正文翻譯
原創(chuàng)翻譯：龍騰網(wǎng) http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：chinawungbo2?轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處

Hadrian’s Wall, the ancient marvel that snakes through northern England, quite rightly steals the show when it comes to the frontiers of Roman Britain. It’s a spectacular sight, rolling poetically over hillsides and serving up ruins of fortifications for all to see.

哈德良長(zhǎng)城環(huán)繞英格蘭北部地區(qū)，堪稱建筑史上的奇跡。說起古羅馬在統(tǒng)治英國時(shí)設(shè)立的邊境，大家肯定都會(huì)想到它。哈德良長(zhǎng)城更象是形象工程，代表了羅馬帝國的富庶和強(qiáng)大。當(dāng)年為防御建造的這座城墻早已歷史遺跡，供人們前來參觀。

It once reached up to 5m in height and spanned an impressive 73 miles, and today boasts impressive remains with large portions of the original stone wall still intact. Its enduring presence, however, overshadows the true frontier that the Romans, those wily conquerors who built one of the world’s largest empires by the 2nd Century AD, constructed around 100 miles to the north.

哈德良長(zhǎng)城最高時(shí)達(dá)到5米，長(zhǎng)達(dá)73英里，氣勢(shì)恢宏。如今這里早已成為旅游勝地，許多城墻仍然保存完好。然而，雄偉的哈德良長(zhǎng)城掩蓋了帝國在英格蘭的真正邊界。公元3世紀(jì)，這群足智多謀的征服者在建立了世界最大的帝國之一，真正的邊界位于哈德良長(zhǎng)城以北100英里左右。

The Antonine Wall’s lack of celebrity status is also possibly due to its short lifespan. Although its year of completion remains debated (suggestions range from 142 AD to 150 AD), it’s generally accepted that this huge structure was abandoned within two decades.

安東尼長(zhǎng)城之所以名氣不大，可能也與它的短命有關(guān)。盡管其建成年份仍有爭(zhēng)議（應(yīng)該在公元142年到公元150年之間），但人們普遍認(rèn)為，這個(gè)龐大的建筑不到20年就被廢棄了。

What is certain, as Dr Louisa Campbell, postdoctoral fellow in archaeology at the University of Glasgow told me, is that the wall was a show of force, “a massive and labour-intensive physical presence”.

格拉斯哥大學(xué)考古學(xué)博士后坎貝爾博士（Louisa Campbell）告訴我，可以肯定安東尼長(zhǎng)城展示了國力，是“一個(gè)體量巨大、凝結(jié)了大量勞動(dòng)的實(shí)體存在”。

“The wall would most likely have been perceived as an intimidating structure and a hostile imposition to the cultural landscape, separating groups stretching back many generations,” she said, concluding that it was “unlikely to have been particularly welcomed by the locals”.

她說：“人們可能認(rèn)為這道城墻令人生畏，也有損于當(dāng)?shù)氐奈幕螒B(tài)，將不知多少代的族群分隔開來，”她的結(jié)論是它“可能不太受當(dāng)?shù)厝藲g迎”。

Unsurprising, really, when you consider that these locals resided in a land ruled by warriors and tribes deemed to be beyond the grasp of Rome. Despite various incursions, encampments and even some mutually beneficial trading relations, Caledonia, the Roman term for the unconquered lands to the north, remained a thorn in the side of many an emperor. The Antonine Wall marked the outer limits of what Rome saw as civilisation. What’s more, it was an uncommon one at that.

這么說也不奇怪。你想想看，這些當(dāng)?shù)厝司幼〉牡胤奖涣_馬士兵和部落統(tǒng)治，可這片土地本來被認(rèn)為是超出了羅馬的勢(shì)力范圍。盡管出現(xiàn)了各種入侵和安營扎寨之舉，甚至形成了互惠互利的貿(mào)易關(guān)系，但喀里多尼亞（Caledonia，羅馬人對(duì)北方未被征服土地的稱呼）仍然是許多皇帝心頭的刺。在羅馬看來，安東尼長(zhǎng)城標(biāo)志著文明的邊界。不僅如此，它還具有非同尋常的意義。

“Built frontiers were quite unusual in the Roman world as the army typically relied on natural boundaries such as rivers or mountains,” said Dr Fraser Hunter, principal curator of Roman Collections at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. “The Antonine Wall, therefore, gives us rare insights into the Roman Empire’s attempts to control the edges of its world.”

“羅馬帝國人工建造邊界的舉動(dòng)相當(dāng)罕見，軍隊(duì)通常依靠河流或者山脈這樣的自然邊界，”愛丁堡蘇格蘭國家博物館（National Museum of Scotland）羅馬藏品的負(fù)責(zé)人亨特博士（Fraser Hunter）說：“安東尼長(zhǎng)城給了我們一個(gè)難得的機(jī)會(huì)，讓我們看到羅馬帝國為了控制帝國邊疆所做的努力?！?br/>

In addition, there are 47 named sites along the route for travellers to explore, although unsurprisingly not all of them were created equal given the wall’s lack of solid stone credentials. I planned a route westwards by car from Edinburgh to take in some of the must-see sections.

此外，安東尼長(zhǎng)城遺跡沿途還有47個(gè)有名字的景點(diǎn)供游客探索，鑒于它并非堅(jiān)實(shí)的石頭長(zhǎng)城，所以景點(diǎn)的保存情況參差有別，這一點(diǎn)倒并不令人意外。我計(jì)劃從愛丁堡開車向西，參觀一些必看的地方。

It was always going to be an interesting recce: for starters, the wall’s route through Scotland's central belt covers much lowland territory that was at the heart of the Scottish Industrial Revolution. This takes anyone on a quest to follow the Antonine Wall through areas scarred by heavy industry, such as former coal and oil shale mines and past old ironworks. Interestingly, the ruins run parallel to some of the region’s major arteries including the Forth and Clyde canal, walker’s paradise The John Muir Way, and the main railway line between Edinburgh and Glasgow, proving that this stretch continues to be as important today as it was to the Romans.

這個(gè)旅程一定很有意思。整個(gè)長(zhǎng)城穿過蘇格蘭的中部地帶，有許多低地，曾是蘇格蘭工業(yè)革命的中心。如果你之前沒來過，只要跟著安東尼長(zhǎng)城走，就能穿過那些留有重工業(yè)疤痕的地區(qū)，像是從前的煤礦、油頁巖礦，以及舊鋼鐵廠。有意思的是，城墻遺跡與這里許多主要線路走向相同，包括福斯—克萊德運(yùn)河、被稱為徒步者天堂的“約翰·繆爾之路”（The John Muir Way），以及連接愛丁堡和格拉斯哥之間的主要鐵路線，說明這段路在今天仍然像當(dāng)年對(duì)羅馬人一樣重要。

My first stop was the town of Falkirk, around 26 miles west of Edinburgh, which stood out as a hotbed of remains with a number of different sites in quick succession. “I have a soft spot for the wall in Callendar Park, as it survived the urban sprawl of Falkirk,” Hunter had confided to me. Indeed, the park, which surrounds the museum at Callendar House, hosts a generous portion of the rampart and ditch, and provided me with my first excitable glimpse of the Antonine Wall. Inside Callendar House, there’s also a small exhibition detailing the history of the Antonine Wall under the expert eye of local archaeologist Geoff Bailey.

我的第一站是愛丁堡以西約42公里的法爾柯克（Falkirk），許多遺址都集中在這里?！拔覍?duì)卡倫德公園（Callendar Park）里的那段長(zhǎng)城情有獨(dú)鐘，因?yàn)樗诜柨驴说某鞘袛U(kuò)張中得以幸存，”亨特向我吐露。的確，環(huán)繞著卡倫德宮（Callendar House）博物館的公園里有大片的城墻和溝渠，讓我第一次興奮地一窺安東尼長(zhǎng)城的樣貌。在卡倫德宮還有一個(gè)小展覽，詳細(xì)介紹了安東尼長(zhǎng)城的歷史，有當(dāng)?shù)乜脊艑＜邑惱℅eoff Bailey）為展覽提供專業(yè)指導(dǎo)。

Less than three miles from Callendar House is Watling Lodge, where along a rather unprepossessing B-road, the tell-tale rise and fall of the ditch crawling over a low-lying hill was clear to see. Also in the area is Rough Castle. The remains of this once-upon-a-time fort are widely lauded as the jewel in the crown of the Antonine Wall, easily accessed by a path from the Falkirk Wheel (another, more contemporary, engineering success story).

距離卡倫德宮不到5公里的地方就是沃特林小舍（Watling Lodge），它位于一條不起眼的路上，從那里可以清楚地看到低矮丘陵上蜿蜒起伏的溝渠。拉夫城堡（Rough Castle）也在這個(gè)地區(qū)。這座曾經(jīng)存在的堡壘，其遺跡被廣泛譽(yù)為安東尼長(zhǎng)城王冠上的明珠，從法爾柯克輪（Falkirk Wheel，一個(gè)更為現(xiàn)代的成功工程案例）有一條路很方便就過來了。

Although Rough Castle was the second smallest fort along the wall, Bailey said, “it has everything to give the impression of what a fort looked like.” And it’s instantly obvious why it’s so revered. Whether walking along the boggy bottom of the ditch or high on the ridge of the rampart, the sheer scale is overwhelming. Standing on a damp mossy section of rampart looking across to the west of Scotland, I couldn’t help but wonder how far from home those legionnaires must have felt in this savage outpost prone to bouts of bad weather and hostility from ill-tempered natives.

雖然拉夫城堡是城墻沿線第二小的堡壘，但貝利說：“你對(duì)堡壘的印象在它身上都能找到”，它如此受人敬仰的原因也就顯而易見了。無論是沿著泥濘的溝底行走，還是沿著城墻的脊背走在高處，單是體量就令人嘆為觀止。站在長(zhǎng)滿青苔的潮濕城墻上眺望蘇格蘭西部，我不禁在想，在這個(gè)天氣惡劣、當(dāng)?shù)厝似獠缓眠€懷有敵意的荒蠻邊境上，在那些軍團(tuán)士兵的心中，故鄉(xiāng)該是多么遙遠(yuǎn)的存在。

Of course, this cherry-picked approach to experiencing the Antonine Wall was only ever going to be an introduction. It gave me a flavour of what to look for and showed how addictive hunting down sections can be; no wonder there are experts and enthusiasts championing this forgotten frontier as a major attraction.

當(dāng)然，這種經(jīng)過挑選的安東尼長(zhǎng)城之旅只是一個(gè)開始，讓我知道應(yīng)該看些什么，也知道了尋找遺跡是多么令人上癮，難怪會(huì)有專家和愛好者把這片被遺忘的邊疆地帶當(dāng)成重要的景點(diǎn)。

The story of the Antonine Wall may be more of a short read than a full-length feature, but it’s one that should be spoken of in harmony with its peer, Hadrian’s Wall. It has left a legacy of intrigue, archaeology, history, walks and activities – proof enough that it was, for a time, a pivotal frontier of the mighty Roman Empire.

安東尼長(zhǎng)城的故事更像是篇精干短文，而非鴻篇巨制，但它足以與哈德良長(zhǎng)城相提并論。它給我們留下了大量陰謀、考古與歷史信息，還有徒步和各種活動(dòng)，林林總總足以證明，它曾一度是強(qiáng)大的羅馬帝國一段重要的邊境。

“The wall is a lovely example of Rome’s endeavours to control what is now Scotland and the challenges the empire faced,” Hunter said. “It was an experiment – a massive-scale engineering exercise to try to separate Roman from non-Roman worlds.”

“這道城墻是很好的例證，證明了羅馬當(dāng)年為控制現(xiàn)今的蘇格蘭所做的努力，也體現(xiàn)了帝國所面臨的種種挑戰(zhàn)，”亨特說：“建造長(zhǎng)城是一次實(shí)驗(yàn)，是一個(gè)規(guī)模浩大的工程，試圖將羅馬人與非羅馬人的世界分隔開?！?/p>