24　希腊对波斯

这个故事的标题中，你们知道“希腊”与“波斯”之间的那个“对”字的意思吗？

也许你们曾经见到这个字用于两支橄榄球队进行比赛的门票上；比如说，“哈佛大学队对耶鲁大学队”。

它指的是“较量”，也就是“对抗”的意思。

好吧，希腊和波斯两国之间将会进行一场重大的比赛；但这并不是一场运动比赛，而是一场生死较量，是一场发生在小小的希腊与强大广袤的波斯之间的战争。

居鲁士这位伟大的波斯国王已经征服了巴比伦及其他一些国家，并且此后一直都在继续征伐，直到最后，波斯统治了世界上除希腊和意大利以外的大部分地区。

公元前500年左右，统治着这个广袤的波斯帝国的新一任君主，是一个叫作大流士的人。像你们可能会做的那样，大流士没准看了看地图，发现自己拥有和统治着地图上的大部分地区。他想：遗憾的是，竟然还有希腊这样一个小小国家没有归入我的治下！

大流士便对自己说：“我必须占领这个叫作希腊的地方，让我的帝国版图变得完整起来。”除此之外，希腊人也给他带来了一些麻烦。他们曾经协助大流士的一

empire.”Besides,the Greeks had given him some trouble. They had helped some of his subjects to rebel against him.Darius said，“I must punish these Greeks for what they have done and then just add their country to mine.”

He called his son-in-law and told him to go over to Greece and conquer it.

His son-in-law did as he was told and started out with a fleet and an army to do the punishing. But before his fleet could reach Greece it was destroyed by a storm,and he had to go back home without having done anything.

Darius was very angry at this,mad with his son-in-law and mad with the gods who he thought had wrecked his ships,and he made up his mind that he himself would go and do the punishing and conquering the next time.

First,however,he sent his messengers to all the Greek cities and ordered each of them to send him some earth and some water as a sign that they would give him their land and become his subjects peaceably without a fight.

Many Greek cities were so frightened by the threat of Darius and by his mighty power that they gave in at once and sent earth and water as they were told to do.

But little Athens and little Sparta both hotly refused to do so,in spite of the fact that they were only two small cities against the vast empire of Darius.

Athens took Darius’s messenger and threw him into a well,saying，“There is earth and water for you；help yourself”；and Sparta did likewise.Then these two cities joined their forces and called on all their neighbors to join with them to fight for their native land

些属国起兵造反。大流士说：“我一定要惩罚这些希腊人，让他们为自己的行为付出代价，然后再将他们的国家并入我的帝国版图。”

于是，他招来自己的女婿，命令他率军前往希腊，去征服该国。

他的女婿便奉命行事，率领一支舰队和一支军队出发前去征服希腊。可是，还没等他到达希腊，一场暴风雨便将他的舰队打了个七零八落，所以他只能一事无成地返回了波斯。

对此，大流士极其震怒；他对自己的女婿大发雷霆，还痛斥众神，因为他觉得是这些神灵毁掉了他的战舰。然后，他决心下一次进行亲征，要亲自去惩罚和征服希腊。

然而，他先是派遣使者前往希腊的各个城邦，命令它们各自献出一点儿土和水，以此来表明它们愿意把土地献给他，和平地变成他的臣民而不用他大动干戈。

大流士的恐吓和强势，让希腊的许多城邦都感到害怕，因此它们纷纷遵命，马上派人向大流士献出了土和水。

可小小的雅典和小小的斯巴达这两个城邦，却坚决拒绝这样做，只有它们这两个小小的城邦与大流士那个广袤的帝国对着干。

雅典人抓住大流士的使者，将他扔进了一口水井里，并说：“下面就有土和水，您自己取吧。”而斯巴达人的做法也差不多。然后，这两个城邦又将军队联合起来，并且呼吁它们的邻邦也与之联合起来，为保卫祖国而与大流士及波斯帝国战斗。

against Darius and Persia.

Darius made ready to conquer Athens and then Sparta.

In order to reach Athens his army had to be carried across the sea in boats. Of course,in those days there were no steamboats.Steamboats were invented nearly two thousand years later.

The only way to make a boat go was with sails or with oars. To make a large boat move with oars,it was necessary to have a great many rowers—three rows one above the other on each side of the boat.

Such a boat was called a trireme,which means three rows of oars. It took about 600 of these boats to carry Darius's army over to Greece.Each of these 600 boats carried,besides the rowers or crew,about 200 soldiers.You can see for yourself how many soldiers Darius had in this army,if there were 600 shiploads of them and 200 soldiers on each ship.Yes,that is an example in multiplication—120，000 soldiers—that's right.

The Persians sailed across the sea；and this time there was no storm,and they reached the shore of Greece safely. They landed on a spot called the plain of Marathon,which was only about twenty-six miles away from Athens.You will see presently why I have told you just the number of miles—twenty-six.

When the Athenians heard that the Persians were

大流士准备先征服雅典，然后再去攻取斯巴达。

要想到达雅典，他手下的大军必须先坐船过海。在那个时候，世界上当然还没有轮船。差不多要到两千年之后，轮船才发明出来哩。

唯一能够让一条船前进的办法，便是给船只装上船帆或者船桨。而要想用船桨划动一艘大型船只的话，则需要很多很多的桨手：船的上下三层，每层的每一边都各需三排桨手。

这种船只，便叫作“三列桨座战船”，意思就是指船的每一边都有三排船桨。大流士的军队需要六百艘左右这样的战船，才能渡海前往希腊。除了桨手或者说船员之外，这六百艘战船的每一艘上大约可坐二百名士兵。这样，你们自己就可以算一算，要是每艘战船上有二百名士兵、总共有六百艘战船的话，大流士这支军队究竟有多少兵力了。没错，这是一道乘法练习题：一共是十二万名士兵，那就对了。

于是，波斯人便渡海进击了；这一次，海上没起风暴，所以他们都安然无恙地到达了希腊海岸。他们在一个叫作马拉松平原的地方登陆，这里距雅典只有26英里左右。你们马上就会明白，我为什么会正儿八经地跟你们说起这段距离的准确数字，即26英里。

得知波斯大军正在前来的消息之后，雅典人希望斯巴达人能够信守承诺，马上

coming,they wanted to get Sparta to help in a hurry,as she had promised to do.

Now,there were no telegraphs or telephones or railroads,of course,in those days. There was no way in which they could send a message to Sparta except to have it carried by hand.

They called on a famous runner named Pheidippides to carry the message. Pheidippides started out and ran the whole way from Athens to Sparta,about one hundred and fifty miles,to carry the message.He ran night and day,hardly stopping at all to rest or to eat,and on the second day he was in Sparta.

The Spartans,however,sent back word that they couldn't start just then；the moon wasn't full,and it was bad luck to start when the moon wasn't full,as nowadays some superstitious people think it bad luck to start on a trip on Friday. They said they would come after a while,when the moon was full.

The Athenians couldn't wait for the moon. They knew the Persians would be in Athens before then,and they didn't want them to get as far as that.

So all the fighting men in Athens left their city and went forth to meet the Persians on the plain of Marathon—twenty-six miles away.

The Athenians were led by a man named Miltiades,and there were only ten thousand soldiers.Besides these,there were one thousand more from a little nearby town,which was friendly with Athens and wished to stand by her—eleven thousand in all.If you figure it out,you will see that there were perhaps ten times as many Persians as there were

赶来支援。

注意，那个时候世界上当然也还没有电报、电话或铁路之类的通讯、交通设施。除了派人前往，他们就没有办法把信息传达给斯巴达人。

于是，雅典人便让一个叫作斐力庇第斯的著名长跑运动员去送信。斐力庇第斯马上动身，带着情报从雅典一直跑到斯巴达，两地之间相距大约一百五十英里。他日夜兼程地跑着，途中既没有停下来休息，也没有吃东西，第二天便赶到了斯巴达。

然而，斯巴达人却回话说，他们那时还没法马上动身前去支援；因为当时月亮还没有盈满，而他们认为，在月亮不圆的时候出发，是会招来霉运的；这种观念，与如今一些迷信的人认为在星期五动身出行会招来霉运的观念是一样的。

雅典人可等不及月亮变圆了。他们知道，波斯大军在月圆之前就会兵临雅典城下，而雅典人则不希望波斯大军长驱直入。

于是，雅典的士兵便倾巢行动起来，出城而去，前往26英里之外的马拉松平原，去迎击波斯大军。

雅典军队的将领是一个叫作米太亚德的人，他们的兵力只有一万人。除此之外，还有附近一些小城邦拼凑起来的一千多兵力；这些小城邦都与雅典交好，希望与雅典并肩战斗。所以，雅典这一方的总兵力就是一万一千人。要是算一算的话，你们就会看出，波斯兵力差不多是希腊兵力的十倍；也就是说，有十名波斯士兵来对付一名希腊士兵呢。

Greeks,ten Persian soldiers to one Greek soldier.

The Greeks,however,were trained athletes,as we know,and their whole manner of life made them physically fit. The Persians were no match for them.In spite of the small number of Greeks,the large number of Persians were beaten,and beaten badly.Of course the Greeks were far better soldiers than the Persians,for all their training made them so,but more than all this,they were fighting for themselves to save their homes and their families.

Perhaps you have heard the fable of the hound who was chasing a hare. The hare escaped.The hound was made fun of for not catching the little hare.To which the hound replied，“I was only running for my supper；the hare was running for his life.”

The Persian soldiers were not fighting for their homes or families,which were away back across the sea；and it made little difference to them who won,anyway,for most were merely hirelings or slaves；they were fighting for a king because he ordered them to.

Naturally the Greeks were overjoyed at this victory.

Pheidippides,the famous runner,who was now at Marathon,started off at once

然而我们知道，希腊人都是训练有素的运动健将，而他们那种健康的生活方式，也使得他们的体格都非常强健。波斯人在这方面根本比不上他们。因此，尽管希腊人兵力少，但兵力众多的波斯大军却被打败了，而且是被打得一败涂地。希腊的军队当然要比波斯大军优秀得多，这是因为所受的训练使得他们一个个都成了优秀的战士；但除此之外，他们还是为自己而战，为挽救自己的家园和家人而战。

你们或许听说过一则寓言，说的是一头猎犬追逐一只野兔的故事。野兔最终逃脱了。猎犬则因为逮不住一只小小的野兔而受到了嘲笑。对此，猎犬回答道：“我只是为了自己的晚饭而追击，可野兔却是为了性命而逃跑哩。”

波斯士兵并不是为了他们的家园和家人而战，因为他们的家人和家园都远在身后大海的那一边；而且，哪一方获胜对他们来说也没有太大的分别，因为波斯大军中的大多数人都只是雇佣兵或者奴隶。他们只是听从国王的命令，为那位国王而战罢了。

自然，希腊人都为这次胜利而感到欢欣鼓舞。

此时正在马拉松平原上的那位斐力庇第斯便马上动身，跑回26英里之外的雅典

to carry the joyful news back to Athens,twenty-six miles away. He ran the whole distance without stopping for breath.He had not had time to rest up from his long run to Sparta,which he had taken only a few days before,and so fast did he run this long distance that as soon as he had reached Athens and gasped the news to the Athenians in the marketplace he dropped down dead！

In honor of this famous run,they have nowadays in the new Olympic Games,what is called a Marathon race,in which the athletes run this same distance：twenty-six miles. This battle of Marathon took place in 490 B.C.and is one of the most famous battles in all history,for the great Persian army was beaten by one little city and its neighbor,and the Persians had to go back to their homes in disgrace.

A little handful of people,who governed themselves,had defeated a great king with a large army of only hired soldiers or slaves.

But this was not the last the Greeks were to see of the Persians.

城，去报告这一喜讯。他一口气跑完了全程，途中根本就没有停歇。几天之前，他刚刚长距离跑到斯巴达，之后也来不及充分休息；而这一次长跑时，他的速度又很快，所以他一回到雅典，在市场上气喘吁吁地将喜讯告诉了雅典人之后，马上便倒在地上死去了！

为了纪念马拉松战争的胜利和表彰斐力庇第斯的功绩，人们如今在新的奥林匹克运动会里加入了一个叫作马拉松赛跑的项目；参赛运动员所跑的距离，与斐力庇第斯所跑的距离相同，都是26英里。这场马拉松之战，发生在公元前490年；因为一个小小的城邦联合其邻国打败了强大的波斯军队，让波斯人不得不灰溜溜地滚回老家去，所以此战也成了世界历史上最有名的战事之一。

一群自行治国、数量不多的希腊人，打败了大流士这位率领着一支由雇佣兵或奴隶所组成的大军的伟大国王。

但是，这并不是希腊人与波斯人之间的最后一战。