European Civilization, 1648-1945 Lecture 2 | European Civilization, 1648-1945

Professor Freedman: I always find Labor Day particularly annoying, because I have a job where I can set my own schedule, and I don’t have a nine-to-five job.

弗里德曼教授：我总是觉得劳动节特别烦人，因为我有一份可以自己安排日程的工作，而且我没有朝九晚五的工作。

And most of my neighbors envy me because it looks like I don't have to work very hard.

我的大多数邻居都羡慕我，因为看起来我不需要很努力地工作。

And I gave up a long time ago telling them that I did.

我很久以前就放弃了，告诉他们我已经放弃了。

But Labor Day, nobody else is working, and here we are.

但是劳动节，没有其他人在工作，而我们在这里。

So points for us.

所以给我们加分。

But the advantage of talking to you, even on an inconvenient day, is Diocletian.

但即使是在不方便的日子，与您交谈的优势就是戴克里先。

We don't use terms in the professional world of history like awesome very much.

我们在历史专业领域中很少使用“真棒”这样的术语。

But the guy certainly deserves that.

但这家伙当然值得。

He rescued the Roman Empire, and we'll begin by saying what he rescued it from.

他拯救了罗马帝国，我们首先要说的是他拯救了罗马帝国。

As a preliminary, the sections are meeting this week.

作为初步工作，各部门将于本周举行会议。

If you're wait-listed for a section, just go to it.

如果您已在某个部分的候补名单中，请直接前往该部分。

We will have enough sections for however many people take this course, right?

无论有多少人参加这门课程，我们都会有足够的部分，对吧？

So there are currently four.

所以目前有四个。

The additional ones that were added since last week are Wednesday at 2:30 and Thursday at 7:00.

自上周以来新增的时间为周三 2:30 和周四 7:00。

And again, if you're wait-listed, just go.

再说一次，如果你在候补名单上，那就去吧。

We'll figure this out.

我们会解决这个问题的。

There will be enough sections for everybody.

每个人都有足够的部分。

Chapter 2: Third Century Crisis and Barbarian Invasions [00:01:04]

第二章：三世纪危机和野蛮人入侵[00:01:04]

So I referred last time to the third century crisis--a crisis of the Roman Empire that preceded the accession of Diocletian, from 235 to 284.

所以我上次提到了第三世纪的危机——公元 235 年至 284 年戴克里先登基之前的罗马帝国危机。

And we mentioned several interrelated weaknesses of the Empire that might be seen as long-term causes of this crisis: the size of the Empire.

我们提到了帝国的几个相互关联的弱点，这些弱点可能被视为这场危机的长期原因：帝国的规模。

It's sheer, massive size.

它的尺寸绝对巨大。

The problem of succession.

继承问题。

That is, it was never quite clear, and we'll talk about this in more detail, how one emperor succeeded another.

也就是说，从来没有很清楚，我们将更详细地讨论一个皇帝如何继承另一个皇帝。

The urban-rural imbalance.

城乡失衡。

This was an empire built on cities.

这是一个建立在城市之上的帝国。

And to some extent, although heavily debated among historians to what extent, but to some extent, the cities may be said to have drained off the energy or been parasites to the productivity of the countryside.

在某种程度上，尽管历史学家们在多大程度上争论不休，但在某种程度上，城市可以说是耗尽了农村的能源，或者是农村生产力的寄生虫。

It was an empire that was, according to one point of view, more cosmopolitan than it had been, according to another point of view, more barbarian.

在一种观点看来，这是一个更加国际化的帝国，而在另一种观点看来，它更加野蛮。

In other words, this was an empire whose Roman population was less dominant, partly through its own success in co-opting other peoples.

换句话说，这个帝国的罗马人口并不占主导地位，部分原因是它自己成功地收编了其他民族。

Some of the peoples that it co-opted were not actually originally inhabitants of the Empire.

它吸纳的一些民族实际上并不是帝国的原始居民。

Particularly, this is visible in the armies, which tended to be staffed by so-called barbarian tribes-- so called by the Romans, who referred to them as barbarians.

这在军队中尤其明显，军队往往由所谓的野蛮部落组成——罗马人这样称呼他们，称他们为野蛮人。

Another problem is the East-West imbalance, where the East tends to do better economically and demographically than the West--demographically meaning population.

另一个问题是东西方的不平衡，东方在经济和人口方面（人口统计意义上的人口）往往比西方做得更好。

We live in a world where one of the great threats is over-population.

我们生活在一个最大的威胁之一就是人口过剩的世界。

It is therefore not self-evident, although true, that for most of the time, historically, most places have trouble reproducing their population.

因此，尽管事实如此，但在历史上的大多数时间里，大多数地方在人口繁衍上都遇到了困难，但这并不是不言自明的。

And indeed, we are starting to enter into a period of great demographic decline.

事实上，我们正开始进入人口大幅下降的时期。

The infant mortality, the low life expectancy, the death of women in childbirth, the prevalence of disease, and to some extent, military threats of invasion, or if not threats, the reality, made it hard for one generation to produce children to replace itself.

婴儿死亡率、预期寿命低、妇女在分娩时死亡、疾病流行，以及某种程度上的军事入侵威胁，或者说不是威胁，就是现实，使得一代人很难生育后代来取代自己。

And this is true up until the dawn of modernity.

直到现代性的黎明之前都是如此。

So these are fundamental problems of the Roman Empire.

所以这些都是罗马帝国的根本问题。

The real question is why do they explode in the third century?

真正的问题是为什么它们会在三世纪爆发？

And this is a question, as I think I said last week, with any great empire.

正如我上周所说，对于任何伟大的帝国来说，这都是一个问题。

It's easy to point to the flaws in a complicated system.

指出复杂系统中的缺陷很容易。

Often size is one of them.

通常尺寸就是其中之一。

Often bureaucracy.

常常是官僚主义。

Often overspending on the military.

军费经常超支。

But some of these go on for a very long time, more or less successfully, despite the flaws.

但其中一些项目持续了很长时间，尽管存在缺陷，但或多或​​少取得了成功。

And the Roman Empire went on longer than most, as we said.

正如我们所说，罗马帝国的存在时间比大多数帝国都长。

The immediate problems that explode in the third century are invasions and succession.

第三世纪爆发的直接问题是入侵和继承。

Invasions by, first of all, Persia.

首先是波斯的入侵。

Persia is the old enemy of the Roman Empire.

波斯是罗马帝国的宿敌。

Indeed, as many of you know, the old enemy of the Greek city-states that precede the Roman Empire as far back as the first historian of the Western tradition, Herodotus--first week of Directed Studies, for those of you who are nostalgic for that experience--Persia is the enemy.

事实上，正如你们许多人所知，早在罗马帝国之前的希腊城邦的宿敌，早在第一位西方传统历史学家希罗多德（希罗多德）——定向研究的第一周，对于那些怀念这段经历的人来说——波斯就是敌人。

Now we never study Persia.

现在我们从不研究波斯。

It's kind of like offstage all the time.

这有点像一直在舞台外。

And that's the great benefit of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.

这就是近东语言和文化系的巨大好处。

If you want to learn about Persia really from within, instead of oh, my God, the Persians.

如果你想真正从内部了解波斯，而不是哦，我的上帝，波斯人。

And it's oh, my God, the Persians in 370 [correction: 470] BC, and it's going to come to an end.

哦，天啊，公元前 370 年[更正：470]的波斯人，它就要结束了。

It is going to come to an end in the seventh century, but that's because of Islam - just to anticipate.

它将在七世纪结束，但那是因为伊斯兰教——只是预料到的。

But in the third century, Persia becomes resurgent.

但到了第三世纪，波斯开始复兴。

Having been rather passive, it has this frontier with the Roman Empire in the East.

由于处于相当被动的状态，它与东方的罗马帝国有这个边界。

More or less, buffer states are Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, and Armenia.

或多或少，缓冲国是美索不达米亚、现在的伊拉克和亚美尼亚。

It's not exactly the same as the present-day state of Armenia, but more like eastern Turkey.

它与现在的亚美尼亚并不完全相同，而更像土耳其东部。

The dynasty that controls Persia and that is more aggressive than its predecessor are the Sassanids, and this appears in your reading.

控制波斯并且比其前身更具侵略性的王朝是萨珊王朝，这会出现在您的阅读中。

The Sassanid dynasty, the rulers of Persia, just more aggressive and more adventurous.

萨珊王朝，波斯的统治者，只是更加具有侵略性和冒险精神。

Beginning in 224, they start to probe that frontier along the Armenian and Mesopotamian border, and eventually cross it and start to wreak havoc in some of the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire.

从224年开始，他们开始沿着亚美尼亚和美索不达米亚边境探索边界，并最终越过边界，开始对罗马帝国东部的一些省份造成严重破坏。

The climax of this is the Emperor Valerian was captured by the Persians in 260.

这件事的高潮是260年瓦莱里安皇帝被波斯人俘虏。

Valerian actually one of the longer-reigning emperors of this chaotic period, 253 to 260.

瓦莱里安实际上是这个混乱时期（253 年至 260 年）统治时间较长的皇帝之一。

They kept him for a little while, displayed him in chains, maybe flayed him.

他们把他关押了一会儿，把他戴上铁链展示，也许还剥了他的皮。

Anyway, he died in captivity.

无论如何，他死在囚禁之中。

They did a kind of a job on him.

他们对他做了某种工作。

I think maybe he was flayed after he died, just not to be too gruesome, but I think they displayed the skin.

我想也许他死后被剥了皮，只是为了不要太可怕，但我认为他们展示了皮肤。

As I said, I'm not a Persian specialist.

正如我所说，我不是波斯专家。

But the second invasion is across the Danube-Rhine frontier.

但第二次入侵是跨越多瑙河-莱茵河边境。

The Danube and the Rhine form what the Romans thought of as a natural frontier with the barbarian states.

多瑙河和莱茵河构成了罗马人认为的与蛮族国家的天然边界。

That didn't mean that they didn't cross them.

这并不意味着他们没有跨越它们。

In fact, many of their great fortresses and establishments were on the eastern side of the Rhine.

事实上，他们的许多宏伟堡垒和建筑都位于莱茵河东侧。

But they considered those as bulwarks against a Germanic invasion across the Rhine.

但他们认为这些是抵御日耳曼人越过莱茵河入侵的堡垒。

The Rhine and the Danube almost meet--the Rhine going from modern Netherlands down to Switzerland, and the Danube going also from Germany, eventually Austria, Hungary, into the Black Sea.

莱茵河和多瑙河几乎交汇——莱茵河从现代荷兰流向瑞士，多瑙河也从德国流过，最终流入奥地利、匈牙利，注入黑海。

As we'll see, Charlemagne, in the early ninth century, tried to build a canal between the two of them.

正如我们将看到的，查理曼在九世纪初试图在他们两人之间修建一条运河。

And there are actually traces of this immense and completely unsuccessful project.

这个巨大且完全不成功的项目实际上有痕迹。

And there now is a canal between them.

现在他们之间有一条运河。

So this is sort of the frontier of the Roman Empire, and this is the line above which wine grapes are grown [correction: wine grapes become scarce], no olive oil is pressed.

所以这是罗马帝国的边境，这条线是种植酿酒葡萄的线[更正：酿酒葡萄变得稀缺]，没有压榨橄榄油。

And it's got to be protected, but not worth conquering.

它必须受到保护，但不值得征服。

So we have pressure on the Rhine-Danube frontiers in the third century, and another emperor, Decius, died fighting the Goths in 251--Decius and Valerian dies in 260.

因此，我们在三世纪对莱茵河-多瑙河边境施加了压力，另一位皇帝德西乌斯于 251 年与哥特人的战斗中阵亡——德西乌斯和瓦莱里安于 260 年去世。

So the emperors are certainly out there as leaders, but that actually has to do with the fact that they're military guys.

因此，皇帝当然是作为领导者，但这实际上与他们是军人这一事实有关。

And that is part of the problem.

这就是问题的一部分。

The major problem besides the invasions was succession.

除了入侵之外，主要问题是继承问题。

There were -- I mean, it depends on how you count-- is someone a real emperor, or is he merely a pretender?-- there are at least 30 emperors between 235 and 285.

有——我的意思是，这取决于你如何计算——有人是真正的皇帝，还是只是一个冒充的皇帝？——在235到285之间至少有30位皇帝。

Many of them ruling for months; most of them being killed.

他们中的许多人执政数月；他们中的大多数人被杀。

They're assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, that is, by their own troops.

他们被禁卫军，即他们自己的军队暗杀。

They're killed in battle against foreign enemies, like Decius and Valerian.

他们在与德修斯和瓦莱里安等外敌的战斗中阵亡。

They're killed in battle against other people claiming to be emperors.

他们在与其他自称皇帝的人的战斗中被杀。

But the most common thing is they're assassinated by their own troops.

但最常见的是他们被自己的军队暗杀。

How had Roman Emperors succeeded each other?

罗马皇帝是如何继位的？

There were several ways.

有几种方法。

One is what you would expect, and that is dynastic.

一种是你所期望的，那就是王朝。

But that's not all that common.

但这并不常见。

Dynastic, in other words, families rule.

换句话说，王朝统治。

And the family is recognized as a ruling family, and therefore it goes from father to son, or if there's no son, father to person daughter marries, or father to nephew, something like that.

家庭被认为是一个统治家庭，因此它是从父亲到儿子，或者如果没有儿子，父亲到女儿结婚，或者父亲到侄子，类似的事情。

But that was not actually so common.

但这种情况实际上并不常见。

Sometimes the next emperor was chosen by his predecessor.

有时，下一任皇帝是由前任皇帝选出的。

This is characteristic of the second century AD, the era of the so-called Good Emperors.

这是公元二世纪，即所谓善帝时代的特征。

In theory, this is a great system.

从理论上讲，这是一个很棒的系统。

You have no family prejudice.

你没有家庭偏见。

You simply, as a good emperor, pick someone who looks to you like he's going to be a good emperor.

作为一个好皇帝，你只需选择一个在你看来会成为好皇帝的人。

So that is another possibility.

所以这是另一种可能性。

Another possibility is some guy is powerful and uses his troops to take over.

另一种可能性是某个人实力强大，利用他的军队来接管。

And that's what we see in the third century.

这就是我们在第三世纪所看到的。

We see not only the militarization of the Empire, but the interference of the army in raising successors, in raising new emperors.

我们不仅看到帝国的军事化，还看到军队对培养继任者、培养新皇帝的干预。

The army was able to make and unmake emperors.

军队能够拥立和废黜皇帝。

Just as in some countries with unstable political structures, the military is able to make and unmake rulers.

正如在一些政治结构不稳定的国家一样，军队能够任命和推翻统治者。

What is interesting about the third century is that they're able to do it far from Rome.

三世纪的有趣之处在于他们能够在远离罗马的地方做到这一点。

Some of these armies are in North Africa.

其中一些军队驻扎在北非。

Some of them are on the frontier fighting the Persians.

他们中的一些人在边境与波斯人作战。

Rome is becoming less and less relevant as the dominant city of the Empire.

罗马作为帝国的主要城市的重要性越来越低。

And I mentioned that now, because we'll see on Wednesday the result of this is will be the establishment of another capital, a second capital in the East, in what would be called Constantinople, modern Istanbul.

我现在提到了这一点，因为我们将在周三看到其结果将是建立另一个首都，东方的第二个首都，即君士坦丁堡，即现代的伊斯坦布尔。

Rome is fortified for the first time.

罗马首次加固。

There is a wall that you can still see in many parts of Rome built by the Emperor Aurelian in 271.

在罗马的许多地方，您仍然可以看到奥勒良皇帝于 271 年建造的城墙。

And this is a significant thing, because until 271 for centuries, Rome had not been walled, because it was not threatened.

这是一件意义重大的事情，因为直到271年的几个世纪里，罗马都没有被城墙围住，因为它没有受到威胁。

And fortification in 271 starts to indicate things to come, or at least things that we know are to come.

271 年的防御工事开始预示着即将发生的事情，或者至少是我们知道即将发生的事情。

Namely, barbarian invasions, just as the marginalization of Rome begins at this time.

即蛮族入侵，罗马的边缘化正是从此时开始的。

Rome in the third century is ruled, if one can call it that, by a succession of generals.

三世纪的罗马（如果可以这么说的话）是由一系列将军统治的。

Not members of an upper class elite, but men who have come from the provinces.

不是上流社会精英，而是来自外省的人。

Men who are not particularly well-educated, who would have trouble recognizing a tag from Horace--there being no Internet just to look these quotes up.

那些没有受过良好教育的人很难识别贺拉斯的标签——没有互联网可以查找这些引言。

They hold the traditional Roman elite in contempt.

他们蔑视传统的罗马精英。

The Senate of Rome is the embodiment of that elite.

罗马元老院就是精英阶层的化身。

The Roman Senate is a collection of extremely wealthy people from good families, extensive property, and very, very fine education.

罗马元老院由来自良好家庭的极其富有的人组成，拥有丰富的财产和非常非常好的教育。

The people leading in the third century now are generals raised by their troops.

现在三世纪领导的人都是他们军队培养的将军。

One of the reasons that the troops both raised up generals and then killed them, was that they tended to get a kind of reward from the new emperor-- a thing called a donative.

军队之所以先举将然后杀，原因之一就是他们往往会从新皇帝那里得到一种奖励——一种叫做“赐予”的东西。

A donative is money that you get when there's a new emperor.

捐赠是新皇帝上任时得到的钱。

A bad idea from the point of view of the emperors, because it encourages double-dipping or triple-dipping.

从皇帝的角度来看，这是一个坏主意，因为它鼓励两次或三次浸入。

OK, now we've gotten our money from this guy, let's kill him and get money from another guy.

好吧，现在我们已经从这个人那里得到了钱，让我们杀了他，然后从另一个人那里得到钱。

I don't think that's too cynical to say that that is some of what is going on.

我认为说这就是正在发生的一些事情并不过分愤世嫉俗。

Now of all the crises of the third century, this is the one that leaves the most visible impression.

在三世纪的所有危机中，这是给人留下最明显印象的一次。

There's absolutely no doubt that there are all of these different emperors, and that the top of the government is unstable.

毫无疑问，有这么多不同的皇帝，政府高层也不稳定。

The question is how much does that carry over into the lives of ordinary people?

问题是这对普通人的生活有多少影响？

One measure of the effectiveness of a civilization is that is survives, and even people don't comment very much on political instability.

衡量一个文明有效性的标准之一是它是否能够幸存，甚至人们对政治不稳定也不太评论。

In a way, we are testing that now.

在某种程度上，我们现在正在测试这一点。

For many people, the fact that the government is polarized doesn't really matter, in terms of their everyday life.

对于许多人来说，就他们的日常生活而言，政府两极分化这一事实并不重要。

How long can that go on?

这样的情况还能持续多久？

That's partly because all sorts of institutions are functioning perfectly fine.

部分原因是各种机构都运转良好。

Here we are.

我们到了。

We are meeting.

我们正在见面。

There's no problem of the supply of water suddenly, or scarce provisioning, or barbarians massed outside, and we have to sort of protect against during our class.

不存在突然供水的问题，不存在供给不足的问题，不存在外面聚集的野蛮人的问题，我们在上课时必须有所防范。

It hasn't come to that.

还没有到那个地步。

Yet.

然而。

But if you look at the lives of ordinary people in the third century, they are not saying, “Not another emperor, I can't take it anymore.” The philosopher Plotinus, for example, one of the great intellectual figures of this time.

但如果你看看三世纪普通人的生活，你会发现他们并不是在说：“没有另一个皇帝，我再也受不了了。”例如，哲学家普罗提诺（Plotinus）是这个时代最伟大的知识分子之一。

Now it's true, he has a very otherworldly way of thinking about things.

现在这是真的，他有一种非常超凡脱俗的思考事物的方式。

He is a follower of Plato, he's the leading so-called neo-Platonist philosopher, flourishes during the third century, travels a bit.

他是柏拉图的追随者，他是所谓新柏拉图主义哲学家的领军人物，在三世纪蓬勃发展，经常旅行。

But we never hear of any difficulty, any kind of problems raised by these unstable conditions.

但我们从未听说过这些不稳定的条件引发了任何困难、任何类型的问题。

The one that might have affected more people than the instability is inflation.

与不稳定相比，影响更多人的可能是通货膨胀。

Roman coinage was silver and bronze, and based on ratios of these metals to gold.

罗马铸币是银和青铜，并基于这些金属与金的比例。

The ultimate standard of value was gold, but bronze and silver had attributed values in relation to gold.

最终的价值标准是黄金，但青铜和白银具有与黄金相关的价值。

The need to reward the army with those donatives, and the dislocations of the invasions led to tremendous government expenditures.

需要用这些捐赠来奖励军队，而入侵的混乱导致了政府的巨额支出。

And this was a society that did not have debt financing.

这是一个没有债务融资的社会。

There are no bonds.

没有债券。

There are no ways of the government anticipating future revenues and borrowing money against them.

政府无法预测未来的收入并以此为抵押借钱。

That is actually an invention of the Middle Ages.

这实际上是中世纪的发明。

This is an example of something that the Romans didn't have that medieval cities in Italy pioneered, debt financing.

这是罗马人所没有的债务融资的例子，意大利的中世纪城市开创了这一点。

I don't have to tell you what that is.

我不必告诉你那是什么。

And it's a great advantage, up to a point.

从某种程度上来说，这是一个很大的优势。

Great advantage, because it gives you leverage, allows you to do things now.

巨大的优势，因为它给你杠杆作用，让你现在就做事。

So how does a government deal with problems like this if it can't borrow money?

那么，如果政府借不到钱，该如何处理这样的问题呢？

It does what is called debasing the coinage.

它的作用就是所谓的货币贬值。

To debase, that is degrade, the coinage means that you just don't put in as much silver or bronze, let alone gold, and try to get people to accept it for its value anyway.

贬低，就是贬低，铸币意味着你不投入那么多的银或青铜，更不用说黄金了，并试图让人们接受它的价值。

So up until the 1970s, the American currency was based on gold, and dollar bills were called silver certificates.

因此，直到 20 世纪 70 年代，美国货币都以黄金为基础，美元钞票被称为银券。

They said that you could hand this bill in for a dollar's worth of silver.

他们说你可以把这张钞票换成一美元的白银。

It was, technically speaking, not currency.

从技术上讲，它不是货币。

It was merely a representative of currency, which you could trade in.

它只是货币的代表，可以进行交易。

And before that, of course, the coins were metal.

当然，在此之前，硬币是金属的。

Dollars were both silver and paper, with the silver one being, in some sense, the more real.

美元既是白银又是纸币，从某种意义上说，白银更真实。

It is in the nature of modern government financing that, at some point, the government could just say forget about it.

现代政府融资的本质是，在某些时候，政府可能会说忘记它。

And even long before the 1970s, of course the government didn't have enough silver for everyone to trade them in, just as it doesn't have enough gold in Fort Knox to float the entire world's currency.

当然，早在 20 世纪 70 年代之前，政府就没有足够的白银​​供每个人进行交易，就像诺克斯堡没有足够的黄金来让全世界的货币浮动一样。

It has a lot.

它有很多。

And that's important that there be some real kind of value, or bullion, or bottom line kind of gold bars.

重要的是要有某种真正的价值，或者金条，或者底线类型的金条。

But the fact that it's not enough is not intrinsically a problem.

但事实上，这还不够，本质上并不是问题。

But here, so let's say the government receives, in the form of taxes and stuff, a thousand gold units.

但在这里，假设政府以税收和其他形式收到了一千个黄金单位。

And it issues two thousand units using that gold.

它使用这些黄金发行了 2000 单位。

The coins say they're worth a unit, but they're actually, in terms of precious metal value, worth a half.

这些硬币说它们值一个单位，但实际上，就贵金属价值而言，它们只值一半。

So it pays its expenses that way.

所以它以这种方式支付费用。

It pays the army.

它支付军队的费用。

It gets people to accept this money.

它让人们接受这笔钱。

But when most people go to buy stuff, they are going to find that the stuff is 50% more expensive because their coins are not actually very good.

但当大多数人去买东西时，他们会发现东西贵了50%，因为他们的硬币实际上不太好。

The governments tend to do this gradually, hoping the people don't notice in the first place, or that if the inflation is say, 10%, it's not so bad.

政府倾向于逐步这样做，希望人们一开始就不会注意到，或者如果通货膨胀率为 10%，情况还不错。

But once having embarked on the debasement of the coinage, this tends to get out of control because of the famous Gresham's law--an 18th century economist--that bad money drives out good.

但一旦开始货币贬值，这种情况往往会失控，因为著名的格雷欣定律（一位 18 世纪的经济学家）认为劣币驱逐良币。

If I have good sesterces, or Roman currency, with the full measure of silver that they say they have--one full unit--and I've got other coins that say one full unit, but only have half, I'm going to try to get rid of the bad ones and hoard the good ones.

如果我有好的塞斯特斯，或罗马货币，有他们所说的全部白银——一个完整的单位——而我还有其他硬币，说是一个完整的单位，但只有一半，我会尽力摆脱坏的并囤积好的。

And only spend the good ones if I absolutely have to, or demand a premium on them.

只有在绝对必要的情况下才花好钱，或者要求溢价。

So therefore, there are all these crappy coins circulating like mad, and the good ones retreat into peoples' wealth--they don't really have mattresses then--but into their store boxes or under their beds, creating in itself more and more inflation.

因此，所有这些蹩脚的硬币疯狂地流通，而好的硬币则退回到人们的财富中——那时他们还没有真正的床垫——而是进入他们的储藏箱或床下，这本身就造成了越来越多的通货膨胀。

So you have a fierce inflation.

所以通货膨胀很严重。

Prices go up.

价格上涨。

People don't know the value of things.

人们不知道事物的价值。

They start bartering.

他们开始以物易物。

And the Roman economy is very, very adversely affected, as hyperinflation tends to.

罗马经济受到了非常非常不利的影响，就像恶性通货膨胀一样。

And a final problem is the ruin of the local elite, partly because of this economic chaos, but partly from deeper causes.

最后一个问题是当地精英的垮台，部分原因是经济混乱，部分原因是更深层次的原因。

The importance of this is something that I alluded to last time, and that is that the Empire could not be held together, really, by the government, however big the government was.

这一点的重要性是我上次提到的，那就是帝国实际上无法由政府维系在一起，无论政府有多大。

It required the cooperation of wealthy people with ties to their native city.

它需要与家乡有联系的富人的合作。

It was these people who sponsored games, civic improvements, maintained the temples, and kept a kind of local order.

正是这些人赞助了比赛、改善了公民生活、维护了寺庙并维持了某种当地秩序。

The third century crisis undermines this elite.

第三世纪的危机削弱了这群精英。

This elite is undermined by the militarization of society.

这些精英受到社会军事化的削弱。

They are, to some extent, ruined by taxation and increased taxation.

在某种程度上，它们因税收和增税而被毁掉。

They're just powerful enough to be well-off, but not powerful enough to evade taxation.

他们只是强大到足以富裕，但还不足以强大到逃税。

But they also tend to be undermined by an Empire that's more cosmopolitan, where local elites don't matter as much.

但它们也往往会受到更加国际化的帝国的削弱，在这个帝国中，地方精英并不那么重要。

Where, for example, military people who move around a lot are more important.

例如，经常流动的军人更为重要。

And I emphasize this, not only because of these elites themselves and their role in holding the Empire together, but we're going to talk about this when we talk about Christianity.

我强调这一点，不仅是因为这些精英本身以及他们在维持帝国团结方面所发挥的作用，而且我们在谈论基督教时也会谈论这一点。

Because when the local elites are ruined, so is local religion.

因为当地方精英被毁了，地方宗教也被毁了。

And local religion means polytheism.

当地宗教意味着多神教。

If I am of a grand family of, let's say, the city of Sardis in Asia Minor, in modern Turkey, and I feel that my ancestors have always been involved in the worship of the goddess Cybele and I am a votary, or an officer, or like a member of the governing board of the club or society that runs the cult of Cybele, I'm going to feel very loyal to that local deity.

如果我出身于现代土耳其小亚细亚萨迪斯市的一个大家庭，我觉得我的祖先一直参与对西布莉女神的崇拜，而我是一名选民、一名官员，或者像管理西布莉崇拜的俱乐部或社团的管理委员会成员一样，我会对当地的神灵感到非常忠诚。

But if I come from North Africa, and I'm in Sardis because that's where my army is, I'm not going to don't care about some local.

但如果我来自北非，我在萨迪斯，因为那是我的军队所在，我不会不关心一些当地人。

No more than you might care about a club that's important at Yale, if you went to the University of Illinois.

如果你去了伊利诺伊大学，你可能不会关心耶鲁大学重要的俱乐部。

No more important than you might feel about pizza in New Haven, if you came from somewhere else and didn't like pizza.

如果您来自其他地方并且不喜欢披萨，那么在纽黑文，您对披萨的感觉可能并不重要。

It's just like this local cult, and you don't understand it, and you don't care.

就像这个当地的邪教一样，你不理解，也不关心。

So the kind of things you will care about, we'll see, religiously.

因此，我们会虔诚地关注您会关心的事情。

But they will tend to be religions that cross borders, like Christianity.

但它们往往是跨国界的宗教，比如基督教。

Religions that are not identified with one place and one god, in the sense of local god, local temple, my people.

宗教不认同一处一神，即地方神、地方寺庙、我的人民。

So into this mess Diocletian-- because Diocletian defeats his predecessor, Carinus in battle in 284.

戴克里先陷入了这场混乱——因为戴克里先在 284 年的战斗中击败了他的前任卡里努斯。

Diocletian is a general.

戴克里先是一位将军。

In 284, it would have seemed like more of the same.

在 284 年，情况似乎更加相似。

But Diocletian rules until 305, and he abdicates.

但戴克里先统治直到 305 年，他退位了。

He passes the power to someone else.

他把权力交给了别人。

He is, however, very typical of the military class of the Empire.

然而，他是帝国军事阶层的典型代表。

He came from nowhere, socially.

他来自社会，不知从何而来。

He was the son of an ex-slave from Dalmatia, modern coastal Croatia.

他是达尔马提亚（现代克罗地亚沿海地区）一名前奴隶的儿子。

You can still see his palace in the Croatian city of Split on the Adriatic.

您仍然可以在亚得里亚海的克罗地亚城市斯普利特看到他的宫殿。

His retirement palace, actually.

实际上是他的退休宫殿。

Under his severe guidance, the Empire was reformed.

在他的严厉指导下，帝国进行了改革。

And the way it was reformed was that it was, in effect, militarized.

它的改革方式实际上是军事化的。

Diocletian was not a great general, but he was a brilliant manager.

戴克里先不是一位伟大的将军，但他是一位出色的管理者。

And he was a brilliant bureaucratic organizer.

他是一位出色的官僚组织者。

I used the term bureaucracy, not to mean inefficient, useless administration, but administration.

我使用“官僚主义”一词，并不是指低效率、无用的行政管理，而是指行政管理。

Administration officers of the state, who are capable of doing their jobs, or maybe not capable of doing their jobs.

国家行政官员，有能力履行职责，也可能没有能力履行职责。

But who are nevertheless-- I'm not making a value judgment with the term bureaucracy-- I simply mean the proliferation of government and government offices.

但无论如何——我并不是对官僚主义这个词做出价值判断——我只是指政府和政府机构的激增。

Diocletian is responsible for the militarization of society.

戴克里先负责社会的军事化。

That is, building society around the army in order to protect it.

也就是说，围绕军队建立社会以保护军队。

And he is responsible for a more efficient, and ultimately, burdensome form of taxation.

他还负责一种更有效、最终更繁重的税收形式。

The two are linked because, as we know, you have to pay to have a large and effective military.

两者是相互联系的，因为众所周知，你必须付出代价才能拥有一支庞大而有效的军队。

Diocletian did not set out to be a revolutionary.

戴克里先并没有打算成为一名革命者。

His aims were conservative.

他的目标是保守的。

He wanted to save, preserve, restore, the Roman Empire of the pre-235 era.

他想要拯救、保存、恢复 235 年之前的罗马帝国。

His methods were radical.

他的方法很激进。

He was willing to undertake radical measures.

他愿意采取激进的措施。

And the debate among historians, now somewhat muted.

历史学家之间的争论现在有些平静了。

Many historians at one time felt that he had basically destroyed the Empire.

许多历史学家一度认为他基本上摧毁了帝国。

By making it so bureaucratic, so militarized, so heavy-handed, in terms of government, it no longer was the Roman Empire.

就政府而言，它变得如此官僚化、如此军事化、如此严厉，它就不再是罗马帝国了。

It was something else.

这是别的东西。

Now the reason this is no longer exactly considered to be a big problem or a big controversy, you'll see when we come to read Wickham.

现在，这不再被认为是一个大问题或大争议的原因，当我们阅读威克姆时你就会明白。

The Empire has an impress on society.

帝国给社会留下了深刻的印象。

There is what he calls “the burden of empire”, but it is, at the same time, not a totalitarian empire that controls everything.

这是他所说的“帝国的负担”，但同时它也不是一个控制一切的极权帝国。

Society has an identity that's different from the government.

社会具有与政府不同的身份。

So he has three goals.

所以他有三个目标。

One, solving this problem of the imperial succession.

一、解决皇位继承问题。

Two, stabilizing the economy.

二是稳定经济。

Three, protecting the frontiers.

三是保卫边疆。

Of these three, he's actually only really successful in the third--protecting the frontiers.

在这三者中，他实际上只在第三方面取得了真正的成功——保护边境。

He devises a system, that we're going to talk about in a moment, of succession, but it does not really outlast him very long.

他设计了一个我们稍后会讨论的继承系统，但这个系统并没有比他持续多久。

The economy does get fixed, but not exactly because of his policies.

经济确实得到了修复，但并不完全是因为他的政策。

What he's really successful at and what changes most dramatically is what rulership means.

他真正成功的地方以及最显着变化的是统治的含义。

That includes the figure of the emperor, who becomes more sacred and more powerful in terms of imagery as well as administration; changes in the administration, of taxes in particular; and then that goal of his to change and grow the military.

其中包括皇帝的形象，他在形象和行政方面变得更加神圣和强大；管理方式的变化，特别是税收管理的变化；然后他的目标是改变和发展军队。

The size of the army grew, probably doubled.

军队的规模扩大了，可能增加了一倍。

Maybe, just as a ballpark figure, from 200,000 troops to 400,000 troops.

也许，只是一个大概数字，从20万到40万军队。

This is a major, major increase that had to be paid for.

这是一个重大的、重大的增长，必须付出代价。

And it had to be paid for by taxation and from a population not particularly eager to volunteer to pay more.

而且它必须通过税收来支付，而民众并不特别愿意自愿支付更多费用。

Ultimately, it looks as if Diocletian didn't so much increase taxation as increase the efficiency of its collection.

最终，戴克里先似乎并没有增加税收，而是提高了征税效率。

In order to increase the efficiency of his collection, he had to increase the bureaucracy charged with monitoring the taxes.

为了提高征税效率，他不得不增加负责监督税收的官僚机构。

And that means first making an inventory of taxable resources.

这意味着首先要对应税资源进行盘点。

There is no income tax in this society because it's an economy based more on land than on salaries.

这个社会没有所得税，因为它的经济更多地基于土地而不是工资。

An income tax is easy because you can keep records of what people are earning.

征收所得税很容易，因为您可以记录人们的收入。

The government, to this day, finds it much easier to take a portion of your wages because it knows from your company what you're being paid.

直到今天，政府发现从你的部分工资中扣除要容易得多，因为它从你的公司知道你的工资是多少。

If you're being paid in some other form, like you're a waiter, and a lot of your money is in tips, that's harder for the government.

如果你以其他形式获得报酬，比如你是一名服务员，而你的很多钱都是小费，那么这对政府来说就更难了。

If your wealth is in property, it's hard to put a value on that.

如果你的财富是财产，那么就很难对其进行估值。

You own estates.

你拥有房产。

You have people who are free tenants, who rent land from you and pay you in money, or produce, or labor.

有些人是自由佃农，他们向你租用土地并以金钱、产品或劳动力支付给你。

You have some slaves.

你有一些奴隶。

You have a water mill.

你有一个水磨坊。

How do you pay taxes on all of this stuff?

您如何为所有这些东西纳税？

The opportunities for evasion are greater.

逃避的机会就更大了。

So the first bureaucratic task was just to have a lot of people who could value things, who could come into a territory and say OK, this farm is worth so much, and it has these many people.

因此，第一个官僚任务就是拥有很多能够重视事物的人，他们可以进入一个领土并说好吧，这个农场值这么多，而且有这么多人。

They develop a system to evaluate productive units of things like land and population, and to tax them according to a formula.

他们开发了一种系统来评估土地和人口等生产单位，并根据公式对其征税。

So I have a lot of land, but it's not very good land.

所以我有很多土地，但不是很好的土地。

I don't have a lot of people making a living off it.

我没有很多人靠它谋生。

I will be taxed at a lower rate than someone was maybe half that land but twice the people, better soil, more clearance of forest, whatever the reason.

我的税率可能比某人低，可能是一半的土地，但两倍的人口，更好的土壤，更多的森林砍伐，无论是什么原因。

It changes.

它改变了。

So every 15 years, the government changes its estimation.

因此，政府每 15 年就会改变一次估计。

A second means, once you have this taxation system in place, of bringing the Empire together and dominating it more, is to have the army really have first call on the resources of the state.

一旦建立了这种税收制度，将帝国团结起来并对其进行更多统治的第二种方法是让军队真正首先调用国家的资源。

We now start to have a state supply system for the army alone.

我们现在开始建立仅针对军队的国家供应系统。

This allows the state to avoid dealing with that debased currency.

这使得国家可以避免处理贬值的货币。

So for example, the state just goes in and takes wheat and gives it to the army, without taking money, buying wheat, giving that to the army.

例如，国家只是进去拿走小麦，然后把它送给军队，而不拿钱，购买小麦，然后把它送给军队。

Diocletian binds the Empire together, also very effectively, by a postal system.

戴克里先通过邮政系统将帝国紧密地联系在一起，这也是非常有效的。

Post in this case meaning a system of riders, horses, communications, that allows the emperor to go faster than anyone else, to have news quicker than anyone else, to send orders quicker than anyone else.

在这种情况下，“帖子”意味着一个由骑手、马匹、通讯组成的系统，它使皇帝能够比任何人走得更快，比任何人更快地获得消息，比任何人更快地发送命令。

And also, more punishment for things like tax evasion.

此外，对逃税等行为也将给予更多惩罚。

It's not just that people get killed for not paying their taxes, or imprisoned, or tortured, but that groups are responsible.

人们不仅因为不缴税而被杀、被监禁或遭受酷刑，而且这些群体也负有责任。

Not only that if I don't pay my taxes, I get punished, but if you and I live in the same village, and you don't pay your taxes, I get punished.

不仅如果我不缴税，我会受到惩罚，而且如果你和我住在同一个村庄，而你不缴税，我也会受到惩罚。

Or at the very least, taxed for the part that you evaded.

或者至少，对你逃税的部分征税。

But the most important change in government is the establishment of what's called the Tetrarchy .

但政府最重要的变化是所谓四帝制的建立。

The Tetrarchy is the rule of four--four rulers.

四帝制是四位统治者的统治。

Diocletian divides the Empire, first in two: East, West.

戴克里先将帝国一分为二：东、西。

A very significant move that will have consequences for the next 1,200 years.

这是一个非常重大的举措，将对未来 1200 年产生影响。

He then appoints a co-emperor to rule in the West, while he rules in the East.

然后他任命一位共治皇帝统治西方，而他则统治东方。

And they each appoint a helper, number three and number four.

他们各指定一名助手，三号和四号。

The two emperors are called Augusti , emperors, and the two helpers are Caesars .

两位皇帝被称为奥古斯丁皇帝，两位助手被称为凯撒。

So they're subordinate to their respective Augusti, and they're supposed to help them.

所以他们是各自奥古斯提的下属，他们应该帮助他们。

Why this system?

为什么有这个系统？

This is really to overcome the problems of size, communication, administration.

这实际上是为了克服规模、沟通、管理等问题。

It's a statement that the Empire is too big for one man to rule.

这是一个声明，表明帝国太大，一个人无法统治。

But the chief emperors are also exalted now.

但现在的首席皇帝也尊崇了。

There's no longer a pretense that they're just first citizens or princes.

不再假装他们只是第一公民或王子。

They are clothed in purple.

他们穿着紫色衣服。

They don't move a lot in public audiences.

他们在公众面前的动作并不多。

We're familiar with this kind of dichotomy between the political figure as distant authority versus the political figure at least pretending to be just like you and me.

我们熟悉这种二分法：作为遥远权威的政治人物与至少假装像你我一样的政治人物。

We're in the era of the latter.

我们正处于后者的时代。

The Diocletianic period ushers in a period when the emperor is distant, glimpsed, product of ceremonies, wearing a lot of very funny-looking, but fancy clothes.

戴克里先时期迎来了一个皇帝是遥远的、被瞥见的时期，是仪式的产物，穿着很多看起来很滑稽但很华丽的衣服。

He doesn't appear a lot in public.

他很少出现在公共场合。

He's a god.

他是神。

You don't go up to him and shake hands or say hi.

你不会走到他跟前握手或打招呼。

You throw yourself at his feet, and don't look at him until he tells you to.

你扑倒在他的脚下，在他告诉你之前不要看他。

So the Tetrarchy, great idea, it really doesn't work.

所以四帝制，好主意，但确实行不通。

Because, first of all, the emperors don't necessarily cooperate.

因为，首先，皇帝不一定会合作。

The Caesars don't necessarily cooperate with the emperors.

凯撒不一定与皇帝合作。

And so in 285, Diocletian nominates a Caesar and then makes him, in 286, a co-Augustus.

因此，戴克里先在 285 年提名了一位凯撒，然后在 286 年任命他为奥古斯都。

And this man is named Maximian.

这个人名叫马克西米安。

In 293, Diocletian and Maximian appoint two Caesars.

293年，戴克里先和马克西米安任命了两位凯撒。

I think I'm not going to burden you with the personnel.

我想我不会在人员方面给你增加负担。

I will hand out something on Wednesday that gives you some of this information.

我将在周三发布一些内容，为您提供一些此类信息。

Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius in the East and Constantius in the Western--you don't have to remember who these are--and each of them marries a daughter of their respective Augusti.

戴克里先和马克西米安在东方任命加莱里乌斯，在西方任命君士坦提乌斯——你不必记住他们是谁——而且他们每个人都娶了各自奥古斯都的女儿。

This looks like a great system.

这看起来是一个很棒的系统。

In 305, Diocletian and Maximian abdicate, and then these two people become Augusti.

305年，戴克里先和马克西米安退位，两人成为奥古斯丁。

The two Caesars rise up to be Augusti, and they appoint their own new Caesars.

两位凯撒崛起为奥古斯都，并任命了自己的新凯撒。

It breaks down beginning in 306.

从306开始就坏了。

One of the sons of one of these Augusti is not appointed, and he's mad, and he revolts.

其中一位奥古斯丁的儿子之一没有被任命，他疯了，他反抗了。

And then the Augusti don't get along.

然后奥古斯都相处得不好。

Out of this chaos between 306 and 312 emerges one emperor.

从 306 年到 312 年的混乱中诞生了一位皇帝。

And that is Constantine.

那就是康斯坦丁。

And we'll be talking about Constantine on Wednesday.

周三我们将讨论康斯坦丁。

So the Tetrarchy fails.

所以四帝制失败了。

Diocletian's second big initiative was over this question of the economy, and ways of combating inflation.

戴克里先的第二项重大举措是关于经济问题和对抗通货膨胀的方法。

Diocletian issued a so-called Edict on Prices.

戴克里先颁布了所谓的价格法令。

The Edict on Prices attempted to set a fixed price for goods.

《价格法令》试图为商品设定固定价格。

And if you sold them for more than that, you were to be severely punished.

如果你卖的价格超过这个价格，你就会受到严厉的惩罚。

This is the kind of classic example of the state trying to combat inflation by dictating prices.

这是国家试图通过控制价格来对抗通货膨胀的典型例子。

Most of you are not familiar with inflation because we have lived in an era of very low interest and fairly stable prices.

你们大多数人都不熟悉通货膨胀，因为我们生活在一个利率非常低、物价相当稳定的时代。

But if you think of those commodities whose inflation you are familiar with, like petroleum, it is very dislocating.

但如果你想到那些你熟悉的通货膨胀的商品，比如石油，那就非常混乱了。

It starts to create panics, and the panics then feed into the inflation.

它开始制造恐慌，然后恐慌加剧通胀。

Just as, if people keep on getting gas because they think that it's going to go up in price, then there's a greater demand for gasoline, and it goes up further in price.

就像，如果人们因为认为价格会上涨而继续购买汽油，那么对汽油的需求就会更大，价格也会进一步上涨。

Eventually, if the thing is really just speculative, it deflates again.

最终，如果这件事真的只是推测，它就会再次泄气。

And that's what's happened with products that we're familiar with in recent times.

这就是我们最近所熟悉的产品所发生的情况。

But there is also a kind of structural, longer-term inflation such as America experienced, for example, in the '70s.

但也存在一种结构性的、长期的通货膨胀，就像美国在 70 年代经历的那样。

And in theory, if you have resource crises and things that are becoming scarcer, then you ought to have more and more experience with inflation.

从理论上讲，如果你遇到资源危机并且东西变得越来越稀缺，那么你应该对通货膨胀有越来越多的经验。

The government in the 1970s in the United States tried also to have an Edict on Prices.

20 世纪 70 年代的美国政府也尝试制定价格法令。

Under President Ford, there was a kind of administration of maximum prices.

在福特总统的领导下，实行了一种最高价格管理。

The problem with this is that it creates a temptation for black markets, creates a version of what we were just talking about with Gresham's law of coinage.

这样做的问题是，它对黑市产生了诱惑，创造了我们刚才讨论的格雷欣铸币定律的一个版本。

If you say that tomatoes can only be sold for a dollar a pound, then those tomatoes that are being sold for a dollar a pound in a climate of severe inflation will be terrible, will be rotten.

如果你说西红柿只能卖一美元一斤，那么在严重通货膨胀的气候下卖一美元一斤的西红柿就惨了，会烂掉。

If you want to pay $2.00 a pound in secret, we have some nice tomatoes for you.

如果您想秘密支付每磅 2.00 美元，我们为您准备了一些美味的西红柿。

And if you want to pay $5.00 a pound, we have some really nice, locally-grown tomatoes for you.

如果您愿意支付每磅 5 美元，我们可以为您提供一些非常美味的当地种植的西红柿。

All of which may be illegal, but the legal market is empty.

所有这些都可能是非法的，但合法的市场是空的。

And this is what happened in response to the Edict of Prices.

这就是响应价格法令而发生的事情。

This doesn't mean that the government cannot--I mean it still remains debatable, obviously, the degree to which government can or cannot intervene in such things--but certainly, in the case of the Roman Empire, this failed.

这并不意味着政府不能——我的意思是，显然，政府可以或不能干预此类事情的程度仍然存在争议——但可以肯定的是，就罗马帝国而言，这失败了。

What did bring back a measure of economic stability is the reform of the taxation--the fact that the state simply started getting in more resources, that less was being withheld by private people, and so the state could actually pay for its administrative and military costs.

确实在一定程度上恢复了经济稳定的是税收改革——事实上，国家开始获得更多资源，私人扣留的资源减少，因此国家实际上可以支付其行政和军事费用。

So Diocletian succeeded in abdicating peacefully, spent his retirement in Split in his palace, and lived to see the breakdown, or the partial breakdown of the Tetrarchy.

因此，戴克里先成功地和平退位，在斯普利特的宫殿里度过了退休时光，并在有生之年目睹了四帝制的崩溃或部分崩溃。

And in certain respects, his policies clearly failed.

在某些方面，他的政策显然失败了。

The Edict on Prices had to be abandoned; the Tetrarchy did not work; and Diocletian failed in trying to suppress Christianity.

价格法令不得不被放弃；四帝制没有发挥作用；戴克里先试图镇压基督教，但失败了。

We'll talk about this some more, but Diocletian, in the late part of his reign--a couple animals were split open to see what the future would be.

我们将更多地讨论这个问题，但戴克里先在他统治的后期，将一些动物剖开，看看未来会怎样。

Right?

正确的？

Isn't that what we all do if you want to figure out what's going to happen?

如果你想知道会发生什么，这不是我们都会做的吗？

You slaughter an animal and check out its liver.

你宰杀一只动物并检查它的肝脏。

Maybe its kidneys and spleen, too.

也许还有肾脏和脾脏。

But the liver is really what you want to look at.

但肝脏才是你真正想看的。

And I don't exactly know what the animal was, what the organs were, and why they didn't splay out right, but the liver told Diocletian that the Christians were responsible for this, and that he'd better go after them.

我不太清楚那动物是什么，器官是什么，以及为什么它们没有正确展开，但肝脏告诉戴克里先，基督徒应对此负责，他最好追捕他们。

So there is this big persecution of Christians in the first part of the fourth century.

因此，在第四世纪上半叶，基督徒遭受了大规模的迫害。

And he certainly didn't succeed in that.

他当然没有成功。

Not only did the Christians not crumble, but, of course, Diocletian's most effective successor, six years after he abdicated, would convert to Christianity.

基督徒不仅没有崩溃，而且戴克里先最有力的继任者在退位六年后，当然也皈依了基督教。

But Diocletian is extremely important, and in many respects, extremely successful.

但戴克里先极其重要，而且在许多方面都极其成功。

He did more than prop up a tottering empire.

他所做的不仅仅是支撑一个摇摇欲坠的帝国。

He did more than just transform a tottering empire into a kind of tottering tyranny.

他所做的不仅仅是将摇摇欲坠的帝国转变为摇摇欲坠的暴政。

He saved the Roman Empire.

他拯救了罗马帝国。

He saved the Roman Empire for 100 years.

他拯救了罗马帝国一百年。

When you take a course like this that goes for 700, 800 years, you start to hurl centuries around and get confused among them.

当你学习这样一个有 700、800 年历史的课程时，你会开始翻阅几个世纪，并对它们感到困惑。

But any polity that exists for 100 years is fairly impressive.

但任何存在 100 年的政体都是相当令人印象深刻的。

Or a polity that looks like it's about to collapse, and then is restored for 100 years.

或者一个看起来即将崩溃的政体，然后又在 100 年内恢复。

The Roman Empire, conventionally speaking, is thought to have collapsed in the West in the late fifth century.

按照惯例，罗马帝国被认为在五世纪末在西方崩溃了。

In the East, however, arguably, Diocletian's reforms last for more on the order of 1,200 years.

然而，在东方，戴克里先的改革可以说持续了大约 1,200 年。

The Eastern Empire, the Byzantine Empire would fall in 1453.

1453年，东罗马帝国拜占庭帝国灭亡。

And to its last day, it was modeled on Diocletianic administrative and military forms.

直到最后一天，它仍然以戴克里先的行政和军事形式为蓝本。

People at the time clearly thought that they'd been saved from disaster.

当时的人们显然认为他们已经摆脱了灾难。

If you look at fourth century artifacts, things like mosaics on the floors of dining rooms, people often put mottos there.

如果你观察四世纪的文物，比如餐厅地板上的马赛克，人们经常把座右铭放在那里。

And their mottos are things like "Joyful times everywhere." or "A world restored." The fourth century is interpretable as an era of increasing gloom, because we know that in the fifth century things are going to collapse.

他们的座右铭是“欢乐时光无处不在”之类的东西。或“一个恢复的世界”。第四世纪可以解释为一个日益黯淡的时代，因为我们知道在第五世纪一切都会崩溃。

But people in the fourth century are not saying to each other, "I'm so glad I'm alive in the fourth century, because I don't want to see what's going to happen in the fifth." They are just happy that the barbarians are back across the Danube and the Rhine; the Persians are more or less controlled along the frontier.

但第四世纪的人们不会互相说：“我很高兴我还活着在第四世纪，因为我不想看到第五世纪会发生什么。”他们只是很高兴野蛮人跨过多瑙河和莱茵河回来了；波斯人在边境或多或少受到控制。

Yes, taxes are high.

是的，税收很高。

Yes, the elite is some sort of riff-raff, and not as well educated, and they're military people.

是的，精英是某种流氓，没有受过良好的教育，而且他们是军人。

But basically, things are working; prosperity is restored to the people who had been prosperous before; the local elites have declined, but it's not so visible as it had been.

但基本上，一切都在运转；以前富裕的人民又恢复了繁荣；地方精英有所衰落，但不像以前那么明显了。

But there are some changes.

但也有一些变化。

Changes that we can, with the proverbial benefit of hindsight, see.

众所周知，事后诸葛亮，我们可以看到这些变化。

Changes in the center of gravity.

重心的变化。

The dominant places are now places that are military bases.

现在占主导地位的地方都是军事基地。

They are great cities with all the amenities of Rome--that is, stadiums, gateways.

它们是伟大的城市，拥有罗马的所有设施——即体育场、门户。

One of the best-preserved of these to this day is Trier in Germany.

迄今为止，其中保存最完好的之一是德国的特里尔。

Trier, on the Moselle behind [correction: west of] the Rhine, has a wonderful collection of Roman ruins.

特里尔位于莱茵河后面[更正：以西]的摩泽尔河畔，拥有大量罗马遗址。

A gateway, the Porta Nigra, a theater, a sports arena, a basilica, a law court turned into a church.

一个门户、黑门、剧院、体育场、大教堂、法庭变成了教堂。

The reason Trier was great was because of the frontier.

特里尔之所以伟大，是因为它的边疆。

It was one of the most important cities in the Empire because of the military, because of its strategic importance.

由于军事和战略重要性，它是帝国最重要的城市之一。

And there are other cities that are like this.

还有其他城市也是如此。

Milan, for example, becomes more important than Rome, because Milan is further north.

例如，米兰变得比罗马更重要，因为米兰位于更北的地方。

It's a good place to get to the Danube and to the Rhine quickly, whereas Rome is buried in the Mediterranean.

这是一个快速到达多瑙河和莱茵河的好地方，而罗马则埋在地中海之中。

So we're in a new world.

所以我们处于一个新世界。

We'll discuss more of the new world on Wednesday.

我们将在周三讨论更多关于新世界的内容。

And we will see that Constantine, in some cases, completely revolutionizes things.

我们会看到康斯坦丁在某些情况下彻底改变了事物。

And in other cases, continues Diocletian's work.

在其他情况下，戴克里先的工作仍在继续。