评论
打印
...was now too big, too wealthy,
现在罗马太过辽阔，太过富庶，
too powerful to be effectively run by annual magistrates running under the overall control of the Roman Senate.
太过强大元老院控制下的每年一任的治安官已经无法有效管理这个国家。
Defending the Roman world now required powers far greater than the mos maiorum had been comfortable in granting just one man.
按照惯例应该只任命一个人但是现在要保卫罗马需要超过一个人的权力，
Victory over King Mithradates of Pontus had required a five-year grant of proconsular imperium to Pompey.
要征战本都王国国王米特里达提需要给庞培五年的地方总督统治权。
Only then could Pompey defeat Mithradates,
只有这样庞培才能击败米特里达提，
reorganize Rome's new Near Eastern territories
重组罗马在近东的新领土
and establish a belt of buffer states between the Roman Empire and Parthia.
并在罗马帝国和帕提亚之间设立一系列城邦作为缓冲带，
None of this would have been possible for a general who was constantly asking the Senate for permission.
如果庞培需要不断征得元老院的允许，这些是不可能实现的，
Pompey did indeed lay his imperium down when he returned to Rome.
而且庞培回到罗马的时候确实放下了自己的总督统治权，
In 61 BC Pompey held a triumph and dismissed his troops.
前61年庞培举行了庆功会并将自己的军队解散。
But like Marius before him, he wanted the Senate to ratify his political arrangements
但是像之前的马略一样，庞培希望元老院批准他的政治安排，
and to give land to his faithful client soldiers.
并且给他忠诚的职业士兵土地，
The Senate, trying to hang on to a scrap of its former prominence, refused.
元老院想要守住自己那点重要地位，拒绝了庞培的请求。
Crassus had become Rome's wealthiest man during Sulla's reign of terror
苏拉统治期间克拉苏已经成了罗马首富
by buying very cheaply the property of proscribed Romans.
他通过低价收购被剥夺权利的罗马人的房产敛得大量财产，
Crassus did most of the work in putting down Spartacus's rebellion,
镇压斯巴达克斯奴隶起义大部分功劳是克拉苏的，
only to have Pompey show up in time to claim the credit.
却是庞培及时出现邀功，
After serving with Pompey as consul for seventy BC,
在和庞培一起担任公元前70年的执政官之后，
Crassus looked to his financial affairs.
克拉苏开始着手自己的经济问题，
In the Senate, he was the patron for the publicani, or tax collectors.
他是元老院publicani的头，publicani就是收税官。
Because Pompey had extracted so much money from the East during his smashing victories,
由于庞培在东方战无不胜榨取了很多钱，
the publicani had fallen on tough times.
税务官收税很艰难，
They wanted to renegotiate what they had promised to pay the Senate,
他们想和元老院商讨降低原来答应上交元老院的数额，
but the Senate refused.
但是元老院不从。
Gaius Julius Caesar was a dirt poor politician,
盖乌斯·朱利叶斯·凯撒是个一穷二白的政客，
further handicapped by being the nephew of Marius's wife.
还是马略妻子的侄子，使他境况更艰难
But Julius had mad political skillz, which he displayed in getting elected pontifex maximus.
但是朱利叶斯有超凡的政治技巧，他能被选为大祭司就体现了这一点。
From that important office, Julius Cesar did the groundwork for winning the consulship of fifty nine BC.
在当大祭司期间，凯撒为他在公元前59年赢得执政官的地位打好了基础。
He reached out to Pompey and to Crassus and promised to help them get what they wanted from the Senate,
他找到庞培和克拉苏，保证帮他们使元老院满足他们的要求
provided they helped him get the consulship and a nice long grant of proconsular imperium in Gaul to follow his consulship.
只要他们帮助自己获得执政官的地位并在那之后获得在高卢的地方总督统治权。
The arrangement Caesar made between Pompey, Crassus,
凯撒在庞培，克拉苏，前三头同盟，
and himself is best known now as the First Triumvirate,
和他自己之间做的这种安排被称为
even though it was not a legal entity like the Second Triumvirate truly was.
尽管它不像后三头同盟一样是真正的法律实体。
The three triumvirs had hoped to bring the silver-tongued Cicero in to make it a foursome,
这三头曾想拉雄辩的西塞罗入伙凑成四头，
but to his credit Cicero could not be conned in to joining.
但是鉴于西塞罗的信用没有被骗加入，
As planned, Caesar was elected one of the consuls of fifty nine BC,
和计划的一样凯撒被选为公元前59年的执政官之一，
along with an unfortunate fellow by the name of Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus.
和他同为执政官的是不幸的普尔尼乌斯毕布路斯，
That year Caesar did his utmost,
同年凯撒不择手段，
legally or illegally, to pass the legislation Pompey and Crassus wanted.
不管合法还是非法，通过庞培和克拉苏想要的立法，
Anyone in Caesar's way found himself on the receiving end of a beating from Pompey's burly veterans.
阻碍凯撒行径的人都会遭到庞培军队老兵的痛打，
His tactics were so heavy handed that Bibulus just stayed home all year claiming that he was watching the skies,
凯撒的手段太过残酷，毕布路斯一整年都待在家中称自己在观察天空，
This meant that he was collecting bizarre religious portents
意思是他在收集异样的宗教凶兆，
to help him invalidate Caesar's legislation after their year was over.
帮他在执政官任期结束后证明凯撒的立法是无效的。
Roman humorists called that year not the consulship of Caesar and Bibulus,
罗马幽默作家称那一年的执政官是朱利叶斯和凯撒，
but the consulship of Julius and Caesar.
而非凯撒和毕布路斯
Pompey got his official "attaboy" for beating Mithradates and his client soldiers got land.
庞培击败米特里达提的战功获得了官方"表扬" 他的士兵也得到了土地。
Crassus's tax collector buddies got to renegotiate their contracts on more favorable terms.
克拉苏的税务官们也得以和元老院重新商讨协议，获得更有利的条款。
