世界小史 第163期:誦讀字母順序
Whenever he felt his temper1 rising, he slowly recited the alphabet in his head, and by the time he had reached the end he had calmed down.
每逢他發(fā)怒時(shí)，他便總是默默誦讀字母順序，這會(huì)花去他的一些時(shí)間，然后他又頭腦清醒了。
This tells you what he was like: cool-headed, a man who ruled the empire fairly and wisely.
所以他根本就是一個(gè)頭腦清醒的人，能夠公正地管理著遼闊的帝國。
He wasn't only a warrior2 and he didn't only enjoy going to gladiator fights.
他是一個(gè)能征善戰(zhàn)的人，而且他愛看角斗表演。
He lived simply and appreciated fine sculpture and fine poetry.
他過著非常儉樸的生活，對(duì)美好的塑像和美好的詩很有鑒賞力。
And because the Romans were less gifted than the Greeks at such things, he had copies made of all the finest Greek statues and placed them in his palaces and gardens.
由于羅馬人不能像當(dāng)時(shí)希臘人那樣善于雕塑和寫詩，他就讓人模仿希臘人的最美的藝術(shù)作品并將其擺放在他的宮殿和花園里。
The Roman poets of his time – and they are the most famous of all the Roman poets – also took the poems of the Greeks as their models.
他那個(gè)時(shí)代的羅馬詩人，都是最著名的羅馬詩人，也將盡可能像希臘人那樣寫詩而努力。
For even in those days people thought that all the most beautiful things came from Greece.
希臘人是他們的楷模，希臘作品在當(dāng)時(shí)就已經(jīng)被認(rèn)為是最美好的作品，
And for the same reason it was considered a sign of distinction for a Roman to speak Greek, to read the ancient Greek poets and to collect Greek works3 of art.
所以講希臘語、讀希臘詩人的作品和收集希臘藝術(shù)品，這在羅馬也是一種高貴的行為。
This was lucky for us, for if they hadn't, we might never have heard about any of it.
這是我們的一件幸事，因?yàn)榧偃缌_馬人沒有這樣做的話，那么我們今天也許對(duì)所有這些事物便會(huì)懵然無知了。
