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I said earlier that Greece, when set against the Persian empire, was no more than a small peninsula,
我已经谈到，顶住了波斯帝国强大压力的希腊是一个小小的半岛，
dotted here and there with little cities of busy merchants,
有不多的几个小城市，那里的人们努力经商。
a country of barren mountain ranges and stony fields, able to sustain only a handful of people.
那里有荒凉的大山和多石的田地，它们只能养活少量的人。
And also, as you may remember, that the Greeks belonged to a number of tribes,
此外，如你所记得的那样，居民属于各个不同的部落，
the most important of them being the Dorians in the south and the Ionians and the Aeolians in the north.
主要有南方的多里安人，有北方的伊安尼尔人和埃厄里尔人。
These tribes differed little from one another, either in appearance or in language.
这些部落在语言和外貌上没有多大区别。
They spoke different dialects, which they could all understand if they chose. But they very rarely did.
他们只是讲好几种方言而已，如果他们愿意，这些方言他们就能够听得懂。但是他们常常不愿意，
For, as is often the case, these close-related, neighboring tribes were unable to get on with one another.
这是常有的事，恰恰是这些彼此很相似的毗邻部落不能和睦相处。
They spent all their time exchanging insults and ridicule, when actually they were jealous of each other.
他们互相嘲笑，其实是彼此嫉妒。
For Greece had no one king or administration in common. Instead, each city was a kingdom in itself
希腊也没有一个共同的国王和共同的行政管理机构，每个城市自成一个王国。
