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Ashoka had pillars like this put up across the whole of his empire.
阿育王的整个帝国境内都树立着这样的石柱。
They're great feats of architecture, and they would stand either alone by the side of the highways or in the city centres-much as public sculpture does in our city squares today.
它们是伟大的建筑物，通常树立在主干道旁或城市中心，如同今日树在城市广场上的大型公共雕塑。
These pillars are different from the classical columns that most of us in Europe are familiar with:
但这些石柱与我们在欧洲常见的古典石柱不同，
they've got no base, and they're crowned with a capital in the shape of lotus petals.
它们没有底座, 却有莲花座的柱顶。
And on top of the most famous of all Ashoka's pillars are the four lions facing outward - the lions that are still one of the emblems of India today.
最有名的一种阿育王石柱顶端有四只向外蹲踞的狮子，狮子至今仍是印度的象征之一。
The pillar that our fragment comes from was originally erected in Meerut, a city just north of Delhi, and that pillar was destroyed in an explosion in the early eighteenth century at the palace of a Mughal ruler.
本文中碎片所属的石柱原树立于德里北边的密拉特城，在十八世纪早期莫卧儿王朝的一次宫殿爆炸中被毁坏。
But many pillars have survived, and they range across Ashoka's empire, which covered the great bulk of the sub-continent.
但很多类似的石柱仍得以留存。阿育王的帝国覆盖了几乎整个印度次大陆，而石柱遍布整个帝国。
These pillars were in fact a sort of public address system:
石柱是一种广播系统，阿育王的公告或法令雕刻其上，
their purpose was to carry, carved on them, proclamations or edicts from Ashoka, which could then be promulgated all over India and beyond.
通过这种方式传播到整个印度，甚至印度之外。
We now know that there are seven major edicts that were carved on pillars, and our fragment is from what's known as the "sixth pillar edict";
我们现在知道，石柱上有七条主要法敕，本文的碎片属于第六条，
it declares the Emperor Ashoka's benevolent policy towards every sect and every class in his empire:
意在宣示阿育王的仁政惠及国内的各个宗派与各个阶级：
"I consider how I may bring happiness to the people, not only to relatives of mine or residents of my capital city, but also to those who are far removed from me. I act in the same manner with respect to all.
朕思虑如何造福百姓，不唯朕之亲属及首都居民，要边疆百姓亦能蒙受恩泽。
I am concerned similarly with all classes.
朕对全体臣民一视同仁，
Moreover, I have honoured all religious sects with various offerings.
对各个阶层同等关怀，并为诸教敬奉祭品。
But I consider it my principal duty to visit the people personally."
但朕仍以亲身探访百姓疾苦为首要责任。
