2022年专八英语之欧洲文化 (3)

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　　Lecture 2

　　1. History of Rome: 38-9

　　I. the founding of Rome

　　1 Aeneas

　　n Hero in Virgil’s epic: Aeneid (cf. p.44) (埃涅伊德, Virgil 作的叙事诗)

　　维吉尔：罗马诗人。他最伟大的史诗埃涅阿斯纪 讲述了埃涅阿斯在特洛伊陷落后的流浪经历

　　n son of Anchises and Venus & cousin of King Priam of Troy & leader of Troy's allies during the Trojan War (1200-1170 B.C.).

　　n After the fall of Troy, he led a band of Trojan refugees to Italy and became the founder of Roman culture (but the city he founded is Lavinium, not the city of Rome itself).

　　2 Numitor & Amulius : Aeneas’ offspring

　　n Numitor, king of the ancient Italian city of Alba Longa, was deposed by his brother Amulius

　　n Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, gave birth to twin sons

　　n Amulius, fearing that the boys would grow up to overthrow him, had them placed in a trough and thrown into the River Tiber.

　　3 Romulus & Remus: a

　　n Luckily the trough came ashore.

　　n They were found by a she-wolf.

　　n Instead of killing them, the she-wolf looked after them and fed them with her milk.

　　n The twins were found by Faustulus, the king's shepherd(牧羊人), who adopted them, calling them Romulus and Remus.

　　n Romulus and Remus rose against Amulius, killed him and restored the kingdom to Numitor, their grandfather.

　　Romulus & Remus: b

　　n Deciding to found a town of their own, Romulus and Remus chose the place where the she-wolf had nursed them.

　　n Romulus began to build walls on the Palatine Hill, but Remus jeered at them because they were so low. He leaped over them to prove this, and Romulus in anger killed him.

　　n Romulus continued the building of the new city, naming it Roma (Rome) after his own name.

　　n The she-wolf, of course, was a sacred symbol of Rome. See a picture of the she-wolf:

　　Romulus & Rome

　　n Its first citizens were outlaws and fugitives, to whom Romulus gave the settlement on the Capitoline Hill.

　　n →Problem: no enough wives for all these men

　　n Romulus decided to steal women from the Sabines(萨宾人), an Italian tribe.

　　P.S.:萨宾人(古代意大利中部一民族,公元前3世纪被罗马征服),

　　n He there proclaimed a festival and invited many Sabines to it. While the attention of the men was elsewhere Romulus' men rushed in and carried off the women.

　　n This was the famous "Rape (carrying off) of the Sabine women", which later became a subject for painters.

　　A word on the Roman legend:

　　n It seems unlikely that any part of this legend is true. Almost certainly it is a copy of a Greek tale, invented to explain the name of Rome and certain customs.

　　n For instance Roman brides were taken from their families on their wedding days with a pretence of force, and this probably accounts for the story of the Sabine women.

　　n But it is a widely believed that Rome was founded around the end of -8 C. under the influence of the Etruscans(伊特鲁里亚人.)

　　History of Rome: 38-9

　　II. Three eras of Rome

　　n . Roman Kingdom (circa -753--510 B.C.)

　　n Rome was ruled by seven Kings.

　　n The population was divided into three tribes (each tribe=10 curie库里亚/胞族 =100 gens氏族 )

　　Political constitution

　　n →The earlier Roman form of government was therefore an elective constitutional monarchy, and the powers were shared by the King, the Senate (or Council of the Elders) and a thirty member body known as the “Comitia Curatie”库里亚大会

　　n The king was the head of the state, a non hereditary(世袭的),authority, elected by the curie and chosen from a list of candidates presented by the Senate.

　　n All the state laws had to be approved by the citizens. Convened by the King, the curie met to vote, and they could answer yes or no to the king's proposals

　　ii. Roman Republic (509-27 B.C.)

　　n In 509 the last king was expelled and a Republic was set up.

　　a. Magistrates(地方行政官)

　　n The Romans took the power of the kings (called imperium) and gave it to two annual magistrates called consuls.

　　b. The Senate

　　n The senate was a holdover from the council of the kings. Eventually it consisted only of ex-magistrates. The senate had no right to give orders, but since it was composed of the most important men in politics, it was hard for magistrates to disregard its advice, and its influence was great. In the later Republic the senate acquired control over the state treasury and power to appoint officials.

　　c.Assembly

　　n Theoretically, the Roman People, when convened in various assemblies, had complete power. They elected all magistrates, tried criminal accusations, passed all laws and voted on war. In practice the arrangements gave control of the assemblies to the wealthy:

　　n The assemblies could only vote yes or no to a proposal put to them by a competent magistrate. They had no powers of independent deliberation (unlike the assembly of a Greek democracy).

　　Patron/Client Relations:

　　A characteristic institution of the Roman

　　n The Roman population was divided into two groups: patricians(贵族)and plebeians. (平民, 庶民)

　　n The two classes were quite divided: the patricians married and did business only with the people of their class. The plebeians could narrow the gap between the two classes only in one way: by becoming clients (obedient servants of a patrician family. They offered their services and so received the protection of the head of the patrician family, who became their patron.

　　n While Greek cities were rent with strife between the poor and the wealthy, the Roman patron/client system was a means of joining poor and wealthy in common interest. In effect, it was more beneficial for a given poor person to keep his patron in a position of influence than it was to abolish such influence altogether.

　　n The Romans applied this system to their foreign affairs. Conquered communities became the clients of their conquerors (and his family) and could also seek new patrons among the ruling class. This gave even the conquered an interest in promoting the Roman state.

　　Nature Of The Roman Republic

　　The structure of the Roman government and the influence of the patron/client relationship meant that the Roman Republic was dominated by the wealthy and that the theoretically democratic element was very restricted. The Roman Republic was not a democracy but an elective oligarchy(寡头政治, 寡头政治的执政团)of the wealthy (basically meaning landowners).

　　P.S.: 寡头统治政府：指由一些，特别是少数几个人或家族组成的小集团统治的政府

　　Struggle Of The Orders

　　(struggle between the patricians and plebeians )

　　n Aims of Plebeians(平民, 庶民) :

　　n Access to the priesthoods and offices of the state (especially the consulship) & debt relief and the distribution of state land.

　　Methods and Institutions of Plebeians :

　　n Secession: to withdraw from the city until they got their way;

　　n Assemblies;

　　n Tribunes(古罗马)护民官

　　n The consequence of the Conflict of the Orders:

　　n By 287 The tribunes came to be recognized as state magistrates. The wealthy plebeians were allowed to seek office, yet they gave up the struggle for the poorer plebeians' economic grievances. The wealthy plebeians united with the ruling patricians to form a new political ruling class called the nobility(贵族阶级) This new nobility was to lead the Republic in its conquest of the Mediterranean.

　　P.S.: 贵族阶级：由高贵的出身或等级区分的一个阶级的人，在英国包括公爵和公爵夫人、侯爵和候爵夫人、伯爵和伯爵夫人、子爵和子爵夫人、男爵和田爵夫人：

　　iii. the Era of the Empire (-27-476-1453 AD)

　　n In 44 B.C., Julius Caesar(凯撒)was assassinated by several members of the Roman Senate just one month after he had declared himself dictator of the Roman world.

　　P.S.:凯撒(古罗马的将军,政治家,历史家,公元前100-44)

　　n → a new triumvirate (古罗马,三头政治), consisting of Antony(安东尼)(consul), Lepidus (high official), and Octavian(屋大维)(the grand nephew of Caesar then divided up the Roman world.

　　n After defeating his last rival Antony, Octavian gained complete control of the Roman world. To avoid the fate of Caesar, he claimed to restore the Republic and was given the title of Augustus (27 B.C.) In reality his control of the armies, vast wealth and various special powers that had been voted to him gave him a position like that of a king.

　　n This is the beginning of Roman Empire, where the power was centralized in one person, the Emperor.

　　Pax Romana:39 ★ ★ ★罗马帝国统治下的和平

　　n Pax Romana, Latin for "the Roman peace," is the long period of peace experienced by states within the Roman Empire. During this time Rome endured neither major civil wars, nor serious invasions. It was an era of relative tranquility, though, for Rome still fought a number of wars against neighboring states and tribes.

　　n This period is generally considered to have lasted from 29 B.C., when Augustus Caesar declared an end to the great Roman civil wars of the first century, until 180 AD, when emperor Marcus Aurelius died. It was a time in which Roman commerce thrived, unhampered by pirates or marauding(抢劫的)enemy troops.

　　Roman law: 39 ★ ★ ★罗马法：作为现代罗马法律基础的古罗马的法制体系

　　n Roman law is a very important contribution made by the Romans. It had been so well developed that it later became the core of modern civil and commercial law in many Western countries, including most countries of Europe and South America.

　　n Cf. Chinese law

　　n Emphasis on relations/connections

　　1. History of Rome: 39

　　III. The declining of Roman Empire

　　n The empire began to decline in the 3rd century.

　　n It was unable to counter the huge Germanic invasions, and it gradually lost control of territory.

　　n In 395 the Empire was divided into East (the Byzantine Empire) and West.

　　n In 476 the last emperor in the West was deposed by the Goths, which marked the end of the West Roman Empire.

　　n It should also be remembered that as a whole the empire did not fall. For Imperial government continued in the increasingly Greek eastern half. Here a "King of the Romans" continued to rule down to AD 1453 when Constantinople(君士坦丁堡--土耳其西北部港市伊斯坦布尔) was captured by the Turks (though of course a Latin speaking westerner would not recognize the east as being Roman).

　　2. Greeks and Romans:

　　cultural similarities and differences

　　The Romans were ready to learn from other cultures, esp. Greek culture. To a large degree, it was the Romans who brought Greek (and Hellenistic) culture to world attention

　　I. Some similarities between the Greeks and Romans: 38 ★ ★ ★

　　i. Language:

　　n Greek and Latin work in a similar way, for they both belong to the Into-European family.

　　ii. political ideas:

　　n The citizen-assembly plays an important role in both political life.

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