European Civilization, 1648-1945 Lecture 3 | European Civilization, 1648-1945
Professor Paul Freedman: Today, we're going to talk about what is arguably the most important event of the first part of our course, the conversion of Constantine, the Roman emperor, to Christianity.
保罗·弗里德曼教授：今天，我们将讨论可以说是我们课程第一部分中最重要的事件，即罗马皇帝君士坦丁皈依基督教。
Important not because of Constantine's own particular opinions.
重要并不是因为康斯坦丁自己的特殊观点。
The fact that he embraced Christianity is, as we'll see, a little hard to explain on purely strategic grounds.
正如我们将看到的，他信奉基督教的事实有点难以纯粹从战略角度来解释。
But its importance is that it represents a permanent change.
但它的重要性在于它代表了永久性的变化。
It represents the beginning of the Christianization of the Roman Empire, a very unexpected result.
它代表着罗马帝国基督教化的开始，这是一个非常出乎意料的结果。
Because not only had Christianity been illegal in the prior history of the empire, that is to say, for over 250 years, but of course, the god-man Jesus had been put to death by the forces of the Roman Empire.
因为不仅基督教在帝国之前的历史上，也就是说，长达250多年的时间里都是非法的，而且神人耶稣当然也被罗马帝国的军队处死了。
And as we've discussed, Roman religion, with its emphasis on what we've called "civic polytheism," or the performance of ceremonies in public, ceremonies that have to do with local patriotism, emperor worship, the tradition of the Olympian gods, and, above all, polytheism, was very foreign to Christianity.
正如我们所讨论的，罗马宗教强调我们所谓的“公民多神论”，即在公共场合举行仪式，这些仪式与当地爱国主义、皇帝崇拜、奥林匹斯诸神的传统，尤其是多神教有关，与基督教非常陌生。
The Christian religion thus seemed to be a kind of annoying epiphenomenon of Roman society when, in fact, with this event, Constantine's conversion, it becomes first a tolerated religion, then a favored religion, and very quickly, within the course of the fourth century AD, the official and almost the only religion of the Roman Empire.
因此，基督教似乎是罗马社会的一种令人烦恼的附带现象，事实上，随着君士坦丁的皈依这一事件，基督教首先成为一种被容忍的宗教，然后成为一种受青睐的宗教，并很快在公元四世纪成为罗马帝国的官方宗教，几乎是唯一的宗教。
How can this be?
怎么会这样呢？
We'll discuss both the specific events today, and their meaning, and how they play out.
我们将讨论今天发生的具体事件及其意义以及结果。
We recall then that what is called "paganism," a traditional religion of the Roman empire, was polytheistic, was many gods, ceremonial, had a lot of local variation, and it was eclectic--eclectic meaning that you could worship different gods in different places, different gods for different purposes, different gods for different times of your life.
我们回想起来，所谓的“异教”是罗马帝国的传统宗教，它是多神论，有很多神，有仪式，有很多地方差异，而且它是折衷主义的——折衷主义意味着你可以在不同的地方崇拜不同的神，为不同的目的崇拜不同的神，在生命的不同时期崇拜不同的神。
There was a certain emotional vacuum, or at least a perceived vacuum, in this religion because it seemed to deny individual longing and longing in general, that longing, that sense internally that there is more to life than there appears to be.
在这种宗教中存在一定的情感真空，或者至少是一种感知上的真空，因为它似乎否认个人的渴望和一般的渴望，这种渴望，那种内在的感觉，即生活比表面上看起来的要多。
So that many adherents of other religions, including, but not limited to, Christianity believed that some part of their body was immortal, or the soul was immortal, or that the immortal soul had to be healed by religion, and not that religion should simply be a pathway to good fortune or to easing the anxieties of the material world.
因此，许多其他宗教的信徒，包括但不限于基督教，相信他们身体的某些部分是不朽的，或者灵魂是不朽的，或者不朽的灵魂必须通过宗教来治愈，而不是宗教应该只是通向好运或缓解物质世界焦虑的途径。
So Christianity, we've said, is not so much otherworldly, focused on heaven.
因此，我们说过，基督教并不那么超凡脱俗，而是专注于天堂。
It is that.
就是这样。
But even more important perhaps is its innerness, its inner worldliness, the sense that people have a interior soul that yearns for something eternal and more significant.
但更重要的也许是它的内在性，它的内在世俗性，人们有一个内在的灵魂，渴望永恒和更重要的东西。
And then Christianity was accompanied by other so-called "mystery religions," religions that also spoke to an immaterial, heroic, non-civic, non-urban type of piety, Mithraism, for example, the worship of the mother goddess Cybele.
然后基督教伴随着其他所谓的“神秘宗教”，这些宗教也表达了一种非物质的、英雄的、非公民的、非城市类型的虔诚，例如密特拉教，对母亲女神西布莉的崇拜。
Christianity had certain advantages in terms of reaching a population, the promise of an afterlife, the commitment that it demanded of people, a religion that appealed both to the elite and to the common people, and a very strong local organization.
基督教在影响民众、对来世的承诺、对人们的承诺、对精英和普通民众都有吸引力的宗教以及非常强大的地方组织等方面具有一定的优势。
But Christianity was alien to the Roman Empire.
但基督教对罗马帝国来说是陌生的。
The Romans did not always persecute Christianity, as they did under Diocletian.
罗马人并不总是像戴克里先统治时期那样迫害基督教。
But they found Christianity alien.
但他们发现基督教是陌生的。
They didn't like the fact that Christianity was intolerant.
他们不喜欢基督教的不宽容这一事实。
Every other religion of the Roman Empire, with one exception, accepted other gods.
罗马帝国的所有其他宗教，除了一个例外，都接受其他神。
If you worshipped Isis, you had nothing against other people worshipping Jupiter.
如果你崇拜伊希斯，你就不会反对其他人崇拜朱庇特。
If you worshipped Cybele, you had nothing against other people worshipping Mithra.
如果你崇拜西布莉，你就不会反对其他人崇拜密特拉。
But Christianity, of course, ridiculed all of these gods.
但基督教当然嘲笑所有这些神。
The only other religion that was like this was Judaism.
唯一与此类似的其他宗教是犹太教。
But Judaism made some accommodations with the Roman Empire, recognized the authority of the Roman emperor, and did not defy the state in the way that Christianity at least appeared to.
但犹太教与罗马帝国做了一些妥协，承认罗马皇帝的权威，并没有像基督教至少表面上那样反抗国家。
And Christianity was not a Roman religion in many of the ways that it rejected worldliness, rejected engagement in or enjoyment of the material world:the pleasures of the theater, the circus, the celebrations of civic paganism, emperor worship, law courts.
基督教在很多方面都不是罗马宗教，它拒绝世俗，拒绝参与或享受物质世界：戏剧、马戏团的乐趣、公民异教的庆祝活动、皇帝崇拜、法庭。
Well, law courts may not be pleasurable.
好吧，法庭可能并不令人愉快。
But this sort of civic involvement of the emperor and the Empire are rejected by Christianity.
但基督教拒绝皇帝和帝国的这种公民参与。
Christianity, when you see what Roman pagans write about it, is a kind of killjoy religion.
当你看到罗马异教徒的描述时，你会发现基督教是一种令人扫兴的宗教。
It's a religion of people who seem to have their eyes focused on anything but the actual process of getting ahead in Roman society.
这是一种人们的宗教，他们的目光似乎只关注任何事情，而不关注在罗马社会取得成功的实际过程。
All of this notwithstanding, it should be emphasized that Christianity was not persecuted constantly nor was the persecution very intense.
尽管如此，应该强调的是，基督教并没有持续受到迫害，也不是非常激烈。
We have Nero in the late 60s AD, the Decian persecution of the mid-third century, and of course, the great persecution under Diocletian.
我们有公元60年代末的尼禄、三世纪中叶的德西安迫害，当然还有戴克里先统治下的大迫害。
Christianity received just enough persecution, one might say, to fortify its spirit, to give it some backbone, but not enough to break it.
有人可能会说，基督教受到的迫害刚好足以强化其精神，赋予其一些脊梁，但还不足以摧毁它。
Constantine emerged from the chaos following Diocletian's abdication.
君士坦丁从戴克里先退位后的混乱中脱颖而出。
Diocletian, and as you'll recall, had created this four man rule, the Tetrarchy, in order to divide what was perceived as an excessively large empire with an excessively large administrative structure.
你可能还记得，戴克里先创造了四人统治，即四帝制，目的是为了分割一个被认为是过大的帝国和一个过大的行政结构。
The Tetrarchy was, at least we can say with hindsight, doomed to failure.
至少我们可以事后看来，四帝制注定要失败。
These four emperors would not cooperate.
这四位皇帝是不会合作的。
They would tend to be rivals.
他们往往会成为竞争对手。
Constantine was the son of one of the caesars, one of the subordinates.
君士坦丁是凯撒之一的儿子，也是一名下属。
Remember there were two augusti, two caesars.
记住有两个奥古斯丁，两个凯撒。
His father was ConstantiusChlorus who was appointed when the Tetrarchy began in the West in 293.
他的父亲是康斯坦提乌斯·克洛鲁斯 (Constantius Chlorus)，293 年西方四帝制开始时被任命为君士坦提乌斯·克洛鲁斯。
So there was an Augustus of the West and a Caesar of the West.
所以就有了西方的奥古斯都和西方的凯撒。
The Caesar of the West was ConstantiusChlorus.
西方的凯撒是康斯坦提乌斯·克洛鲁斯。
The young Constantine was sent east to serve the eastern Augustus, who succeeded Diocletian, Galerius.
年轻的君士坦丁被派往东部侍奉东方的奥古斯都，后者继承了戴克里先、加莱里乌斯。
Constantine was left out of the succession when Diocletian abdicated.
戴克里先退位后，君士坦丁被排除在继承权之外。
Galerius appointed somebody else, and Constantine rebelled.
加莱里乌斯任命了其他人，而君士坦丁叛变了。
Constantine, in 306, raised an army in faraway Britain, marched on Gaul, and eventually was grudgingly recognized by Galerius as caesar.
公元306年，君士坦丁在遥远的不列颠组建了一支军队，进军高卢，最终被加莱里乌斯勉强承认为凯撒。
At the same time, another disinherited son of an augustus, a man named Maxentius, rebelled in Rome.
与此同时，奥古斯都的另一个被剥夺继承权的儿子马克森提乌斯在罗马叛乱。
And I will not burden you with the whole working out of these intrigues, of the fightings of armies, of the quarrels of augusti and caesars.
我不会让你承担所有这些阴谋、军队的战斗、奥古斯提和凯撒的争吵的全部过程。
But basically, in 311, Galerius, who had been ill with cancer, died.
但基本上，在公元311年，身患癌症的加莱里乌斯去世了。
And Galerius was succeeded by an emperor in the East named Licinius.
加莱里乌斯的继任者是东方的一位名叫李锡尼的皇帝。
And Licinius allowed Constantine to deal with the usurper Maxentius in the West.
而李锡尼则允许君士坦丁在西方对付篡位者马克森提乌斯。
So we have Licinius in the east in 311, and then in the West, Constantine and Maxentius fighting it out.
因此，311年，李锡尼在东方，然后在西方，君士坦丁和马克森提乌斯在战斗。
Galerius has died.
加莱里乌斯去世了。
Constantine defeated Maxentius at a battle not far from Rome, the Battle of the Milvian Bridge.
君士坦丁在距罗马不远的米尔维安桥之战中击败了马克森提乌斯。
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312.
312年米尔维安桥之战。
And Constantine was now Augustus in the West, Licinius, Augustus in the East.
君士坦丁现在是西方的奥古斯都，李锡尼是东方的奥古斯都。
Chapter 3: The Battle of the MilvianBridge and Constantine’s Conversion [00:10:12]
第三章：米尔维安桥之战和君士坦丁的皈依[00:10:12]
The Battle of the Milvian Bridge is the context for whatever had happened that changed Constantine's mind about his religious orientation.
米尔维安桥之战是发生改变君士坦丁对其宗教取向的看法的背景。
Just before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, something happened.
就在米尔维安桥之战之前，发生了一些事情。
There are two stories that purport to explain the event.
有两个故事旨在解释这一事件。
One is that Constantine had a dream.
一是康斯坦丁做了一个梦。
And in this dream, an angel spoke to him and ordered him to paint a symbol combining the Greek letter chi and the Greek letter rho on his soldiers' shields.
在这个梦中，一位天使对他说话，命令他在士兵的盾牌上画一个由希腊字母 chi 和希腊字母 rho 组合而成的符号。
The rho , the R in Greek, and the chi written as an X.
rho（希腊语中的 R）和写为 X 的 chi。
The two letters symbolize, or at least were taken later to symbolize, Christ, the first letter being a chi , the second a rho .
这两个字母象征着，或者至少后来被认为象征着基督，第一个字母是“chi”，第二个字母是“rho”。
The second version, which is later, that is, later in circulation as a story, but seems perhaps to have been attested by the emperor himself to his biographer, Eusebius.
第二个版本是后来的，也就是说，后来作为故事流传，但似乎可能已经由皇帝本人向他的传记作者尤西比乌斯证明了。
According to Eusebius, Constantine was marching with his army before the battle.
根据尤西比乌斯的说法，君士坦丁在战斗前正在与他的军队行军。
And he, along with the army, saw a cross in the sky.
他和军队一起看到了天空中的一个十字架。
And superimposed on the sun, against which background the cross appeared, were the words, "In this sign, you will conquer."
在太阳的背景下出现了十字架，上面叠加着这样一句话：“在这个标志中，你将征服。”
Hard to say which version, if either, is what Constantine thought happened to him.
很难说哪个版本（如果有的话）是康斯坦丁认为发生在他身上的事情。
The argument for the second one is partly Eusebius's description, partly the fact that angels in a dream are a standard kind of story.
第二个论点的论点部分是尤西比乌斯的描述，部分是梦中的天使是一种标准故事的事实。
On the other hand, the Chi Rho symbol is not previously a sign of Christianity.
另一方面，Chi Rho 符号以前并不是基督教的标志。
So the very fact that there isn't a background to that, that this is something that we hear of now for the first time, might indicate that that's the true story.
因此，事实上，没有任何背景，这是我们现在第一次听到的事情，可能表明这是真实的故事。
But more important than what actually happened is that there's no reason to doubt Constantine's sincerity.
但比实际发生的事情更重要的是，没有理由怀疑康斯坦丁的诚意。
There is no reason to believe that this was a calculating, cynical, or politically astute move.
没有理由相信这是一次精于算计、愤世嫉俗或政治精明的举动。
This is not because Constantine wasn't devious.
这并不是因为康斯坦丁不狡猾。
He was.
他是。
But because it's hard to imagine any emperor thinking that Christianity was a good idea.
但因为很难想象有哪个皇帝会认为基督教是一个好主意。
Because Christianity was subversive of Roman values.
因为基督教颠覆了罗马价值观。
And it was particularly subversive of the values of the Roman army, whose crucial aid Constantine depended on and of which Constantine had to be the leader not only in order to defeat Maxentius, but simply to survive in power.
它尤其颠覆了罗马军队的价值观，君士坦丁所依赖的罗马军队至关重要，而君士坦丁必须成为罗马军队的领导者，不仅是为了击败马克森提乌斯，而且只是为了在权力中生存。
Christianity was pacifist.
基督教是和平主义者。
At this time, it took more literally than it would later the admonitions of Christ in the Gospels not to fight, not to hit back, not to engage oneself in the pursuit of worldly gain by means of violence.
此时，基督在福音书中的告诫比后来更加字面化，即不要战斗，不要反击，不要通过暴力追求世俗利益。
So it's hard to imagine anything more unlikely than an emperor becoming Christian and gaining the support of his followers.
因此，很难想象还有什么比皇帝成为基督徒并获得追随者的支持更不可能的事情了。
Now that doesn't mean that Constantine became some sort of monk, interpreted the Gospels literally, told his soldiers to put down their weapons.
现在，这并不意味着君士坦丁成为某种僧侣，从字面上解释福音书，告诉他的士兵放下武器。
It's clear that Constantine regarded the Christian god much as other emperors had regarded, say, the Invincible Sun, or the genius of the divine emperor, or any other pagan deity that brought victory in war.
很明显，君士坦丁对基督教神的看法就像其他皇帝对无敌太阳、神圣皇帝的天才或任何其他带来战争胜利的异教神灵的看法一样。
Constantine, like all emperors, saw himself as a child a fortune, as someone who was favored by fortune, depended on fortune, and who needed to placate, to mollify, to please whatever god it was that controlled fortune.
君士坦丁像所有的皇帝一样，把自己视为一个财富的孩子，一个受到财富青睐、依赖财富的人，需要安抚、安抚、取悦掌管财富的神。
What's unusual is that he would deem the Christian god to be this sort of god, a leader of war, a giver of victory in battle, a companion to the emperor.
不同寻常的是，他将基督教的神视为这样的神，战争的领导者，战斗胜利的给予者，皇帝的伴侣。
None of this would seem, at first glance, to be likely in Christianity.
乍一看，这一切在基督教中似乎都不可能发生。
The fact that not only does it work, but that it would work for centuries later is just part of the cataclysmic nature of this event, or if not cataclysmic, at least unexpected.
事实上，它不仅有效，而且在几个世纪后仍然有效，这只是这一事件灾难性本质的一部分，或者即使不是灾难性的，至少也是出乎意料的。
Constantine was not ignorant.
康斯坦丁并不无知。
He's someone who had studied philosophy, who was quite literate, knew Greek pretty well, familiar with Latin literature.
他学过哲学，很有文化，很懂希腊语，熟悉拉丁文学。
But nevertheless, he was obviously a man of affairs.
但尽管如此，他显然是一个事务丰富的人。
He's not an intellectual, contemplative person, poring over philosophy books.
他不是一个有知识、善于沉思、钻研哲学书籍的人。
He's a man of power, decisiveness, strategy, and not a little cruelty and brutality.
他是一个有权力、有决断、有谋略的人，而且还有不少的残忍和残暴。
And we can see that after his conversion experience-- and indeed, I should point out he did beat Maxentius-- he accepted the Christian god, he went to battle with the usurper, and he defeated him.
我们可以看到，在他的皈依经历之后——事实上，我应该指出他确实击败了马克森提乌斯——他接受了基督教的上帝，他与篡位者作战，并击败了他。
But even after his victory, he doesn't become, in every respect, a totally committed Christian at least in terms of the symbols of power of his office.
但即使在胜利之后，他在各方面也没有成为一名完全忠诚的基督徒，至少在他办公室权力的象征方面是这样。
His coins, for example, which are a very good mark of propaganda and self-regard, his coins kept the imagery of the earlier pagan deity associated with the emperor, the Invincible Sun.
例如，他的硬币是宣传和自尊的一个很好的标志，他的硬币保留了与皇帝相关的早期异教神无敌太阳的图像。
After a little while, you start to see the Invincible Sun on one side of the coin and the cross on the other.
过了一会儿，您开始在硬币的一侧看到无敌太阳，在另一侧看到十字架。
And only later in his reign do we have just the cross.
直到他统治后期，我们才看到了十字架。
Constantine's first substantive act as a Christian or as someone who favored the Christian church was the Edict of Tolerance.
君士坦丁作为基督徒或支持基督教会的人的第一个实质性行动是《宽容法令》。
The Edict of Tolerance or Edict of Toleration issued at Milan in 313 was jointly the product of Constantine and Libanius, now the two last guys standing.
313年在米兰颁布的《宽容法令》或《宽容法令》是君士坦丁和利巴尼乌斯共同制定的，他们现在是最后的两个人。
The Augustus of the East, Libanius, and Constantine, the Augustus of the West.
东方的奥古斯都，利巴尼乌斯，以及西方的奥古斯都君士坦丁。
Libanius was a pagan.
利巴尼乌斯是一个异教徒。
He did not share Constantine's bizarre enthusiasm, but all right.
他不像康斯坦丁那样有着奇异的热情，不过没关系。
If he wanted to tolerate Christianity, this was fine.
如果他想容忍基督教，那也可以。
This was part of their-- I'm sorry.
这是他们的一部分——我很抱歉。
It's not Libanius.
这不是利巴尼乌斯。
Libanius is a philosopher.
利巴尼乌斯是一位哲学家。
Licinius.
李锡尼.
Licinius.
李锡尼.
Constantine and Licinius.
康斯坦丁和李锡尼。
Licinius was a pagan, but he was willing to go along with toleration.
李锡尼是一个异教徒，但他愿意宽容。
At this point, Christianity was legalized.
至此，基督教合法化。
But in the west, Constantine came to favor the Church and do more than merely accept it as legal.
但在西方，君士坦丁开始支持教会，他所做的不仅仅是接受教会的合法性。
For example, he returned property confiscated in the Diocletianic persecutions.
例如，他归还了戴克里先迫害中没收的财产。
He exempted the Church from state taxation, an incredible gift, and allowed church officials, bishops and others, to use the imperial communications system, the so-called post system whereby they could get fresh horses to go from one place to another, greatly speeding up their journeys and making the journeys, in effect, chargeable to the state.
他免除了教会的国家税收，这是一项令人难以置信的礼物，并允许教会官员、主教和其他人使用帝国通讯系统，即所谓的邮政系统，他们可以通过这种系统获得新鲜的马匹从一个地方到另一个地方，大大加快了他们的旅程，并使旅程实际上由国家负责。
Constantine left the pagan and ceremonial center of Rome alone, for the time being at least, and built two great basilicas on its outskirts.
君士坦丁留下了罗马的异教和仪式中心，至少暂时如此，并在其郊区建造了两座大教堂。
One, Saint Peter's.
一，圣彼得大教堂。
The St. Peter's that stands today is, of course, a product of the Renaissance and the Baroque.
今天矗立的圣彼得大教堂当然是文艺复兴和巴洛克风格的产物。
But the old church that was destroyed in the sixteenth century was that of Constantine.
但十六世纪被毁的老教堂是君士坦丁教堂。
And he also built the Lateran Basilica.
他还建造了拉特兰大教堂。
Both of these outside the walls of Rome.
这两个地方都在罗马城墙外。
As we'll discuss, he also attempted to mediate in disputes involving the church.
正如我们将要讨论的，他还试图调解涉及教会的纠纷。
He never, however, completely marginalized the old religions.
然而，他从未完全边缘化古老的宗教。
He emphasized the diversity of religious practice.
他强调宗教活动的多样性。
He didn't require a single form of worship.
他不需要任何形式的崇拜。
But by the time he died in 337, the pace of conversions was such that perhaps as much as half of the Empire had embraced Christianity.
但到 337 年他去世时，皈依基督教的速度如此之快，以至于可能有一半的帝国人已经皈依了基督教。
And this brings us to a crucial question, of course, that we'll be discussing really throughout the semester, and that is what was the effect of Constantine's conversion on the Church?
当然，这给我们带来了一个关键问题，我们将在整个学期真正讨论这个问题，那就是君士坦丁的皈依对教会的影响是什么？
Or beyond the mere event of 312, what did it mean for the Church to go from persecuted minority to established majority?
或者说，除了 312 事件之外，教会从受迫害的少数派变成公认的多数派意味着什么？
What explains Constantine's ability not only to change the course of the Roman religious practice and tendencies, but to do so permanently?
如何解释君士坦丁不仅能够改变罗马宗教实践和倾向的进程，而且能够永久地改变这一点？
For the Church, was this turnaround a providential sign or a kind of Trojan horse gift in which the Church would now be so tied to the official culture that it would never be able to shake off Rome, administration, and bureaucracy to get back to its original, charismatic, individual, powerful foundations?
对于教会来说，这种转变是一种天意的迹象还是一种特洛伊木马的礼物，教会现在与官方文化如此紧密地联系在一起，以至于它永远无法摆脱罗马、行政和官僚机构，以回到其最初的、有魅力的、个人的、强大的基础？
The era of Constantine establishes the problem of the Church in the world for the Middle Ages and, indeed, beyond.
君士坦丁时代确立了中世纪乃至更远时期世界教会的问题。
This problem is: is the church a collection of special people who have their eyes fixed on heaven or, is it a kind of universal society that is hard to distinguish from just worldliness and engagement with the world of business, life, death, and other banalities?
这个问题是：教会是一群目光注视天堂的特殊人群的集合体，还是一种与世俗、商业、生死和其他平庸事物难以区分的普世社会？
It is Saint Augustine who is going to deal with this most forcibly in terms of theory, but that's a century later or so, well, 75 years later.
圣奥古斯丁将在理论上最强有力地处理这个问题，但那是一个世纪左右，嗯，75年后的事了。
Externally, the Church adapted very quickly to success.
从外部来看，教会很快就取得了成功。
We can see this in terms of the pace of conversion, as I said.
正如我所说，我们可以从转换的速度来看这一点。
Not only were 50% of the people, perhaps, Christian by 337 when Constantine died, but by 390, the time of the Emperor Theodosius and his death, 395, probably 90% of the population was at least nominally Christian.
到 337 年君士坦丁去世时，不仅 50% 的人可能是基督徒，而且到 390 年，也就是狄奥多西皇帝去世的时候，395 年，可能有 90% 的人口至少在名义上是基督徒。
The reasons for this success.
此次成功的原因。
In other words, how could Constantine's particular gesture have such a decisive impact?
换句话说，康斯坦丁的特殊举动怎么会产生如此决定性的影响呢？
Some of this has to do with Christianity's willingness to adopt to the customs of the Empire.
这在一定程度上与基督教愿意接受帝国的习俗有关。
Some of it may have to do with the weakness of the official religion of Rome and of the urban elites who were its chief support.
其中一些可能与罗马官方宗教和作为其主要支持者的城市精英的软弱有关。
Those who held out against Christianity were, on the one hand, people in the rural areas, so peasants, whose fundamental beliefs tended to be directed to agriculture, local deities, deities that controlled the weather, and water, and things like that.
一方面，那些反对基督教的人是农村地区的人，也就是农民，他们的基本信仰往往是针对农业、地方神、掌管天气和水的神等等。
The army, for reasons I've just said, that is, Christianity is not, at first glance, congenial to people who fight for a living.
军队，因为我刚才已经说过的原因，也就是说，乍一看，基督教并不适合那些为生计而战的人。
And then the third group that held out were the intelligentsia, particularly of Roman and Athens, the people who had a substantial cultural investment in Greek and Roman philosophy, the intellectual side of the old elite.
第三个坚持下来的群体是知识分子，特别是罗马和雅典的知识分子，他们对希腊和罗马哲学进行了大量的文化投资，这是旧精英的知识分子的一面。
Well, Constantine fell out with Licinius.
好吧，康斯坦丁与李锡尼闹翻了。
And after some small skirmishes, Constantine managed to defeat him at a place called Chrysopolis in 324.
经过一些小规模的冲突后，君士坦丁于公元 324 年在一个名叫克里索波利斯的地方击败了他。
Licinius fled from the battlefield, Constantine's forces caught up with him, and Licinius was executed.
李锡尼逃离战场，君士坦丁的军队追上了他，李锡尼被处决。
This event, this Battle of Chrysopolis, important in itself-- P-O-L-I-S-- important in itself was even more important because it showed Constantine the importance of the small fortress city of Byzantium, not far away.
这一事件，即克里索波利斯之战，本身就很重要——P-O-L-I-S——本身就更重要，因为它向君士坦丁展示了不远处的拜占庭小要塞城市的重要性。
Byzantium who is the ancestor of the city that Constantine would found there, Constantinople.And of course, modern Istanbul in its twenty-first century incarnation.
拜占庭是君士坦丁在那里建立的城市君士坦丁堡的祖先。当然，还有二十一世纪的现代伊斯坦布尔。
Byzantium commanded a strategic point of access east-west and north-south.
拜占庭控制着东西向和南北向的战略要地。
It was the point of access between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
它是黑海和地中海之间的入口。
The Bosphorus is a narrow strait that separates Europe from Asia.
博斯普鲁斯海峡是一条狭窄的海峡，将欧洲与亚洲分开。
Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul stands on the west bank, the European side, but it commands and controls the channel by which anyone would go from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea.
拜占庭、君士坦丁堡、伊斯坦布尔位于西岸，即欧洲一侧，但它指挥并控制着任何人从地中海通往黑海的通道。
And since the Black Sea is the gateway to central Asia, it, in effect, controls communications between two commercial, strategic, and military zones.
由于黑海是通往中亚的门户，它实际上控制着两个商业、战略和军事区域之间的通讯。
It also controls the route from the Balkans, southeastern Europe, into Asia, into, specifically in this case, Asia Minor or the Asian part of what's now Turkey.
它还控制着从巴尔干半岛、东南欧进入亚洲，特别是进入小亚细亚或现在土耳其的亚洲部分的路线。
Byzantium is, therefore, strategically located in terms of communication and, at the same time, located so that an army can get to two of the most dangerous frontiers of the Roman empire in a reasonable amount of time without having to commit itself to one or the other totally.
因此，拜占庭在交通方面具有战略地位，同时，它的位置使得军队可以在合理的时间内到达罗马帝国最危险的两个边境，而不必完全致力于其中一个。
It is not far from the Danube frontier, which was, as we said, one of the points at which the empire met the Barbarian tribes and which the empire had sort of decided on as its natural frontier.
它距离多瑙河边境不远，正如我们所说，这是帝国与蛮族部落相遇的地点之一，也是帝国决定将其作为其自然边界的地方。
And Constantinople was also not that far from the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire, the frontier with Persia, which ran along what's now eastern Turkey, Armenia, western Iran, and Iraq.
君士坦丁堡距离罗马帝国的东部边境也不远，即与波斯的边境，沿着现在的土耳其东部、亚美尼亚、伊朗西部和伊拉克。
It was the city, also, within the richest part of the empire.
这也是帝国最富裕地区的城市。
As we said, one of the problems of the Empire in its later years, its later centuries was that the east was becoming richer, more urban, more commercial.
正如我们所说，帝国晚年、晚几个世纪的问题之一是东方变得更加富裕、更加城市化、更加商业化。
The west was lagging behind, more rural, less successful in its commerce.
西部地区比较落后，更加农村化，商业也不太成功。
Constantine wanted an eastern capital for both strategic and for economic reasons.
出于战略和经济原因，君士坦丁想要建立一个东方首都。
For strategic reasons having to do with the movement of the armies and the protection of the frontier.
出于与军队调动和边境保护有关的战略原因。
For economic reasons having to do with taxation and administration.
出于与税收和行政管理有关的经济原因。
The city of Rome itself was somewhat isolated, strangely enough since, of course, the whole empire had grown up around Rome.
奇怪的是，罗马城本身有些孤立，因为整个帝国都是围绕罗马发展起来的。
But Rome was the historical origin of the Empire, but not, in the fourth century AD, its actual living capital.
但罗马是帝国的历史起源，但在公元四世纪并不是帝国真正的首都。
It would be too much to compare it, say, to the relationship between Portugal and Brazil.
如果将其与葡萄牙和巴西之间的关系进行比较，那就太过分了。
It's not quite that lopsided.
事情还没有那么一边倒。
But Brazil is a former colony of Portugal.
但巴西是葡萄牙的前殖民地。
They speak the language of Portugal.
他们说葡萄牙语。
Yet on the world stage, Brazil is larger than Portugal, more important than Portugal, richer now than Portugal.
然而在世界舞台上，巴西比葡萄牙更大，比葡萄牙更重要，现在比葡萄牙更富有。
So whatever preeminence Portugal, or its capital, Lisbon, has within the world of culture, no Brazilian would take Lisbon to be the be all and end all of the Portuguese cultural world.
因此，无论葡萄牙或其首都里斯本在文化世界中的地位如何，没有一个巴西人会认为里斯本是葡萄牙文化世界的全部和终结。
So similarly, by this time, Rome has become less important even within the western empire.
同样，到了这个时候，即使在西方帝国内部，罗马也变得不那么重要了。
And this relocation of the capital to Constantinople, the relocation of the capital to the east is significant because it shows us the permanent result of the Tetrarchy.
而这次迁都君士坦丁堡，迁都东边意义重大，因为它向我们展示了四帝制的永久结果。
As we’ve said, Diocletian's experiment was a failure in the sense that the emperors and caesars would not cooperate.
正如我们所说，戴克里先的实验是失败的，因为皇帝和凯撒不愿意合作。
And such a scheme was never tried again.
这样的计划再也没有被尝试过。
But the division of the Empire between east and west would be something that would eventually become permanent.
但帝国东西方的分裂最终将成为永久性的。
Its first traces are with Diocletian, and that's one reason why we begin the course with him.
它的第一个踪迹是戴克里先（Diocletian），这就是我们从他开始课程的原因之一。
It is also something that continues under Constantine without the addition of the caesars.
在君士坦丁统治下，即使没有凯撒的加入，这种情况仍在继续。
Constantine ruled over the whole empire.
君士坦丁统治着整个帝国。
He did not divide it himself, but he facilitated its conceptual, and eventually real, political division by creating a new Rome, a new capital in the former fortress of Byzantium, a town that he modestly named after himself.
他本人并没有分裂它，但他通过在拜占庭的前堡垒中创建一个新罗马、一个新首都，并谦虚地以自己的名字命名这座城镇，从而促进了概念上的、最终是真正的政治分裂。
Constantinople, as this town was called, was planned to be a new Rome.
这座城镇被称为君士坦丁堡，计划成为新罗马。
Like Rome, it would have a forum; it would have civic spaces; it would have races and sporting events.
就像罗马一样，它也会有一个论坛；它将有公民空间；它将举办比赛和体育赛事。
It would have imperial palaces and gardens; it would have victory columns, triumphal arches, aqueducts, the whole panoply of classical civilization.
它会有皇宫和花园；它将有胜利柱、凯旋门、渡槽以及古典文明的全部。
It wouldn't have a whole lot of temples.
它不会有很多寺庙。
Churches would be more important than temples, not that Constantine totally banned temples from Constantinople.
教堂比寺庙更重要，并不是君士坦丁完全禁止君士坦丁堡建造寺庙。
But these were not the highlights of the city.
但这些并不是这座城市的亮点。
It is an ideological statement like other planned, great, imperial sites.
与其他规划的、伟大的帝国遗址一样，它是一种意识形态声明。
So we could compare it to, in the modern world, Saint Petersburg, created by the czars as a certain kind of statement, with a certain kind of plan, and a certain kind of look evoking western Europe in particular.
因此，我们可以将其与现代世界中的圣彼得堡进行比较，圣彼得堡是由沙皇创建的，作为某种声明、某种计划和某种特别唤起西欧的外观。
Or Versailles, not a town at all, but rather a kind of palace city fit for the king of France.
或者凡尔赛，根本不是一个城镇，而是一种适合法国国王的宫殿城市。
Chapter6: Constantine intervenes in Church Doctrine [00:31:32]
第六章：君士坦丁干预教会教义[00:31:32]
At this point, Constantine becomes considerably more devout and somewhat more intolerant.
此时，君士坦丁变得更加虔诚，但也更加不宽容。
We start to see him interact with the Christian Church in its most intimate way, that is to say, doctrine.
我们开始看到他以最亲密的方式（即教义）与基督教会互动。
Constantine is appealed to by the Donatists, schismatics--well, we're calling them schismatics--or heretics, as they were decided to be, from North Africa.
君士坦丁受到来自北非的多纳徒派、分裂分子——好吧，我们称他们为分裂分子——或者异教徒，正如他们所决定的那样。
The Donatists taught that the priests who had given over the scriptures under persecution at the time of Diocletian were not legitimate priests.
多纳徒派教导说，在戴克里先时代受迫害而交出圣经的牧师不是合法的牧师。
And we'll talk later about the implications of this.
我们稍后会讨论这的含义。
The implications, briefly, are that the Church cannot cover for priests, that the office is not greater than the man.
简而言之，这意味着教会不能为牧师提供服务，牧师的职位并不比人更大。
If the man has committed a sin, such as what was called treason, the handing over of the scriptures to the persecutors, he no longer can baptize validly, he no longer can perform the sacraments with validity.
如果这个人犯了罪，例如所谓的叛国罪，将经文交给迫害者，他就不能再有效地施洗，他不能再有效地执行圣礼。
Donatism, then, implies that the Church itself is really just as good as the character of its officials.
那么，多纳图主义意味着教会本身实际上与其官员的品格一样好。
The Donatists were strong in North Africa, and they appeal to Constantine against decisions that had been made against them within the Church.
多纳徒派在北非势力强大，他们向君士坦丁呼吁，反对教会内部针对他们做出的决定。
The fact that Christians are appealing to the emperor already, as early as 317, shows the acceptance of the emperor as a Christian arbiter.
早在 317 年，基督徒就已经向皇帝上诉，这一事实表明皇帝接受了基督教仲裁者的身份。
But it also shows a kind of, in retrospect, dangerous intermingling of what we would consider to be church and state.
但回想起来，它也显示出一种我们所认为的教会与国家的危险混合。
Similarly, Constantine would get involved in controversies over the relationship between God, the Father, and Christ, the Son.
同样，君士坦丁也会卷入关于圣父上帝与圣子基督之间关系的争论。
This, too, we'll go into in more detail, but this is the Arian heresy-- Arian with an "i", not with a "y"-- named after a priest named Arius who taught that while Christ is God, he is, in some sense, subordinate to God the Father.
我们也会更详细地讨论这一点，但这是阿里乌斯异端——阿里乌斯派带有“i”，而不是“y”——以一位名叫阿里乌斯的牧师命名，他教导说，虽然基督是上帝，但在某种意义上，他从属于父上帝。
This is a controversy over the nature of the Trinity in which Christ is seen as coming from God, as emanating from God.
这是关于三位一体本质的争论，其中基督被视为来自上帝，从上帝发出。
And as I think I warned at the beginning of the course, if you don't like doctrinal and theological controversy, I'll try to spare you all its ins and outs, but you can't teach this course without it.
正如我想我在课程开始时警告的那样，如果你不喜欢教义和神学争议，我会尽力为你省去所有细节，但如果没有它，你就无法教授这门课程。
Again, what we're talking about now is not the content of Arianism, who embraced it, why, but the fact that the Emperor gets involved in these controversies.
再说一次，我们现在谈论的不是阿里乌主义的内容、谁接受它、为什么接受它，而是皇帝卷入这些争议的事实。
On the one hand, this shows the quick adaptation of the Church to imperial rule.
一方面，这表明教会很快适应了帝国统治。
On the other hand, because Constantine was able to solve neither the Donatist nor the Arian division, at least not definitively, and at least not yet, it shows how difficult it was for an emperor who could conquer all of his secular rivals, who could control this vast realm from Gibraltar to the Tigris and Euphrates, but couldn't get a bunch of North African peasants to obey his orders about how to worship, or Egyptian priests either.
另一方面，由于君士坦丁既无法解决多纳徒派的分裂，也无法解决阿里乌派的分裂，至少不能最终解决，至少目前还不能，这表明，对于一个能够征服所有世俗竞争对手、控制从直布罗陀到底格里斯河和幼发拉底河的广阔领土，但却无法让一群北非农民或埃及牧师服从他的命令的皇帝来说，这是多么困难。
Constantine, we can see, is frustrated by this.
我们可以看到，康斯坦丁对此感到沮丧。
You can see in the reading from Jones, his difficulties in dealing with this in the usual way.
您可以从琼斯的阅读中看到他以通常的方式处理这个问题的困难。
The usual way being the emperor is petitioned by people, he appoints some arbiters or judges, the judges make a decision, and then the emperor announces to these people that that's what it's going to be.
通常的方式是，皇帝是由人民请愿，他指定一些仲裁员或法官，法官做出决定，然后皇帝向这些人宣布事情就是这样。
The problem is that, of course, people like the Donatists were already used to martyrdom.
当然，问题在于，像多纳徒派这样的人已经习惯了殉难。
Threatening them with imprisonment, threatening them with torture, denouncing them, trying to use the awesome, awe-inspiring power of the emperor against them was not going to be sufficient.
仅仅用监禁来威胁他们，用酷刑来威胁他们，谴责他们，试图利用皇帝令人敬畏的权力来对付他们是不够的。
Nevertheless, Constantine, far from abandoning Christianity in frustration, becomes more and more engaged in trying to, if not officially Christianize the Empire, at least legislate as a Christian emperor.
然而，君士坦丁并没有因沮丧而放弃基督教，而是越来越多地致力于尝试将帝国正式基督教化，至少以基督教皇帝的身份立法。
By 330, he has come to see himself not merely as an emperor who has a kind of peculiar favor or a peculiar god that is following him, but as the implementer of the mission of the Church.
到了公元330年，他不仅把自己视为一位拥有某种特殊恩惠的皇帝或一位跟随他的特殊神灵，而且将自己视为教会使命的执行者。
So for example, he starts promulgating laws against married men having concubines-- ineffective-- or the seduction of wards by their guardians, or punishing rape by burning, all orientation towards sexual crimes that shows a more Christian horror of them than the more easygoing Roman attitude.
例如，他开始颁布法律，禁止已婚男子纳妾——无效——或者禁止监护人引诱受监护人，或者用火刑惩罚强奸，所有这些对性犯罪的倾向都显示出对性犯罪的更多的基督教恐惧，而不是更随和的罗马态度。
Constantine favors the church, enacts legislation recommended by the church, favors the bishops, and even in the 320s, presides over the first ecumenical council of bishops of the Church called at Nicaea across the Bosporus from Constantinople, the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea called to deal with the Arian controversy.
君士坦丁支持教会，颁布教会推荐的立法，支持主教，甚至在320年代，主持了在君士坦丁堡隔博斯普鲁斯海峡召开的尼西亚举行的第一次教会主教大公会议，尼西亚大公会议被召集来处理阿里乌派争议。
And here, we see Constantine as something different from an emperor merely the companion of Christ or the companion of God, but the emperor as, in some sense, head of the Church.
在这里，我们将君士坦丁视为不同于仅仅作为基督的同伴或上帝的同伴的皇帝，而是在某种意义上作为教会领袖的皇帝。
Constantine appears at the council, he is deferred to by the bishops.
君士坦丁出现在会议上，受到主教们的尊重。
Nevertheless, he is not himself a bishop.
然而，他本人并不是主教。
He is not himself, however imperial the Church may look, able to legislate by himself for the church.
无论教会看起来多么帝国主义，他本人都无法为教会立法。
Because unlike many other religions-- and certainly when we come to Islam, you'll see the contrast-- the political leader of the Roman Empire is not the designated leader of the religious practice of the Church because he is not a priest.
因为与许多其他宗教不同——当然，当我们谈到伊斯兰教时，你会看到对比——罗马帝国的政治领袖并不是教会宗教活动的指定领袖，因为他不是牧师。
Now who is the designated leader of the church is not clear yet.
目前尚不清楚谁是该教会的指定领袖。
Certainly, it's not yet the pope in the 320s.
当然，还不是320年代的教皇。
It is the collectivity of bishops, but in that case, then some bishops have more power than others.
它是主教的集体，但在这种情况下，一些主教比其他主教拥有更多的权力。
Nevertheless, this is the beginning of an era in which we have a blending, but not a total equivalency of secular rule, imperial rule, on the one hand, and spiritual or church rule on the other.
然而，这是一个时代的开始，在这个时代中，我们一方面是世俗统治、帝国统治，另一方面是精神或教会统治，但并非完全等同。
And that's one of the things that, of course, characterizes our image of the Middle Ages, a period in which the church and the state were overlapping, if not actually fused.
当然，这就是我们对中世纪印象的特征之一，在这个时期，教会和国家即使不是真正融合，也是重叠的。
Constantine in relation to Diocletian, to conclude.Differences and similarities.
君士坦丁与戴克里先的关系，得出结论。差异和相似之处。
Obviously, their similarities are great.
显然，他们的相似之处很大。
Both Diocletian and Constantine remade the Roman Empire as a much more tightly administered state, a more bureaucratically complicated state, and a more militarized state.
戴克里先和君士坦丁都将罗马帝国重塑为一个管理更加严格的国家，一个官僚机构更加复杂的国家，一个更加军事化的国家。
Constantine continued Diocletian's military and administrative structure.
君士坦丁延续了戴克里先的军事和行政结构。
Like Diocletian, in order to do this, he had to rely on very heavy taxation.
和戴克里先一样，为了做到这一点，他不得不依靠非常重的税收。
If anything, his taxation had to be greater because he had exempted the Church and its clergy, and someone was going to have to make up the difference.
如果说有什么不同的话，那就是他的税收必须更高，因为他免除了教会及其神职人员的税收，而必须有人来弥补差额。
But Diocletian had persecuted the Catholic church, whereas Constantine would favor it.
但戴克里先迫害天主教会，而君士坦丁则支持天主教会。
And that is, of course, a crucial difference.
当然，这是一个至关重要的区别。
On the other hand, even here there are some connections.
另一方面，即使在这里也存在一些联系。
Under Diocletian, the emperor was a god.
在戴克里先统治下，皇帝是神。
The emperor was a distantly glimpsed figure.
皇帝是一个遥不可及的人物。
He was no longer, even in pretense, first citizen, guy just like you and me, hand-shaker, baby-kisser, anything like that.
他不再是，即使是假装的，第一公民，像你我一样的人，握手者，亲吻婴儿的人，诸如此类的人。
But this was also true with Constantine.
但康斯坦丁也是如此。
Constantine, too, had a ceremonial, distant, and--because of his association with the Church--semi-sacred status.
君士坦丁也拥有一种仪式性的、疏远的、而且——由于他与教会的联系——半神圣的地位。
He couldn't be worshipped as a god, to be sure, but he was something a bit more than merely a follower of Christianity.
当然，他不能被当作神来崇拜，但他不仅仅是基督教的追随者。
Constantine ended the Tetrarchy, but he really set the seal on the division of the Empire east and west, as we've just said, by the establishment of Constantinople.
君士坦丁结束了四帝制，但正如我们刚才所说，他通过君士坦丁堡的建立真正奠定了帝国东西部的分裂。
And finally, Constantine was a little more successful economically.
最后，君士坦丁在经济上取得了一些成功。
Diocletian did not have the means available to Constantine who had a certain amount from the old pagan temple treasures that he was able to confiscate.
戴克里先没有君士坦丁可用的手段，他从古老的异教神庙中没收了一定数量的宝藏。
And also, by virtue of his victory over Licinius, he was able to rule pretty tightly over the Empire.
而且，凭借对李锡尼的胜利，他能够相当严格地统治帝国。
The fourth century often is seen as a period of decline because we're focused-- we-- historians are focused on the collapse of the Roman Empire in the late fifth century.
四世纪常常被视为衰落时期，因为我们——我们——历史学家关注的是罗马帝国在五世纪末的崩溃。
But obviously, people in 337, the year that Constantine died, did not know that in 476 the Western Empire would collapse.
但显然，公元337年，即君士坦丁去世的那一年，人们并不知道西罗马帝国将在476年崩溃。
They did not know that in 410 Visigoths would invade and plunder the city of Rome, no more than we have the faintest idea of what's going to happen 75 or 100 years from now.
他们不知道西哥特人会在 410 年入侵并掠夺罗马城，就像我们对 75 或 100 年后会发生什么一无所知一样。
From their point of view, the Empire had been restored.
在他们看来，帝国已经恢复了。
The Empire, which had been endangered in the third century by invasions, inflation, armed forces out of control, chaotic imperial succession, was now stable.
帝国在三世纪时曾因入侵、通货膨胀、武装力量失控、混乱的帝国继承而受到威胁，但现在已经稳定了。
It was clear who the emperor was.
谁是皇帝一目了然。
The barbarians had been pushed back behind the frontiers.
野蛮人被赶回了边境。
Trade, culture, civilization seemingly flourished.
贸易、文化、文明似乎蓬勃发展。
And if we trust the impressions we have of contemporaries, both formal, written work and informal, things like the slogans that people put in their dining room mosaics, for example, good times had been restored.
如果我们相信我们对同时代人的印象，无论是正式的书面作品还是非正式的东西，例如人们在餐厅马赛克上贴的标语，那么美好时光就已经恢复了。
This seems to be the constant theme.
这似乎是永恒的主题。
And I emphasize this because, again, it's a lesson in how history cannot be seen from the front backwards.
我强调这一点是因为，这又是一个教训，告诉我们如何不能从前面向后看历史。
You can't use hindsight to tell what people should have felt.
你不能用事后诸葛亮来判断人们应该有什么感受。
People in the fourth century at the time of Constantine were optimistic.
四世纪君士坦丁时代的人们是乐观的。
No more so those people who had embraced Christianity as the coming thing, as the religion of not only truth, but of success.
那些接受基督教作为即将到来的事物、不仅是真理而且是成功的宗教的人更是如此。
What is odd is, of course, that thus far, Christianity would have seemed to be unlikely.
当然，奇怪的是，到目前为止，基督教似乎不太可能出现。
Christianity would have seemed to be alien from the Empire.
基督教似乎与帝国格格不入。
And even if some emperor embraced it for weird reasons of its own, his own, it wouldn't have seemed to have been the most favorable context for the preservation of the Empire.
即使某个皇帝出于自己的奇怪原因接受了它，它似乎也不是保存帝国的最有利的环境。
And indeed, of course, the Empire would fail in the west within a century and a half or so of the embrace of Christianity.
当然，事实上，帝国在接受基督教后一个半世纪左右的时间里就会在西方失败。
And it's no surprise, then, that the English historian of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon, whose Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire sort ofsets the agenda for any course like this one.
因此，研究罗马帝国的英国历史学家爱德华·吉本（Edward Gibbon）的《罗马帝国衰亡史》在某种程度上为此类课程设定了议程，这也就不足为奇了。
It's no accident that Gibbon blamed Christianity for the fall of the Empire.
吉本将帝国的衰落归咎于基督教并非偶然。
But indeed, in the fourth century, it seemed that Christianity was one of the forces that had saved the Empire.
但事实上，在四世纪，基督教似乎是拯救帝国的力量之一。
And not only that, as we will see as this course unfolds, much of what was preserved from the debacle of 476 and successive problems of the preservation of civilization would be preserved through the action of the Church.
不仅如此，随着本课程的展开，我们将看到，从 476 年的灾难和随后的文明保护问题中保存下来的大部分内容将通过教会的行动得以保存。
Thanks very much.
非常感谢。