纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 035奥古斯都头像(1)

His bronze, over life-sized head gives a brutally¹ clear message: I am great; I am your leader and I stand far above everyday politics. And yet, ironically, we have this commanding head here at the Museum only because it was captured by an enemy and then humiliatingly² buried. The glory of Augustus is not quite as unalloyed as he wanted us to believe.

这尊比真人略大的青铜头像传达出清晰的信息：我很伟大，我是你的君主，凌驾于一切日常国政之上。但讽刺的是，这尊头像曾被罗马的敌军缴获，颇为屈辱地被埋了起来，最后才来到大英博物馆。奥古斯都的荣光并不像他自己想象中那样完美无瑕。

Augustus was Julius Caesar's great-nephew. The assassination³ of Caesar in 44 BC left Augustus the heir to his fortune and to his power. He was only 19, and he was suddenly catapulted into a key role in the politics of the Roman Republic. Known at that point as Octavian, he quickly outshone all his peers in the scramble⁴ for absolute power.

奥古斯都是恺撒大帝的甥孙。公元前四十四年，恺撒遭到暗杀，奥古斯都继承了他的财富与权力。管理罗马共和国的重任猛然落到了年仅十九岁的他肩上。当时他还叫屋大维，在争夺绝对统治权的斗争中，他迅速战胜了所有对手。

The pivotal moment in his rise was the defeat of Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at the battle of Actium in 31 BC. Already holding Italy, France, Spain, Libya and the Balkans, Augustus now followed the example of Alexander the Great and seized the richest prize of them all-Egypt. The immense wealth of the Nile kingdom was now at his disposal. He made Egypt part of Rome-and then turned the Roman Republic into his personal empire. Across that empire, statues of the new ruler would now be erected⁵. There were already hundreds of statues portraying⁶ him as Octavian, the man-of-action party leader, but in 27 BC the Senate acknowledged his political supremacy⁷, and awarded him the honorific title of Augustus-"the revered⁸ one". This new status called for a quite different kind of image, and that is what our head shows.

公元前三十一年击败安东尼与克里奥佩特拉的亚克兴海战成为他崛起的关键。在将意大利、法国、西班牙、利比亚和巴尔干半岛收入囊中之后，奥古斯都效仿亚历山大大帝占领了最富庶的埃及。尼罗河王国的巨大财富尽在他的掌握之中。他把埃及变成了罗马的一个行省，之后又把罗马共和国变为了他个人的帝国。在帝国境内，各处都树起了新君的雕像。事实上，作为一位雷厉风行的统领，刻画屋大维的雕像已有数百尊之多，但公元前二十七年，元老院授予他奥古斯都的头衔，意为神圣者，以确认他在政治上的无上特权。新的地位需要新的头像来展现，本文中的头像便应运而生。

1 brutally   

adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地

参考例句：

• The uprising was brutally put down.起义被残酷地镇压下去了。
• A pro-democracy uprising was brutally suppressed.一场争取民主的起义被残酷镇压了。

2 humiliatingly   

参考例句：

• The painting was reproduced humiliatingly small. 那幅画被临摹得很小，而且是小的可怜。

3 assassination   

n.暗杀；暗杀事件

参考例句：

• The assassination of the president brought matters to a head.总统遭暗杀使事态到了严重关头。
• Lincoln's assassination in 1865 shocked the whole nation.1865年，林肯遇刺事件震惊全美国。

4 scramble   

v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料

参考例句：

• He broke his leg in his scramble down the wall.他爬墙摔断了腿。
• It was a long scramble to the top of the hill.到山顶须要爬登一段长路。

5 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

6 portraying   

v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• The artist has succeeded in portraying my father to the life. 那位画家把我的父亲画得惟妙惟肖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Ding Ling was good at portraying figures through careful and refined description of human psychology. 《莎菲女士的日记》是丁玲的成名作，曾引起强烈的社会反响。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

7 supremacy   

n.至上；至高权力

参考例句：

• No one could challenge her supremacy in gymnastics.她是最优秀的体操运动员，无人能胜过她。
• Theoretically,she holds supremacy as the head of the state.从理论上说，她作为国家的最高元首拥有至高无上的权力。

8 revered   

v.崇敬，尊崇，敬畏( revere的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of institutions revered and respected in earlier times have become Aunt Sally for the present generation. 一些早年受到尊崇的惯例，现在已经成了这代人嘲弄的对象了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven. 中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。 来自辞典例句