Ten Minute History - The Fall of Rome (Short Documentary) · History Matters
本片简述西罗马帝国的衰落过程，涵盖帝国分裂、宗教改革、城市生活与军队开支等内容，适合练习历史背景和复杂句理解。
395 and the Roman Empire has been split in two.
公元395年，罗马帝国分裂成了两个部分。
This was done by Emperor Theodosius I,
这是由狄奥多西一世皇帝完成的。
known also as Theodosius the Great, because he defeated the Goths and made the official religion of the Empire Christianity.
他也被称为“狄奥多西大帝”（Theodosius the Great），因为他击败了哥特人，并将基督教确立为帝国的官方宗教。
He did this in a very clever way, by banning all of the others.
他通过禁止其他所有选项的方式，以一种非常巧妙的方式实现了这一目的。
The Empire's two halves were to be inherited by Theodosius's sons.
帝国的这两部分将由狄奥多西的儿子们继承。
Arcadius received the Eastern half, centred at Constantinople, and the Norius received the West, centred at Mediolanum.
阿尔卡迪乌斯获得了以君士坦丁堡为中心的东半部分领土，而诺里乌斯则获得了以梅迪奥拉努姆为中心的西半部分领土。
In case you're wondering, Rome was seen as the spiritual capital of the entire Empire, and it's important to note that the Empire wasn't officially divided.
如果你想知道的话，罗马被视为整个帝国的精神中心；需要强调的是，这个帝国在官方层面其实并没有被正式分裂。
Those who controlled the two halves saw themselves as joint rulers of a single empire, but realistically they were run as separate entities at this point.
那些控制着这两个地区的人将自己视为一个统一帝国的共同统治者；但实际上，这两个地区此时已经各自独立运作了。
As a whole, the Empire had a population of about 40 million people and was fairly urbanized.
总体而言，这个帝国的总人口约为4000万人，且城市化程度相当高。
Rome was the largest city and had a population between 350 ,000 and half a million, but the yeast as a whole was much more urbanized.
罗马是当时最大的城市，人口数量在35万到50万之间；不过整个罗马地区的人口城市化程度要高得多。
The major urban centers there included the likes of Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria,
那里的主要城市中心包括君士坦丁堡、安条克、亚历山大等。
and Corinth.
以及科林斯。
Feeding the masses of Roman Constantinople required what was called the Greindole.
为了养活罗马君士坦丁堡的大量居民，人们需要使用一种被称为“Greindole”的特殊工具或设备。
This was where wheat was imported from the fertile regions of North Africa and Egypt to the cities at great cost to the imperial treasury.
正是通过这条通道，小麦从北非和埃及的肥沃地区被运往各个城市；然而，这样做给帝国国库带来了巨大的财政负担。
This was part of the Bread and Circuses Mantra, whereby feeding and entertaining people meant that they would shut up and not riot.
这是“面包与马戏”这一政策理念的一部分：通过为人们提供食物和娱乐，可以让他们保持安静、不再闹事。
The entertainment was mostly paid for by the wealthy, but after 404 this entertainment would no longer include gladiatorial combat.
这些娱乐活动主要由富人出资举办；然而在公元404年之后，这些活动中便不再包括角斗士之间的搏斗了。
This was because a monk telemarkers tried to stop a fight between gladiators and was promptly murdered.
这是因为一名负责远程指挥的僧侣试图阻止角斗士之间的争斗，结果立即被杀害了。
Enorias moved by this banned gladiatorial combat because it was unchristian and apparently not okay to watch people maim each other for our entertainment.
埃诺里亚斯被这场被禁止的角斗比赛所触动——因为这种行为违背了基督教的精神；显然，让别人为了我们的娱乐而互相残害，是绝对不可接受的。
So another major expense to the treasury was of course the army which numbered between 400 and 500 ,000 men.
因此，对国库来说另一笔巨额开支当然是用于维持军队的开支；当时军队的规模在40万到50万人之间。
This was extremely expensive and required an
这非常昂贵，而且需要……（原文此处内容缺失）。
extensive tax system and bureaucracy to make sure the army was paid on time since if the army wasn't paid on time they tended to revolt.
为了确保军队能够按时获得军饷，该国建立了庞大的税收体系及官僚机构；因为如果军队无法按时领到军饷，他们很可能会发动叛乱。
Both halves of the empire suffered with many problems, corruption, rebellion, financial crises, and perhaps most notably barbarian invasions.
帝国的两个部分都面临着诸多问题：腐败、叛乱、金融危机，尤其是最为严重的——蛮族入侵。
Side note, the term barbarian will be used to describe non -Latin or Greek -speaking peoples who originated from outside of the empire.
顺便提一下，“野蛮人”（barbarian）这个术语用来指那些不使用拉丁语或希腊语、且起源于帝国境外的民族。
There were loads of barbarian groups that the Romans had to deal with, but the main ones were the Celts,
罗马人不得不应对许多野蛮部落，其中最主要的是凯尔特人。
the Franks, the Vandals, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoths, and later on the Huns.
法兰克人、汪达尔人、东哥特人、西哥特人，以及后来的匈奴人。
The eastern empire was wealthier than the
东罗马帝国比西罗马帝国更加富饶。
west but had to share a border
位于西部，但不得不与邻国共享边界。
with the extremely potent Sasani and empire meaning that it could never bring its full force to bear unless they face a deadlier invasion.
由于萨珊王朝及其帝国的实力极为强大，除非面临更具威胁性的入侵，否则他们永远无法全力发动攻击。
Nominally the western empire was run by
从名义上讲，西罗马帝国是由……统治的。
Enorias but the real power lay in a man called Flavia Stilico who was born to a Vandal father and a Roman mother.
虽然埃诺里亚斯（Enorias）掌握着政权，但真正的权力掌握在一个人手中——他的名字叫弗拉维亚·斯蒂利科（Flavia Stilico）。弗拉维亚·斯蒂利科的父亲是汪达尔人，母亲是罗马人。
i .e.
也就是说（即：I.e.）
he was a barbarian or at least was seen to be by his peers.
在他那些同龄人眼中，他就是一个野蛮人。
This was not a rare occurrence since
这种情况并不罕见；因为……（原句在此处缺少继续描述的具体原因或背景信息）。
there were many groups of barbarians that had been allowed to settle within the empire and the condition that they fight for it.
有许多野蛮人部落被允许在帝国内定居，但他们必须为帝国而战。
The Romans rarely held up their end of the bargain though and this led to many barbarian groups revolting.
然而，罗马人很少能够履行他们约定的义务，这导致许多蛮族部落纷纷发动反抗。
The most notable example of this occurred in 378 when the agreement between Frittagun and his Goths and the Roman Emperor Valens wasn't honored.
最著名的例子发生在公元378年：当时弗里塔贡（Frittagun）及其哥特族与罗马皇帝瓦伦斯（Valens）之间达成的协议并未得到遵守。
Frittagun revolted and defeated the Romans at the Battle of Adrian Opel in which Valens was killed.
弗里塔古恩（Frittagun）发动叛乱，并在阿德里安-奥佩尔（Adrian Opel）战役中击败了罗马军队；此次战役中瓦伦斯（Valens）阵亡。
Surely after this though the Romans would learn to uphold their bargains but fun fact no.
不过，在经历了这件事之后，罗马人应该会学会遵守他们达成的协议才对。不过，有趣的是……他们并没有学会这样做。
So a Visigoth called Alaric had been
那么，有一个名叫阿拉里克（Alaric）的西哥特人……
rampaging across the Balkans and in order to get him to stop he was given an imperial title and allowed to settle in a Lyrica here.
这个家伙在巴尔干地区肆意妄为；为了让他停止这种行为，人们授予他一个帝国头衔，并允许他在利里卡地区定居。