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On arrival, it astounded everybody who saw it, and it began a revolution in how we Europeans view the history of our culture.
甫一运抵，它便震惊世人，引发了欧洲人对自己文化历史认识的一次革命。之前人们一直以为，伟大的艺术来源希腊，
The Ramesses in the British Museum was one of the first works to challenge long-held assumptions that great art had begun in Greece.
大英博物馆的拉美西斯雕像是挑战这样观念的第一件艺术品。
Ramesses'success lay not only in maintaining the supremacy of the Egyptian state, through the smooth running of its trade networks and taxation systems, but in using the rich proceeds towards building numerous temples and monuments.
拉美西斯的成功，不仅体现在维持埃及王权的至高无上、贸易网络与税收制度的良好运作，也体现在利用丰富资源修建无数的神庙与纪念物。
His purpose was to create a legacy that would speak to all generations of his eternal greatness.
他想留下一份伟大的遗产，向后世展示他不朽的功绩。
Yet by one of the great ironies of history, this statue has come to mean exactly the opposite.
但在大部分讽刺诗中，他的雕像只起到了相反的作用。
Shelley heard reports of the discovery of the bust and of its transport to England. He was inspired by accounts of its colossal scale, but he also knew what had happened to Egypt after Ramesses - with the crown passing to Libyans and Nubians, Persians and Macedonians, and Ramesses'statue itself squabbled over by European intruders.
雪莱听说了半身像的发现及其运抵英国的新闻。雕像之巨大令他惊讶，但同时他也熟知拉美西斯以后的埃及历史：王权依次落入利比亚人、 努比亚人、波斯人和马其顿人手里。拉美西斯的雕像也被近期的欧洲入侵者毁坏。
Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias'is a meditation not on imperial grandeur, but on the transience of earthly power, and in it Ramesses'statue becomes a symbol of the futility of all human achievement.
雪莱的《奥兹曼迪亚斯》一诗不仅表现出对一个伟大帝国的反思，也感慨了俗世权力的稍纵即逝。在诗中，拉美西斯的雕像成为人类所有成就将化为虚无的象征：
"... My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
吾乃奥兹曼迪亚斯，万王之王
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!
功业盖世，强者折服！
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
此外空无一物，
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
废墟四周，黄沙莽莽。
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
寂静荒凉，伸向远方。
