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Maintaining the Limes or border area was crucial to the empire's defenses
帝国防御中至为关键的一方面就是保持边疆地区的稳定，
wherever possible the Romans counted on natural boundaries like rivers, mountains or deserts to keep the empire safe.
罗马军队凭借自然边界的优势，例如河流山峰或者沙漠来保卫帝国安全。
But in the wide open spaces the Romans worked out a combination of fortifications and quick response forces which served well for a long time.
但是在广袤地带，罗马军队则是结合防御工事和快速反应的作战部队来维持安全稳定。
That is as long as Rome could afford to pay its soldiers.
当然，那样做的前提是罗马政府支付得起军费开支。
In segment 13 c crisis of the third century AD 13c basically everything goes wrong.
公元第三世纪的危机基本上一切都出岔子了。
Barbarians at the doorstep, imbeciles on the throne,
野蛮人逼近腹地，傻瓜当政，
and to top everything off it seemed to the average Roman pagan in the street that the gods were angry.
最糟糕的是，对于街头的罗马异教徒而言，他们的神明似乎生气了。
The roman armies were often too busy fighting each other to do their job of fending off enemies and holding the Limes or borders.
罗马军团忙于互相争战，无暇击退敌人，保卫边疆。
Emperors it seemed were a dime a dozen.
皇帝看起来一文不值。
And even the good emperors found exciting ways to get themselves killed.
甚至是好皇帝也能找到刺激的法子自寻死路。
It got so bad that the government would not even accept its own currency in payment of taxes.
情况非常糟糕 连政府都不愿意收以本国货币上缴的税收。
Parts of the empire broke off. Other parts were over run.
帝国的一部分已经崩塌，其它部分也都时日不久。
For the first time since Hannibal had stood at the gates nearly five centuries earlier Rome was faced with another big time gut check.
从将近五个世纪之前，汉尼拔击败罗马人之后，罗马又到了一个生死攸关的时刻。
Once more Rome had to be reinvented this time the master mind of the empire's salvation was not a blue blooded native Roman
这一次罗马再次需要重生，但是现在的罗马皇帝不是血统高贵的罗马本地人，
but a general who had been born a poor Serbian child. Named, Diocletian.
而是一个穷人出身的塞尔维亚将军，名为戴克里先。
Segment 13d roman totalitarianism, reveals the answer to Rome's ills as a top down totalitarian police state dictatorship.
13d 罗马极权主义揭示了罗马作为一个自上而下的极权独裁国家所存在的种种弊端。
It was called the Dominate to distinguish it from the Principate or rule by the first man.
我们称之为主宰以示与元首制的区别。
The emperor was now Dominus et Deius, master and god.
现在的皇帝是上帝是主人，是神明。
With an elaborate court ritual basically emphasizing him as a god on earth, Diocletian made massive reforms to the military, to the imperial government and to the economy.
戴克里先规定了详尽的宫廷礼仪，强调自己作为神的存在，并且大规模地改革了军队，帝国政府和经济。
