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The year this all supposedly happened was 509 BC.
这一年应该是公元前509年
It might as well have been 509 BC. We'll never know.
可能发生在公元前509年，我们无法确定
The Roman's constitution,
罗马的宪法
as supposedly constructed in 509 BC,
据说就是在公元前509年设立的
I hope you've got that date down,
希望你们可以记下这个时间
was never written down in so many words.
这部宪法之前没有那么多条款
But there's no doubt,
但是毫无疑问的是
it was intended to prevent any future Roman kings.
宪法的目的是阻止未来有国王出现
One major principle of the Roman constitution
罗马宪法的一个主要原则是
was annuality.
annuality
Annuality means that a new group of magistrates,
意思是一群新的行政官
that's a name for Roman elected officials,
这是罗马选举出的官员的名称
would be elected every year.
他们每年都进行选举
Each magistrate had a term of exactly 1 year.
每位行政官的任期都是一年
If a magistrate wanted to
如果行政官想
hold an office for more than 1 year,
执政超过一年
he would have to go through the election process again.
那么他就要再次参加选举
And the Roman electorate
罗马的选民
was traditionally a tough sell.
一直都很难应付
They didn't want any more kings.
他们不想要国王
Another major principle was collegiality.
另一个原则是collegiality
Collegiality meant that power, especially the imperial,
collegiality意味着权利
the power to command obedience,
尤其是王权，指挥权
had to be shared at all times.
一定要分权
The annual magistracies were always held
每年的行政长官都至少
by at least two men at the same time,
同时是两个人
with each man having equal powers.
每个人拥有同等的权力
This again was a direct reaction
这是对君主制蔓延的
to the excesses of the monarchy.
直接反应
No one annual magistrate could possibly
没有哪位一年期的行政官
gather enough power to make himself a king.
可以有足够的权利登上王座
In the very beginning,
最开始时
the highest elected magistrates were two praetors.
得票最高的行政长官是两位执政官
But the praetors were passed up by two consuls.
但是执政官被拒绝了
Each consul basically possessed
每位执政官基本上拥有
the same amount of imperium,
等量的统治权
as the king had possessed.
他们分配国王的权利
The one and only exception to this policy
共同掌权政策的唯一例外
of collegiality was the office of dictator,
是独裁者办公室，只有在发生
awarded only in times of dire emergency to one man.
悲惨的紧急事件时，才把权利下放给一个人
And this one man could only be a dictator for 6 months,
这个人只能当六个月的独裁者
then he had to stop.
之后，他就必须卸任
The king's religious functions were also shuffled off
国王的宗教职能也被分配给
to various priesthoods, overseen by
不同的祭祀
an elected Pontifex Maximus or chief priest.
受到选举出的大祭司长的监督
Although these policies of annuality and collegiality
尽管一年制和共同执政的政策
staved of monarchy for centuries,
让君主制延续了数百年
they tended to hinder the consistent policies
他们倾向于阻挠
necessary for stable government.
政府必须的一贯的政策
This consistency was instead supplied
这种一贯性由
by the Roman Senate.
罗马元老会提供
Previously, a body of old, upper class patricians
之前，年老的上层阶级贵族
who had given the king advice,
可以给国王提出意见
the Senate developed into
元老会发展成
ancient Rome's senior legislative body.
古罗马高级立法机构
While the Senate's opinions never
尽管元老院的意见从来没有
officially held the force of law,
被官方认可为有法律效力
the magistrates regarded them as binding anyway.
行政官认为元老会有约束力
And here's why.
下面解释一些原因
The magistrates themselves were
行政官都是
all members of the Senate.
元老会的成员
They would serve their year as a magistrate,
他们这一年担任行政官
and come right back to the Senate.
之后回到元老院
If they did not obey the Senate
如果在执政的一年中
during their one year in office,
不服从元老院的话
they would be shut out for good
那么他们会在回到元老院时
once they returned to the Senate.
被永久地排除在外
They might as well not show up.
他们也可能不再露面
However since the patricians, the upper class,
因为贵族，上层阶级
all tended to share the same values in these days,
当时有共同的价值观
consistency was maintained pretty much
从罗马共和国一开始
from the beginning of the Roman Republic.
一致性保持的很好
