Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar, written by Mary Ann Blackley. Focus question. Why is Julius Caesar known as one of the greatest leaders of ancient Rome?

《尤利乌斯·凯撒》，作者玛丽·安·布莱克利。 思考问题。 为什么尤利乌斯·凯撒会被称为古罗马最伟大的领袖之一？

Hail Caesar! Ancient Rome is one of the great civilizations in history. Many of the languages we speak, our cultures, and our ways of government are connected to Rome, and Julius Caesar was one of its greatest leaders. Caesar became famous because he was a great military commander. He was also a very clever and successful politician. He was a great public speaker, and the Roman public, as well as Caesar's soldiers, loved him. However, many Roman politicians feared and mistrusted Caesar, because they believed he wanted to be king. What Caesar really wanted was to fix Rome, which was in great trouble at the time he was born.

凯撒万岁！ 古罗马是历史上最伟大的文明之一。 我们如今的很多语言、文化和政治制度都和古罗马息息相关，尤利乌斯·凯撒正是古罗马最伟大的领袖之一。 凯撒成名是因为他是一位出色的军事统帅。 他还是一位聪慧能干、成就斐然的政治家。 他非常擅长公众演讲，罗马民众以及凯撒手下的士兵都十分爱戴他。 不过，很多罗马政客都畏惧、不信任凯撒，因为他们认为凯撒想要称王。 凯撒真正的心愿是整顿罗马，在他出生之时，罗马已经深陷重重危机了。

The Roman World Ancient Rome began where the European country of Italy is today. Over more than 1 ,000 years, Rome grew to become one of the greatest empires in the world. However, few of those years were stable or peaceful. Rome was often at war with its neighbors, faraway people, and even itself. In the beginning, Rome was a city -state ruled by kings. A city -state was a place that included one large city and the countryside around it. The story is that Rome was ruled well by six kings in a row. But the seventh king was cruel. In 509 BC, the people of Rome rose up and drove the terrible king from power.

罗马世界 古罗马起源于如今欧洲的意大利境内。 历经一千多年的发展，罗马成长为世界上最伟大的帝国之一。 但这一千多年里，很少有年份是稳定和平的。 罗马经常和邻国、远方民族，甚至自己内部爆发战争。 最初，罗马是由国王统治的城邦。 城邦就是一座大型城市加上周边乡村组成的独立政权。 传说罗马接连六位国王都把国家治理得很好。 但第七位国王十分残暴。 公元前509年，罗马人民起身反抗，把这位暴君赶下了台。

Romans decided that they didn't want kings, and this was when the Roman Republic began. They began electing two men, called consuls, every year to run the government. The consuls were helped by the Senate, a group of rich men who had great political power. They were called senators. The Roman Republic grew quickly. Over time, it spread to east and south across the Mediterranean Sea into North Africa. As they conquered other regions, Romans created provinces. These provinces needed to be governed, and they needed an army to protect them. Romans chose upper -class Roman citizens to rule the provinces. Governing the provinces made the rulers wealthy. Life was not so good, however, for the common citizens back in Rome. Many of them were poor, and they did not benefit from the new provinces. The Senate had become very corrupt. The gap in wealth between the rich and the poor became too big and civil war broke out. A civil war involves two groups of people from the same country fighting for control.

罗马人决定不再要国王统治，罗马共和国就此诞生。 他们开始每年选出两名叫作执政官的人来管理国家政府。 元老院协助执政官处理政务，这是一群掌握巨大政治权力的富人组成的团体。 他们被称为元老。 罗马共和国发展得十分迅速。 随着时间推移，它的领土向东、向南扩张，穿过地中海一直延伸到北非。 罗马人征服其他地区后，会把这些地区划为行省。 这些行省需要有人治理，也需要军队来保卫。 罗马人会选择上层罗马公民来管理行省。 管理行省让这些统治者变得十分富有。 但对罗马本土的普通公民来说，生活却没有那么美好。 他们中很多人都很贫穷，也没能从新增的行省中获得好处。 元老院已经变得十分腐败。 贫富之间的财富差距越来越大，内战最终爆发了。 内战就是同一个国家的两个群体为了夺取控制权而开战。

Caesar's Early Life. Julius Caesar was born in July 100 BC, more than 2 ,000 years ago. Caesar came from an old and known family. They probably expected him to enter politics at a young age. When his father died, Caesar became the head of his family at age 16. In that same year, he married Cornelia, who was from a family that supported the common, or poorer, Roman citizens. At this time, a man named Sulla had control over Rome.

凯撒的早年生活 尤利乌斯·凯撒出生在公元前100年七月，距今已有两千多年了。 凯撒出身于一个历史悠久的知名家族。 家人们大概都期待他年纪轻轻就进入政坛。 父亲去世后，16岁的凯撒成为了一家之主。 同年，他娶了科妮莉亚，科妮莉亚的家族支持罗马普通贫苦公民。 这个时候，一个名叫苏拉的人掌控着罗马政权。

Sulla represented the wealthy class, and he demanded that Caesar leave Cornelia. Caesar refused, which was a very dangerous thing to do. It showed that he would not obey Sulla. To get away from Sulla, Caesar joined the army and served in the provinces far from Rome. Caesar advanced quickly in the military, and his soldiers admired him because he treated them with respect. When Sulla died in 78 BC, Caesar felt it was safe to return to Rome. He returned to politics and did very well working with a powerful man named Pompey. After Cornelia passed away, Caesar married Pompey's daughter, Pompeia. Now settled in Rome, Caesar believed he knew how to fix the troubled government. A great orator, or public speaker, Caesar told the people of Rome that he could help them, and they adored him for it.

苏拉代表富人阶级的利益，他要求凯撒和科妮莉亚离婚。 凯撒拒绝了他，这在当时是非常危险的举动。 这件事表明凯撒绝不会服从苏拉。 为了躲避苏拉，凯撒加入了军队，到远离罗马的行省服役。 凯撒在军中升迁很快，士兵们都钦佩他，因为他对士兵十分尊重。 公元前78年苏拉去世后，凯撒觉得回到罗马已经安全了。 他回到政坛发展，和权势人物庞培合作得十分顺利。 科妮莉亚去世后，凯撒娶了庞培的女儿庞培亚。 在罗马安定下来后，凯撒认为自己知道该如何整顿问题重重的罗马政府了。 凯撒是出色的演说家，也就是公众演讲家，他告诉罗马民众自己能帮助他们，民众也因此十分拥戴他。