斯都 恺撒的屋大维在成为罗马帝国唯一的元首的时候,只有 36岁。罗马是这个庞大帝国的都城,其地位现在更是非同寻常。 奥古斯都开始集中心思,要将罗马变成一座美丽的城市。他拆掉了很多用砖造的旧建筑,在原地用大理石建起大量堂皇的新建筑。奥古斯都总是夸口说他得到的罗马是砖做的,而留下了的罗马却是大理石造的。 罗马最精美的建筑之一万神庙建成了。"万神庙"的意思就是所有神灵的庙宇。

不要把万神庙和雅典的帕台农神庙混淆了,因为这两座建筑物差别很大,虽然它们 的英语名字拼写和读音都有点像,但却分别表示不同的意思。帕台农神庙得名于女 神雅典娜 帕台农;"万神庙"(Panthen)是由两个希腊语单词 Pan(所有的)和 then(神)组成,意思就是"所有的神"。

万神庙有个用砖和砂浆砌成的巨大的圆屋顶。这个圆屋顶的形状像一只倒扣的 碗,穹顶的正中有个圆孔,叫做"眼睛"。这只睁开的"眼睛"是这座建筑唯一的 "窗户",但是,即使是在阴天,也有足够的光线透过它射进来,让你清楚地看到整 个神殿富丽堂皇的内部。

有了这些辉煌的建筑,罗马城变得宏伟壮观,似乎建成后会永世长存,以至于 被称作"不朽城",现在还有人这么称呼罗马。

罗马有个公共广场,叫做"公共集会场所"。这里有很多集市,人们都来这儿买 各种各样的东西。广场四周建起了神庙、法庭和其他公共建筑物。罗马法庭建得有 点像希腊人的庙宇,只不过圆柱是建在建筑物的里面,而不是外面。

为了庆祝重大胜利,一些凯旋门也建起来了。当远征的英雄从战场凯旋的时候, 他和他的军队就会以庆祝胜利的游行队伍的方式穿过这样一座拱门。

罗马曾有一座巨大的露天圆形竞技场,据推测,它容纳的人数比迄今为止所建 的任何一座建筑物都多--能容纳二十万人,据说比某些大城市的居民人数都多。 它叫"大竞技场"。最后,为了给其他建筑物腾出地方,把它拆掉了。

另一座露天圆形竞技场就是"大斗兽场",但它是在奥古斯都死后一段时间才建 造的。它容纳的人数和这个国家现在最大的体育场一样多。这儿举行过那些角斗士 之间和角斗士与兽之间的格斗,关于这种格斗我已经介绍过了。这个斗兽场现在还 在那里,虽然它已经破败不堪,但是你还能坐在古罗马皇帝曾经坐过的位子上,看 到那些关押野兽的洞穴,野兽被放入斗兽场经过的门,甚至还能看到一些血的斑点, 据说是被杀死的人和野兽留下的血迹。

奥古斯都在位的时候,出现了很多著名的作家,所以这个时期被称作"奥古斯 都时代"。最著名的两个拉丁诗人就生活在这个时代。这两位诗人就是维吉尔和贺拉 斯。维吉尔写了《埃涅阿斯记》,讲述的是特洛伊人埃涅阿斯在特洛伊陷落以后的流 浪故事。埃涅阿斯最后在罗马定居下来,他就是罗马城的开创者罗慕洛和瑞摩斯的 曾、曾、曾祖父。贺拉斯写了很多叫做"颂歌"的短诗。这些诗歌颂了牧羊人和牧 羊女的爱情和田园乡村生活。人们喜欢他的诗歌,即使现在许多人还给他们的儿子 取名为贺拉斯。

在奥古斯都死后,他被奉为神明,因为他为罗马作出了巨大的贡献。人们为他 建造了庙宇,把他作为神来崇拜,并且以他的名字命名八月这个月份。