10

AGRICOLA

阿格里科拉

civllize, refine; tame.　　　　　　　　discovered, found out.
conquer, subdue.　　　　　　　　　estuaries, firths.
dirks, daggers.　　　　　　　　　　introduced, brought in.

1. Neither Julius Caesar nor Paulinus, but a Roman general called Julius Agricola, was the man who really planted the Roman power firmly in Britain.Coming across the strait, in the year 78 A. D., he set to work at once both to conquer and to civilize. While he made the wilder tribes feel that Roman swords were sharp indeed, he taught the more peaceful Britons to dress and live in the Roman fashion, and to grow the rose, the violet, the cherry, and the grape.

2. Agricola was fortunate in having his operations described by his son-inlaw Tacitus, the Roman historian. From his writings, we know that Agricola was a wise and humane ruler, as well as a skilful soldier. He pushed his way further north than any Roman general had done before him, and he induced many of the natives to submit to the Roman rule.

3. In the year 80 A. D. he entered Albin or Caledonia (Scotland), and drove the native Britons northward before him. He advanced with his army as far as to the Tay, which struck the Roman soldiers as being very like the Tiber. Hopeless of being able to hold all the land he had overrun, Agricola resolved to fix on the line of the Forth and Clyde, where the island is narrowest, as the northern boundary of the province. Between the estuaries of these rivers he threw up a. chain of forts to guard the frontier.

4. In his seventh and last year he met in battle, on the borders of the Highlands, a great host of Caledonians under Galgacus. In vain the brave savages of the Perthshire moors used their dirks and shook their hollow balls. The Romans killed 10, 000 of them; and on a hill, near the supposed site of the battle, may still be seen two great cairns, or heaps of stone, which probably mark the burial-place of the fallen brave.

5. When thinking of Agricola, we must not forget that his ships discovered,or rather for the fi rst time made certain of, the fact, that Britain is an island 6. Such is the story of the struggle which ended in the Romans adding Britain as a province to their great empire. By building walls with towers across the narrow parts of the island, north and south of the Cheviot Hills, they shut the wild Caledonians into the forests of the north; and by making paved roads through the southern half of the land, they secured a way of reaching any part with their troops.

7. Among the Romans who settled in Britain there were some Christians. Christianity is said to have been introduced into the island before the end of the first century. During a fierce persecution in the third century, several Britons suffered death Chief of them was Alban, who died at Verulam—now called St. Albans, after the martyr.

8. At last the inroads of the Goths and other northern tribes into Italy became so frequent that the Roman soldiers had to be withdrawn from Britain to guard the heart of the Empire. Levies of the British youth were employed in the Roman service, in Gaul and elsewhere on the Continent. In 410, the Emperor Honorius, fi nding it advisable to contract the limits of the Empire,withdrew the Roman legions and all signs of authority, and left the Britons to rule and to defend themselves.

中文阅读

1. 最终将罗马政权在不列颠土地上深深扎下根的人，不是尤利乌斯·恺撒，也不是保利努斯，而是一个叫尤利乌斯·阿格里科拉的罗马将军。他于公元78年跨海而来，一边从事武力征服，一边也进行文明教化。他让这些野蛮部落的人们尝到罗马刀剑厉害的同时，也引导另些安分下来的不列颠人进入罗马人的生活方式，穿罗马人的流行服饰，还教会他们种植玫瑰、紫罗兰、樱桃和葡萄。

2. 阿格里科拉是幸运的，因为他的这番功劳被他的女婿，即罗马历史学家塔西佗记录了下来。从塔西佗的著述中我们了解到，阿格里科拉不仅是一位出色的军人，更是一位明智而人道的政治家。他一路向北开疆扩土，领域之广远远超过他之前的任何一位罗马将军，更降服不少土著人归顺了罗马的统治。

3. 公元80年，他率部进入阿尔宾或叫做喀里多尼亚（即如今苏格兰）地区，把沿途的土著不列颠人向北驱逐了很远。最后挥师北进直到泰河，这条河让他的罗马士兵们颇感乡愁，因为它实在太像罗马的台伯河了。但要想把所经之地都纳入版图并永久占有也是不太可能的，于是阿格里科拉决定在全岛最狭窄的区域，即福斯湾与克莱德河之间修筑一条军事防线，作为整个不列颠行省的北部边界。一条长长的要塞就这样在两条河口之间诞生了，并成为守卫北疆的长城。

4. 在阿格里科拉执政的第七年，即最后一年，他又披挂上阵了。这次的对手是苏格兰部落的大头领加尔加克斯，战斗就发生在苏格兰高地的边界上。来自珀斯平原的土著人，尽管英勇地挥舞着短刀，还有那一晃就叮铃直响的中空金属球，但是面对罗马军队，这一切当然都是徒劳的。这次战斗中大约有10000人被罗马人所杀，在战场对面的一座小山上，现在依然可以看见一些成堆的石头，可能就标记着这些勇士们的安眠之处。

5. 另外提到阿格里科拉的时候，我们也千万别忘了，正是他的船队第一次发现了，或者说确证了，不列颠原来是一个岛屿。

6. 这就是阿格里科拉苦心经营的全部故事，最终以不列颠成为罗马的一个行省而告终。通过在全岛版图的狭窄区拦腰修建长城及瞭望塔，以切维厄特丘陵分野南北，他们把野蛮的古苏格兰土著人全部赶入北边的森林之中；又在全岛南部铺设道路，保障军队在行省南部全方位调度，政权由此进一步稳固。

7. 在不列颠定居下来的罗马人中还有不少基督徒。基督教传入不列颠岛的时间，一般认为不晚于1世纪晚期。在3世纪的严酷宗教迫害中，还有数位不列颠人献出了生命。他们的代表就是奥尔本，最后牺牲于费鲁拉姆城，后来这个地方改名叫圣奥尔本斯，以此纪念这位殉道者。

8. 到后来，野蛮土著人及其他北方蛮夷对意大利的侵扰日渐频繁，这让罗马军队不得不从不列颠本土撤退，以保卫他们的王权中心。当时的不列颠年轻人还要向罗马服兵役，但服役地点都是在高卢或者欧洲大陆上的其他地方，而不是在本土。公元410年，罗马的霍诺留斯皇帝觉得缩小庞大帝国的边界势在必行，于是下令从不列颠撤军，并消除罗马帝国在不列颠的所有政权设置，留下不列颠人自生自灭了。