16　邪恶的开端

你们听说过“千里鞋”，就是一双一步就能跨出去好多英里的靴子吗？

哦，世界上还有一只比这更大的靴子呢；这只巨靴有500多英里长，位于地中海上。

不，这并不是一只真正的靴子；不过，假如你坐在离地面几英里高的飞机上向下看的话，它倒真像是一只靴子呢。

这只“靴子”，就叫意大利。

在希腊的第一个奥林匹亚周期过后不久，意大利发生了一件极其重大的事情。这件事情如此重大，因此那里的人将这一年称为元年；而在接下来的一千年里，那里的人们一直都是从这一年开始纪年的，就像古希腊人是从第一个奥林匹亚周期，而我们则是从基督降生开始纪年那样。然而，这一事件并不是某个人物的出生。这一事件，是一座城市的诞生；而这座城市，就叫罗马。

罗马的历史，是从我们所知的童话故事或者神话传说开始的，与希腊历史一样。荷马曾经讲述过古希腊人奥德修斯的漫游经历。许多年后，一位叫作维吉尔的诗人则又讲述了一位名叫埃涅阿斯的特洛伊人的漫游经历。

在特洛伊城遭到焚毁的时候，埃涅阿斯逃出了该城，开始寻找新的家园。几年

Trojan named Æneas.

Æneas fled from Troy when that city was burning down and started off to find a new home.Finally after several years,he came to Italy and the mouth of a river called the Tiber.There Æneas met the daughter of the man who was ruling over that country,a girl by the name of Lavinia,and married her,and they lived happily ever after.The children of Æneas and Lavinia ruled over the land,and they had children,and their children had children,and their children had children,until at last boy twins were born.These twins were named Romulus and Remus.Here ends the first part of the story and the trouble begins,for they did not live happily ever after.

At the time the twins were born,a man had stolen the kingdom,and he feared that these two boys might grow up and take his stolen kingdom away from him. So he put the twins in a basket and set them afloat on the river Tiber,hoping that they might be carried out to sea or upset and be drowned.This,he thought,was nearly all right,so long as he didn't kill them with his own hands.But the basket drifted ashore instead of going out to sea or upsetting,and a mother wolf found the twins and nursed them as if they were her own babies.A woodpecker also helped and fed them berries.At last a shepherd found them and brought them up as if they were his own sons until they grew up and became men.This sounds a good deal like the story of Paris who was left out to die and was found and brought up by a shepherd also.

Each of the twins then wished to build a city.But they could not agree which one was

之后，他最终来到了意大利，来到了一条叫作台伯河的河口。在那里，埃涅阿斯碰到了当时意大利国王的女儿，一个叫作拉维妮娅的姑娘，并且娶她为妻，此后他们一直都生活得很幸福。后来，埃涅阿斯和拉维妮娅夫妇的孩子成了这个国度的统治者，并且子子孙孙、一代又一代地传承下去，直到最后诞生了一对孪生兄弟。这对孪生兄弟，一个叫作罗慕路斯，另一个叫作瑞摩斯。至此，罗马的第一段历史便结束了，而麻烦也就此开始，因为此后罗马人的生活便不再幸福了。

这对孪生兄弟出生的时候，王国的大权已经被一个人窃取了；那个人很担心，这对孪生兄弟长大后，会将他窃取的王国再从他的手中夺走。于是，他便把这对双胞胎放进一只篮子，并将篮子扔到台伯河上顺水漂流，希望这对双胞胎会漂到大海上去，或者篮子会翻到河里，从而将他们淹死。他以为，只要没有亲手杀死他们，这样做就没有什么不妥。可是，篮子却没有漂到大海上去或者翻倒，而是漂到了岸边；一头母狼发现了这对双胞胎，便把他们当成自己的幼崽一样喂养起来。一只啄木鸟也来帮忙，衔来浆果喂给他们吃。最后，一位牧羊人发现了这对双胞胎，便把他们带回家去，像自己的亲生儿子一样抚养，直到他们长大成人。这一过程，听上去与帕里斯的故事很相似；帕里斯也是被人扔到野外等死，后来也是被一位牧羊人发现并抚养长大的。

当时，两兄弟都希望建立一个城市。但是，对于该由谁来主导建立城市这一问题，两兄弟之间却产生了争执；而在因为这个问题而发生争吵的过程中，罗慕路斯杀死了自己的孪生兄弟瑞摩斯。然后，罗慕路斯便在台伯河畔、他和兄弟被母狼救

to do it,and in quarreling over the matter,Romulus killed his own twin brother Remus. Romulus then built the city by the Tiber River,on the spot where he and his brother had been saved and nursed by the mother wolf.Here there were seven hills.This was in 753 B.C.，and he named the city Roma after his own name,and the people who lived there were called Romans.That is why,ever afterward,the Roman kings always said they were descended from the Trojan hero Æneas,the great-great-great-grandfather of Romulus.

Don't you believe this story?Neither do I. But it is such an old,old story everyone is supposed to have heard it even though it is only a legend.

In order to get people for the city which he had started,it is said that Romulus invited all the thieves and bad men who had escaped from jail to come and live in Rome,promising them that they would be safe there.

Then as none of the men had wives,and there were no women in his new city,Romulus thought up a scheme to get the men wives. He invited some people called Sabines,who lived nearby,both men and women,to come to Rome to a big party.

They accepted,and a great feast was spread.In the middle of the feast,when everyone was eating and drinking,a signal was given,and each of the Romans seized a Sabine woman for his

起并抚养长大的地方建立了一座城市。如今，这个地方有七座小山。这件事情，发生在公元前753年；罗慕路斯用自己的名字，将这座城市命名为罗马；而生活在此处的人，也因此而被称为罗马人。自此以后，古罗马的历代帝王之所以总说自己是特洛伊英雄和埃涅阿斯的后裔，原因就在于此。

你们是不是不相信这个故事呢？我也不相信。不过，就算只是一种传说，它也是一个非常非常古老的故事，所以大家都应当听说过。

据说，为了让人们到他建立的这座城市里来，罗慕路斯曾经邀请所有的小偷和逃犯前来罗马定居，并且承诺说，他们在罗马会很安全。

然后，由于这些人都没有老婆，使得他新建的这座城市里没有女人，所以罗慕路斯便想出了一个让这些人都娶上老婆的计策。他邀请居住在附近地区的一些萨宾人，其中既有男人也有女人，到罗马来参加一场盛大的宴会。

萨宾人接受了邀请，于是一场盛宴便开始了。在宴会期间，正当大家都在大吃大喝的时候，有人发出了一个暗号，于是每个罗马人便都抓住一名萨宾女人当自己

wife and ran off with her.

The Sabine husbands immediately prepared themselves for war against the Romans,who had stolen their wives. When the battle had begun between the two armies,the Sabine women ran out in the midst of the fighting between their new and old husbands and begged them both to stop.They said they had come to love their new husbands and would not return to their old homes.

What do you think of that?

It sounds like a pretty bad beginning for a new city,doesn't it?and you may well wonder how Rome turned out—a city that started with Romulus killing his brother and that was settled by escaped prisoners who stole the wives of their neighbors. We'll see if the Romans continued to do such wicked things as their city grew older.

的妻子，然后带着她跑了。

那些萨宾女人的丈夫，马上准备跟那些抢走了他们妻子的罗马人开战。两军开始战斗后，那些萨宾女人都跑出来，插到正在作战的现任和前任丈夫之间，请求双方罢战。她们说，自己已经爱上了现在的丈夫，不会再回到原来的家里去了。

你们怎么看待那种情况呢？

一座新城市是这样开始建立起来的，听上去相当邪恶，不是吗？你们可能还想知道，罗马后来怎么样了；毕竟，这个城市一开始便是罗慕路斯杀死了自己的兄弟后建立的，然后定居其中的又是一些抢走他人妻子的逃犯。随着这座城市的历史渐久，我们便会看出，罗马人还会不会继续干这种伤天害理的事情了。