Yet, under Cyrus's leadership, they succeeded, through courage and guile1.
然而波斯人在居魯士的統(tǒng)率下因其機謀和勇敢精神卻終于成功了。
And so Cyrus became lord of that great realm.
于是居魯士便成為統(tǒng)治整個國家的君主,
His first act was to free all the peoples held in captivity2 by the Babylonians.
而他所做的第一件事便是釋放被巴比倫人監(jiān)禁的人們。
Among them were the Jews, who went home to Jerusalem (that was, as you remember, in 538 BC).
其中有猶太人,他們回到家鄉(xiāng)耶路撒冷(這是,就像你記得的,在公元前538年。)
Not content with his great kingdom, however, Cyrus marched on to conquer Egypt, only to die on the way.
然而居魯士還不滿足于他的大帝國的疆域,他繼續(xù)挺進,向埃及進軍,他在進軍途中死去。
But his son, Cambyses, succeeded. Egypt fell and the pharaoh was deposed3.
但是他的兒子岡比西斯成功了。他征服了埃及并推翻了法老的統(tǒng)治。
That was the end of the Egyptian empire, which had lasted almost 3,000 years!
這便是存在了將近3000年之久的埃及帝國的滅亡!
And with its end, this little Persian tribe became master of nearly all the known world.
這樣,這個波斯小民族幾乎成為整個當時為人們所知的世界的統(tǒng)治者。
But only nearly: they hadn't yet swallowed up Greece. That was still to come.
但是還差一點兒,因為他們還沒有把希臘吞下?,F(xiàn)在該輪到與希臘人的斗爭了。