世界小史 第135期:繁榮富強

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 　　But when they set out to do something, they did it, even if it took 200 years,

　　但是他們一旦決心要做什么事，他們便總是將其實現(xiàn)，哪怕這要持續(xù)2000年，

　　for they were peasants through and through, not restless seafarers like the Athenians.

　　因為他們正是地地道道的、土生土長的農(nóng)民，不是像雅典人那樣堅持不懈的航海者。

　　Their homes, their livestock1 and their land – these were what mattered. They cared little for travel, they founded no colonies.

　　他們的家園，他們的畜群和他們的土地——這些是他們看重的。他們不怎么喜歡航行，他們也不建立殖民地。

　　They loved their native city and its soil and would do anything and everything to increase its prosperity and power.

　　他們熱愛他們的故土和他們的城市，他們會竭盡全力，使之更加繁榮富強。

　　They would fight for it and they would die for it.

　　他們會為之戰(zhàn)斗，為之死亡。

　　Beside their native soil there was one other thing that was important to them: their law.

　　除了他們的故土以外，他們只還看重一樣東西：他們的法律。

　　Not the law that is just and fair and before which all men are equal, but the law which is law.

　　不是在其面前人人平等的公正之法，而是法律的法。

　　The law that is laid down.

　　這樣的法律被寫下來了。

　　Their laws were inscribed2 on 12 bronze tablets set out in the marketplace.

　　他們的法律寫在城市廣場上的12塊銅匾上。

　　And those few, stern words meant precisely3 what they said.

　　那上面簡潔、嚴肅的文字準確的表明了他們所說的法律。

　　No exceptions, no compassion4, no mercy.

　　沒有例外，也沒有同情或?qū)掑丁?/p>

　　For these were the laws of their ancestors and they must be right.

　　因為這是他們祖先的法律，因為如此，它們一定是正確的法律。