Segment 14d: Fall of the Western Empire
14章 第四部分 西罗马的灭亡
On the death of Theodosius the Great in 395 AD the Roman Empire was divided for good into its Eastern and Western halves.
狄奥多西大帝395年死后,罗马帝国被划分为东西两部分。
The Eastern Empire benefited from fairly stable leadership to go along with its other military and economic advantages, but the Western Empire staggered on under the leadership of German Generals and Roman puppet Emperors.
东罗马帝国得益于相当稳定的领导局势以及军事优势和经济实力,但是西罗马却在日耳曼军事将领和傀儡皇帝的领导下摇摇欲坠。
In 475 AD the Western Emperor Julius Nepos made the mistake of letting the German General Orestes command his armies, before year's end Orestes a former associate of Attila the Hun had repelled against Nepos and drove him out of his capital of Ravenna because as a German Orestes was not considered imperial material Oretses crowned a puppet Emperor his own son Romulus Augustus, this arrangement lasted one year.
公元475年,西罗马皇帝朱利叶斯做了一个错误的决定,让日耳曼将军俄瑞斯忒斯领导自己的军队。那年年底,昔日匈奴的同谋俄瑞斯忒斯废除了朱利叶斯,把他赶出都城拉韦纳。因为俄瑞斯忒斯是日耳曼人不能称帝,因此他扶持了一个傀儡皇帝,即自己的儿子罗慕路·奥古斯都路斯,但这只持续了一年。
In 476 the mercenary General Odovacar declared himself king of Italy, killed Orestes and packed little Romulus Augustus off for good.
476年,军事首领奥多亚克杀了俄瑞斯忒斯,自立为意大利国王,并且废除了年幼的罗慕路·奥古斯都路斯。
Realising that he lacked the status to become Emperor Odovacar returned the imperial regalia and crowns and what "not back to the Eastern" Emperor Zeno at Constantinople in return Zeno confirmed Odovacar as "King of Italy".
意识到自己做皇帝,名不正言不顺。奥多亚克把王权和王冠奉还给东罗马君士坦丁堡的皇帝芝诺。作为回报,芝诺认可奥多亚克为“意大利的国王”。
So ended the Roman Empire in the West, according at least to enlightenment historians like Edward Gibbon.
这样就结束了西罗马帝国的统治。至少启蒙历史学家例如爱德华·吉本是这么认为的。
The common people of the Western Empire probably didn't even notice.
可是西罗马的普通百姓可能都没有注意到这一变化。
In Northern Africa the Vandals had established their kingdom.
在非洲北部,汪达尔人建立自己的王国。
The Visigoths ruled most of Spain along with South-Western France, Western France was divided among the Burgundians the South and the Franks to the North.
西哥特人统治了西班牙大部地区以及法国西南部,西法的南部由勃垦第人统治,北部由法兰克人统治。