2016年6月6日功课

Greek Self-Government

古希腊自治政府

THE GREEKS WERE THE FIRST PEOPLE TO TRY THE DIFFICULT EXPERIMENT OF SELF-GOVERNMENT

古希腊人是最早开始开始对自治政府开展艰难尝试的人。

IN the beginning, all the Greeks had been equally rich and equally poor. Every man had owned a certain number of cows and sheep. His mud-hut had been his castle. He had been free to come and go as he wished. Whenever it was necessary to discuss matters of public importance, all the citizens had gathered in the market-place. One of the older men of the village was elected chairman and it was his duty to see that everybody had a chance to express his views. In case of war, a particularly energetic and self-confident villager was chosen commander-in-chief, but the same people who had voluntarily given this man the right to be their leader, claimed an equal right to deprive him of his job, once the danger had been averted.

在起初，古希腊人都是同等的富有和贫穷。每个人都拥有一定数量的牛和羊。他的茅屋曾是他的城堡。他曾来去自由，随心所意。无论何时只要有与公众有关的重大事情需要讨论，所有市民都在集市上聚集。镇上的一个长者被推选为主席，他的职责是确保每一个人都有机会表达他的观点。一旦有战争，一个特别的精力饱满并且自信的人被选为指挥官。但当危险解除，这些主动赋予他作为领导权利的人，同样有权利罢免他。

2016年6月7日功课

But gradually the village had grown into a city. Some people had worked hard and others had been lazy. A few had been unlucky and still others had been just plain dishonest in dealing with their neighbours and had gathered wealth. As a result, the city no longer consisted of a number of men who were equally well-off. On the contrary it was inhabited by a small class of very rich people and a large class of very poor ones.

但渐渐地小镇成长为一个城市。有人努力工作，有人懒惰。有人很不幸，有人通过欺骗他们的邻居集聚了财富。结果，这个城市就不再是由一群同样幸福的人组成了。相反地，这里居住者少数非常富裕的人和大量非常贫穷的人。

There had been another change. The old commander-in- chief who had been willingly recognised as “headman” or “King” because he knew how to lead his men to victory, had disappeared from the scene. His place had been taken by the nobles–a class of rich people who during the course of time had got hold of an undue share of the farms and estates.

这里还有另一个变化。那个因为知道怎样领导人们取得胜利，而被人们自愿奉为“首领”或“国王”的年长指挥者从人们的视线中消失了。他的位子被贵族们取代——那些在发展过程中取得了惊人的农田和财产的一群富人。

2016年6月8日功课

These nobles enjoyed many advantages over the common crowd of freemen. They were able to buy the best weapons which were to be found on the market of the eastern Mediterranean. They had much spare time in which they could practise the art of fighting. They lived in strongly built houses and they could hire soldiers to fight for them. They were constantly quarrelling among each other to decide who should rule the city. The victorious nobleman then assumed a sort of Kingship over all his neighbours and governed the town until he in turn was killed or driven away by still another ambitious nobleman.

这些贵族比其它自由的公民群众享有许多优势。他们可以购买在东地中海市场上可以找到的最好的武器。他们拥有大量空余时间可以练习格斗的技艺。他们居住在坚固的房子里，他们可以雇佣士兵为他们战斗。贵族们无休止的争吵以决定应该由谁来统治这个城市。在争吵中获胜的那个贵族就僭取了凌驾于万邻之上的王权，他统治着这个城市直到被杀掉或者被另一雄心勃勃的贵族赶下台。

2016年6月9日功课

Such a King, by the grace of his soldiers, was called a “Tyrant” and during the seventh and sixth centuries before our era every Greek city was for a time ruled by such Tyrants, many of whom, by the way, happened to be exceedingly capable men. But in the long run, this state of affairs became unbearable. Then attempts were made to bring about reforms and out of these reforms grew the first democratic government of which the world has a record.

拜他的士兵们所赐，这样的一个国王被称作“暴君”。在公元前7世纪到前6世纪之间，希腊的每一个城市都被这样的一个暴君统治过一段时间。顺便说一下，这些暴君中有许多恰好非常的有才华。但长此以往，这种世态变得让人无法忍受。于是人们尝试进行改革，人类有记录以来的第一个民主政府就在这些改革中诞生了。

2016年6月10日功课

It was early in the seventh century that the people of Athens decided to do some housecleaning and give the large number of freemen once more a voice in the government as they were supposed to have had in the days of their Achaean ancestors. They asked a man by the name of Draco to provide them with a set of laws that would protect the poor against the aggressions of the rich. Draco set to work. Unfortunately he was a professional lawyer and very much out of touch with ordinary life. In his eyes a crime was a crime and when he had finished his code, the people of Athens discovered that these Draconian laws were so severe that they could not possibly be put into effect. There would not have been rope enough to hang all the criminals under their new system of jurisprudence which made the stealing of an apple a capital offence.

在七世纪初，雅典人民决定进行一次社会改革，以期让劳苦大众在政府中再次拥有发言权，就像他们的古希腊祖先那是一样应该有的。他们请一个叫做德拉古（古希腊政治家，立法者）的人为他们提供一系列的法律，用来保护穷人免遭来之富人的侵略。德拉古开始埋头苦干。不幸的是，他是一位专业的律师，但是他几乎没有接触过日常生活。在他看来犯罪就是犯罪，当他完成他的立法工作后，雅典人民发现那些严刑峻法是如此的严格以至于不可能被生效。在新的法律体系下，人们都没有足够的绳索来逮捕罪犯，在新立法下偷一个苹果要判死罪。

2016年6月11日功课

The Athenians looked about for a more humane reformer. At last they found some one who could do that sort of thing better than anybody else. His name was Solon. He belonged to a noble family and he had travelled all over the world and had studied the forms of government of many other countries. After a careful study of the subject, Solon gave Athens a set of laws which bore testimony to that wonderful principle of moderation which was part of the Greek character. He tried to improve the condition of the peasant without however destroying the prosperity of the nobles who were (or rather who could be) of such great service to the state as soldiers. To protect the poorer classes against abuse on the part of the judges (who were always elected from the class of the nobles because they received no salary) Solon made a provision whereby a citizen with a grievance had the right to state his case before a jury of thirty of his fellow Athenians.

雅典人继续寻找一个更仁慈的改革家。最终他们找到一个比任何人都适合做这些事情的人，这个人的名字叫做梭伦（雅典立法家）。他出身与一个贵族家庭，曾经周游列国并且他对许多国家的政府形式都有研究。在对这件事情进行仔细研究之后，梭伦为希腊人制定了一系列的法律。这次立法也为希腊人那骨子里的中庸性格做了注解。梭伦尝试提高农民的身份，但不影响贵族们的地位，还有士兵们，他们为（或者将要为）这个国家贡献了很多。为了保护贫困阶级，梭伦不顾部分法官（法官们通常在贵族中选举产生，因为他们不用付给薪水）的责备，在他的法律中规定一个有冤情的市民有权力在一个由30个希腊人组成的陪审团面前陈述他的案情。

2016年6月12日功课

Most important of all, Solon forced the average freeman to take a direct and personal interest in the affairs of the city. No longer could he stay at home and say “oh, I am too busy today” or “it is raining and I had better stay indoors.” He was expected to do his share; to be at the meeting of the town council; and carry part of the responsibility for the safety and the prosperity of the state.

最重要的是，梭伦强制的把城市事物与普通自由民的直接利益以及个人利益联系起来。他再也不能待在家里说“啊，我今天太忙了”或者“今天下雨了，我最好待在家里。”他期望去尽他的义务；去参加镇上的议会；为国家安全与繁荣做出一份贡献。

This government by the “demos,” the people, was often far from successful. There was too much idle talk. There were too many hateful and spiteful scenes between rivals for official honor. But it taught the Greek people to be independent and to rely upon themselves for their salvation and that was a very good thing.

这个政府做为“样品”，还远非成功。（议会）有太多无意义的谈话。（议会）有许多发生在竞选官员时的令人厌恶和怀恨的场面。但是它教会希腊人保持独立并依靠自己拯救自己，这就是一件非常好的事情了。