美国学生人类历史 第114期:教会之兴(1)

 Chapter 27 Rise of the church 第二十七章 教会之兴

How Rome became the center of the Christian¹ world 罗马如何成为基督教世界的中心新教徒到来

The average intelligent Roman who lived under the Empire had taken very little interest in the gods of his fathers. 生活在帝国时代的普通罗马知识分子，他们对祖先们世代敬拜的神抵并无多大兴趣。

A few times a year he went to the temple, but merely as a matter of custom. 他们每年定期去神庙朝拜几次，不是由于信仰，仅仅是出于对习俗的尊重而已。

He looked on patiently when the people celebrated² a religious festival with a solemn procession. 当人们神情肃穆地列队游行，庆祝某个重大的宗教节日时，他们只是耐心而宽容的冷眼旁观，少有参与。

But he regarded the worship of Jupiter and Minerva and Neptune³ as something rather childish, a survival from the crude days of the early republic 在他们眼里，罗马人对朱庇特（众神之王）、密涅瓦（智慧女神）、尼普顿（海神）的崇拜是些幼稚可笑的东西，属于共和国初创时期简陋的遗留物。

and not a fit subject of study for a man who had mastered the works of the Stoics⁴ and the Epicureans and the other great philosophers of Athens. 对于一个精研斯多葛学派、伊壁鸠鲁学派和其他伟大雅典哲学家的著作的人来说，它显然不是一个合适的课题。

This attitude made the Roman a very tolerant man. 这种态度使得罗马人对宗教信仰非常宽容。

The government insisted that all people, Romans, foreigners, Greeks, Babylonians, Jews, should pay a certain outward respect to the image of the Emperor which was supposed to stand in every temple, 政府规定，所有人民，无论罗马人、侨居罗马的外国人、以及接受罗马统治的希腊人、巴比伦人、犹太人等等，他们都应该对按法律竖立在所有神庙中的皇帝像表示某种形式的敬意。

just as a picture of the President of the United States is apt to hang in an American Post Office. 这就像好多美国邮局挂有总统画像，让人们可以行行注目礼。

But this was a formality without any deeper meaning. 但这仅仅是一种形式，并无更深的含义。

Generally speaking everybody could honour, revere⁵ and adore whatever gods he pleased, 一般来讲，每一个罗马公民都有权赞颂、崇敬、爱慕他个人喜欢的神。

and as a result, Rome was filled with all sorts of queer little temples and synagogues, dedicated⁶ to the worship of Egyptian and African and Asiatic divinities. 这种宗教宽容的结果就是，罗马各地遍布形形色色、奇奇怪怪的小神庙和小教堂，里面敬拜着源自埃及、非洲、亚洲的各式各样的神抵。

1 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 Neptune   

n.海王星

参考例句：

• Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun.海王星是离太阳最远的行星。
• Neptune turned out to be a dynamic,stormy world.海王星原来是个有生气、多风暴的世界。

4 stoics   

禁欲主义者，恬淡寡欲的人，不以苦乐为意的人( stoic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Stoics I can handle this shit. 斯多葛：我能掌握这大便。
• The most famous exercise of meditation is the premeditatio mallorum as practiced by the Stoics. 冥思最著名的练习是禁欲学派所实行的[消灾冥思]。

5 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。

6 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。