2016年6月6日功課

Greek Self-Government

古希臘自治政府

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

古希臘人是最早開始開始對自治政府開展艱難嘗試的人。

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，古希臘人都是同等的富有和貧窮。每個人都擁有一定數量的牛和羊。他的茅屋曾是他的城堡。他曾來去自由，隨心所意。無論何時只要有與公眾有關的重大事情需要討論，所有市民都在集市上聚集。鎮上的一個長者被推選為主席，他的職責是確保每一個人都有機會表達他的觀點。一旦有戰爭，一個特別的精力飽滿并且自信的人被選為指揮官。但當危險解除，這些主動賦予他作為領導權利的人，同樣有權利罷免他。

2016年6月7日功課

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.

但漸漸地小鎮成長為一個城市。有人努力工作，有人懶惰。有人很不幸，有人通過欺騙他們的鄰居集聚了財富。結果，這個城市就不再是由一群同樣幸福的人組成了。相反地，這里居住者少數非常富裕的人和大量非常貧窮的人。

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.

這里還有另一個變化。那個因為知道怎樣領導人們取得勝利，而被人們自愿奉為“首領”或“國王”的年長指揮者從人們的視線中消失了。他的位子被貴族們取代——那些在發展過程中取得了驚人的農田和財產的一群富人。

2016年6月8日功課

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.

這些貴族比其它自由的公民群眾享有許多優勢。他們可以購買在東地中海市場上可以找到的最好的武器。他們擁有大量空余時間可以練習格斗的技藝。他們居住在堅固的房子里，他們可以雇傭士兵為他們戰斗。貴族們無休止的爭吵以決定應該由誰來統治這個城市。在爭吵中獲勝的那個貴族就僭取了凌駕于萬鄰之上的王權，他統治著這個城市直到被殺掉或者被另一雄心勃勃的貴族趕下臺。

2016年6月9日功課

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.

拜他的士兵們所賜，這樣的一個國王被稱作“暴君”。在公元前7世紀到前6世紀之間，希臘的每一個城市都被這樣的一個暴君統治過一段時間。順便說一下，這些暴君中有許多恰好非常的有才華。但長此以往，這種世態變得讓人無法忍受。于是人們嘗試進行改革，人類有記錄以來的第一個民主政府就在這些改革中誕生了。

2016年6月10日功課

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.

在七世紀初，雅典人民決定進行一次社會改革，以期讓勞苦大眾在政府中再次擁有發言權，就像他們的古希臘祖先那是一樣應該有的。他們請一個叫做德拉古（古希臘政治家，立法者）的人為他們提供一系列的法律，用來保護窮人免遭來之富人的侵略。德拉古開始埋頭苦干。不幸的是，他是一位專業的律師，但是他幾乎沒有接觸過日常生活。在他看來犯罪就是犯罪，當他完成他的立法工作后，雅典人民發現那些嚴刑峻法是如此的嚴格以至于不可能被生效。在新的法律體系下，人們都沒有足夠的繩索來逮捕罪犯，在新立法下偷一個蘋果要判死罪。

2016年6月11日功課

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.

雅典人繼續尋找一個更仁慈的改革家。最終他們找到一個比任何人都適合做這些事情的人，這個人的名字叫做梭倫（雅典立法家）。他出身與一個貴族家庭，曾經周游列國并且他對許多國家的政府形式都有研究。在對這件事情進行仔細研究之后，梭倫為希臘人制定了一系列的法律。這次立法也為希臘人那骨子里的中庸性格做了注解。梭倫嘗試提高農民的身份，但不影響貴族們的地位，還有士兵們，他們為（或者將要為）這個國家貢獻了很多。為了保護貧困階級，梭倫不顧部分法官（法官們通常在貴族中選舉產生，因為他們不用付給薪水）的責備，在他的法律中規定一個有冤情的市民有權力在一個由30個希臘人組成的陪審團面前陳述他的案情。

2016年6月12日功課

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，梭倫強制的把城市事物與普通自由民的直接利益以及個人利益聯系起來。他再也不能待在家里說“啊，我今天太忙了”或者“今天下雨了，我最好待在家里。”他期望去盡他的義務；去參加鎮上的議會；為國家安全與繁榮做出一份貢獻。

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.

這個政府做為“樣品”，還遠非成功。（議會）有太多無意義的談話。（議會）有許多發生在競選官員時的令人厭惡和懷恨的場面。但是它教會希臘人保持獨立并依靠自己拯救自己，這就是一件非常好的事情了。