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A few years before, Zoae?, the daughter of his brother Thomas, had married Ivan III of Russia. In this way did the grand-dukes of Moscow fall heir to the traditions of Constantinople. The double-eagle of old Byzantium (reminiscent of the days when Rome had been divided into an eastern and a western part) became the coat of arms of modern Russia. The Tsar who had been merely the first of the Russian nobles, assumed the aloofness and the dignity of a Roman emperor before whom all subjects, both high and low, were inconsiderable slaves.
几年前，帕利奥洛格的兄长托马斯之女左伊公主嫁给俄罗斯的伊凡三世为妻。这样一来，莫斯科大公便顺理成章成为了君士坦丁堡传统的继承人。古老的拜占庭双鹰标志（纪念罗马被分为东罗马和西罗马的日子）延续到现代俄罗斯的徽章之中，曾经仅仅是俄罗斯首席贵族的大公摇身而为沙皇。他获得了罗马皇帝一样的崇高与威严，凌驾于所有臣民之上。在他面前，无论贵族还是农奴，都是无足轻重的奴隶。
The court was refashioned after the oriental pattern which the eastern Emperors had imported from Asia and from Egypt and which (so they flattered themselves) resembled the court of Alexander the Great. This strange inheritance which the dying Byzantine Empire bequeathed to an unsuspecting world continued to live with great vigour for six more centuries, amidst the vast plains of Russia. The last man to wear the crown with the double eagle of Constantinople, Tsar Nicholas, was murdered only the other day, so to speak. His body was thrown into a well. His son and his daughters were all killed. All his ancient rights and prerogatives were abolished, and the church was reduced to the position which it had held in Rome before the days of Constantine.The eastern church however fared very differently, as we shall see in the next chapter when the whole Christian world is going to be threatened with destruction by the rival creed of an Arab camel-driver.
沙皇的宫殿依东方风格而建，这是东罗马皇帝从亚洲和埃及引人的，外形酷似亚历山大大帝的王宫（按他们的自我恭维）。垂死的拜占庭帝国流传给一个不确定世界的这份奇特遗产，以蓬勃的精力在俄罗斯广袤无边的大草原上继续生存，度过了6个漫长的世纪。最后一个佩戴拜占庭双鹰标志皇冠的是沙皇尼古拉二世，可以说，他是在不久前才被杀害的，尸体被扔进一口井里。与他一起死去的还有他的儿子和女儿们。所有他享有的古老特权也一并被废除，教会在俄罗斯的地位又回到了康士坦丁皇帝之前的罗马时代。不过罗马天主教会的遭遇却截然不同。正如我们在下一章将会看到的，整个基督教世界将面临一个阿拉伯放牧骆驼的先知者的威胁。
