History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 1 — Page 11
那些关于罗马法发展的较为平和且具有说教性质的章节，乃至关于教会历史细节的段落，都像是休憩之所或分隔符，穿插于各个蛮族入侵时期之间。
The more peaceful and didactic episodes on the development of the Roman law, or even on the details of ecclesiastical history, interpose themselves as resting-places or divisions between the periods of barbaric invasion.
总而言之，尽管全书先是因两座都城而显得纷乱，后又因帝国的正式分裂而更加复杂，但这非凡的谋篇布局仍然维持着井然的秩序与规律的推进。
In short, though distracted first by the two capitals, and afterwards by the formal partition of the empire, the extraordinary felicity of arrangement maintains an order and a regular progression.
随着我们的视野不断开阔，远在文明世界边界之外正在酝酿的风暴逐渐映入眼帘——随着我们追踪这些风暴一步步逼近那颤抖的边疆——那条被压缩而不断后退的疆界线依然清晰可辨；
As our horizon expands to reveal to us the gathering tempests which are forming far beyond the boundaries of the civilized world—as we follow their successive approach to the trembling frontier—the compressed and receding line is still distinctly visible;
尽管帝国逐渐瓦解，破碎的残片相继演变为各具形态的国家与王国，这些王国与帝国之间的真实关系仍得以维系与界定；
though gradually dismembered and the broken fragments assuming the form of regular states and kingdoms, the real relation of those kingdoms to the empire is maintained and defined;
甚至当罗马的版图已萎缩至不过色雷斯一省之地，当罗马之名在意大利仅局限于那座城市的城墙之内时，
and even when the Roman dominion has shrunk into little more than the province of Thrace—when the name of Rome, confined, in Italy, to the walls of the city—
然而，正是对罗马昔日伟大的记忆与幽灵，笼罩着史家在后期叙述中所拓展的广阔天地；整部作品融汇为一个统一的整体，并明显是其悲剧戏剧双重灾变不可或缺的组成部分。
yet it is still the memory, the shade of the Roman greatness, which extends over the wide sphere into which the historian expands his later narrative; the whole blends into the unity, and is manifestly essential to the double catastrophe of his tragic drama.
然而，设计上的宏大、华美或和谐，尽管令人叹服，若细节之处缺乏严谨与准确，则不足以赢得我们真正的钦佩。
But the amplitude, the magnificence, or the harmony of design, are, though imposing, yet unworthy claims on our admiration, unless the details are filled up with correctness and accuracy.
在这一点上，没有哪位作家所受到的严苛检验比吉本更为严峻。
No writer has been more severely tried on this point than Gibbon.
Vocabulary
- more
- 更多的；进一步的
- peaceful
- 和平的；宁静的；安详的
- didactic
- 教育的；教学的；说教性的
- episodes
- 事件；插曲；情节片段
- development
- 发展；演变；开发过程
- Roman
- 罗马的；古罗马人的
- law
- 法律；法则；定律
- even
- 甚至；连...都；平均的
- details
- 细节；详情；具体内容
- ecclesiastical
- 教会的；宗教的；神圣的
- history
- 历史；历史事件；过去的事
- interpose
- 插入；干涉；打断
- resting-places
- 休息地；停留处；中间站
- divisions
- 分部；分科；部队编制
- between
- 在...之间；相互之间
- periods
- 时期；周期；句号
- barbaric
- 野蛮的；粗暴的；不文明的
- invasion
- 入侵；侵略；侵犯行为
- short
- 短的；简短的；缺少的
- though
- 虽然；尽管；但是
- distracted
- 分心的；精神不集中的
- capitals
- 首都；大写字母；资本
- afterwards
- 之后；后来；随后
- formal
- 正式的；形式上的；正规的
- partition
- 分割；分区；隔墙
- empire
- 帝国；皇帝统治的国家
- extraordinary
- 非凡的；特别的；不寻常的
- felicity
- 幸福；幸运；恰当
- arrangement
- 安排；布置；协议
- maintains
- 维持；保持；坚持
- order
- 秩序；命令；顺序
- regular
- 规则的；定期的；常规的
- progression
- 进行；进展；推进
- horizon
- 地平线；范围；视野
- expands
- 扩展；膨胀；扩大
- reveal
- 揭示；显示；泄露
- gathering
- 聚集；集合；聚会
- tempests
- 暴风雨；狂风暴雨；风暴
- forming
- 形成；组织；塑造
- far
- 远的；远处；很；相当
- beyond
- 超过；越过；在...外面
- boundaries
- 边界；边界线；范围
- civilized
- 文明的；有文化的；开化的
- follow
- 跟随；遵循；理解
- successive
- 连续的；逐次的；继任的
- approach
- 接近；靠近；方法
- trembling
- 颤抖的；震颤的；战栗
- frontier
- 边境；国界；前沿
- compressed
- 压缩的；紧凑的；受压的
- receding
- 后退的；消退的；逐渐远去
- line
- 线；行；路线
- still
- 仍然；还；静止的
- distinctly
- 清晰地；明确地；明显地
- visible
- 可见的；明显的；看得见
- gradually
- 逐渐地；一步步地；慢慢地
- dismembered
- 分裂的；被肢解的；被分割
- broken
- 破碎的；断裂的；中断的
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