世界小史 第158期:角斗士

 　　They were treated as goods, bought and sold like cattle.

　　人们像经营商品那样经营他们，像买卖公牛或山羊那样买卖他们。

　　Slave owners could do what they liked with their slaves – even kill them.

　　谁买了一个奴隶，谁便是这个奴隶的主人。他可以随意处置他，也可以处死他，

　　Slaves had no rights at all.

　　奴隶们没有任何权利。

　　Some masters sold them to fight with wild beasts in the arena¹, where they were known as gladiators.

　　有些主人出卖他们，让他们去参加剧场里的搏斗，他们必须在剧场里与野兽搏斗，这样的奴隶叫角斗士。

　　On one occasion the gladiators rebelled against this treatment.

　　有一次角斗士们奋起反抗他们受到这样的待遇。

　　They were urged on by a slave called Spartacus, and many slaves from the country estates rallied to him.

　　一个名叫斯巴达克的奴隶号召他们起来战斗，许多庄园里的奴隶响应他的号召。

　　They fought with a ferocity born of desperation and the Romans were hard put to suppress the revolt, for which the slaves paid a terrible price.

　　他们全力以赴拼死作战，罗马人费尽周折才打败奴隶大军。他们当然进行可怕的报复，

　　That was in 71 BC.

　　这发生在公元前71年的事。

　　By this time new generals had become the darlings of the Roman populace.

　　在这段时间里，新的统帅受到罗马人们的爱戴。

　　The most popular of them all was Gaius Julius Caesar.

　　最突出的一个就是：盖尤斯.儒略.凯撒。

　　He too knew how to win the hearts of the masses, and had raised colossal² sums of money for magnificent festivals and gifts of grain.

　　他像别人一样善于借来大笔钱财，为民众举办精彩的庆典并把粮食赠送给他们，但是他还善于做更多的事。

　　But more than that, he was a truly great general, one of the greatest there has ever been.

　　他确实是一位伟大的统帅，前所未有的最 伟大的统帅之一。

1 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

2 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。