世界小史 第156期:普通城市居民

 　　As you can imagine, many tried. If two rivals fought for power,

　　你可以想象，许多人都做过这样的尝试。

　　one might have the army and the patricians¹ on his side while the other had the support of the plebeians² and poor peasants.

　　有时一个人争取到军队和显贵的罗马人的支持，另一个则争取到普通城市居民和农民的支持。

　　And in a long drawn-out struggle, now one and now the other would be upper-most.

　　于是双方长期争权夺利，一会儿这一方，一会儿另一方占上风。

　　There were two such famous enemies called Marius and Sulla.

　　马略和苏拉便是两个这样的对手。

　　Mrius had been fighting in Africa and, several years later, took his army to rescue the Roman empire when it was in peril³.

　　马略曾在非洲打过仗，后来率领他的军队使罗马帝国摆脱一场可怕的劫难。

　　In 113 BC, barbarians⁴ from the north had invaded Italy (as the Dorians had Greece or, 700 years later, the Gauls had Rome).

　　公元前113年，野蛮而好战的部落（像当初多里安人入侵希腊，或700年以后高卢人入侵罗马）再次入侵意大利，

　　These invaders⁵ were the Cimbri and the Teutones, ancestors of today's Germans.

　　他们叫森布里人和条顿人，并与现在的德意志有亲缘关系。

　　They had fought so bravely that they had actually succeeded in putting the Roman legions to flight.

　　他们作战十分勇敢，他们甚至把罗马军团打得溃不成军，

　　But Marius and his army had been able to halt and defeat them.

　　只有马略率领阻挡他们并完全战胜了他们。

1 patricians   

n.（古罗马的）统治阶层成员( patrician的名词复数 )；贵族，显贵

参考例句：

• There was a conflict between plebs and patricians in ancient Rome in 494BC. 在公元前494年，罗马发生了一次平民反对贵族的斗争。 来自互联网

2 plebeians   

n.平民( plebeian的名词复数 )；庶民；平民百姓；平庸粗俗的人

参考例句：

3 peril   

n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物

参考例句：

• The refugees were in peril of death from hunger.难民有饿死的危险。
• The embankment is in great peril.河堤岌岌可危。

4 barbarians   

n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人

参考例句：

• The ancient city of Rome fell under the iron hooves of the barbarians. 古罗马城在蛮族的铁蹄下沦陷了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It conquered its conquerors, the barbarians. 它战胜了征服者——蛮族。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

5 invaders   

入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They prepared to repel the invaders. 他们准备赶走侵略军。
• The family has traced its ancestry to the Norman invaders. 这个家族将自己的世系追溯到诺曼征服者。