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The telltale sign of the crisis of the third century AD was the thirty odd emperors and some were odd indeed who claimed the imperator in the half century before 284 when the emperor Diocletian restored order for good.
这一危机的迹象就是三十多位奇怪的皇帝，有些自称为元首的也非常奇怪，这种现象持续了半个世纪，直到公元284年戴克里先重建帝国。
Some of these emperors held office, two, three at a time.
有些皇帝在位仅仅两到三年。
Some of these emperors stunk, and some were actually promising, most had risen from humble peasant status up to the rank of general and been proclaimed as imperator by their soldiers and again when the soldiers proclaimed a man imperator he had two choices; revolution or death.
有些皇帝臭名昭著，有些事实上很有前途，大多数都是卑微的农民出身，经过奋斗成为将军后来被自己的士兵拥为元首，而一旦士兵将某人拥为元首，他就只有两种选择：要么革命，要么死去。
As the roman generals fought with each other the roman frontiers crumbled in all directions.
罗马的将军们互相作战的时候，罗马各处的边界线也在崩溃。
From the north Gothic tribes invaded Gaul, Spain, and even Italy itself.
北部的哥特族部落入侵了高卢，西班牙，甚至是意大利。
In the east the Persians conquered Mesopotamia and Syria.
而在东部，波斯人征服了美索不达米亚和叙利亚。
Since the Roman armies in the area were too weak to do anything about the invaders
由于边境地区的罗马军队力量太过薄弱，对入侵者束手无策，
the emperor Dejou resorted to buying the barbarians off.
罗马皇帝只能花钱买和。
Sometimes Roman provincial leaders seceded from the Roman Empire as did Posthumous in Gaul or they even established their own empire as Ordinadus in Zenobia did on the fringes of Western Syria.
有时罗马的一些行省还会脱离罗马帝国如高卢行省，他们甚至会建立起自己的帝国，例如西叙利亚的边缘地区。
At the same time plague swept wide areas of the empire bringing starvation and economic chaos along with it.
与此同时，罗马帝国瘟疫肆虐造成灾荒严重，经济陷入混乱。
This made paying the soldiers and paying off the invaders even ore problematic and the economy continued its nosedive.
这使得给士兵支付军饷，击退入侵者就变得更加艰巨，经济也持续衰退。
The very richest Romans in the cities dodged their fair share by purchasing tax exemptions,
城里的富人通过购买免税，逃避自己应负的责任，
which helped the government in the short run but destroyed it in the long run.
这在短期内帮助了政府，但从长期看来，却毁灭了政府。
Other new sources of revenue included debasing the coinage,
其它的政府收入来源包括将货币贬值，
which caused inflation so bad that the government would not accept its own Roman money in payment of Roman taxes.
造成严重的通货膨胀，以至于政府都不愿意接受以罗马货币缴纳的税款。
This in turn made the tax burden fall even harder on those who could afford it least
这就使得纳税的重担落到了那些交不起税款的人身上，
what monies the cities could keep for themselves after paying the central government
各个城市交完税款后剩下的钱，
went for walls and fortifications not social services.
也都用于修筑城墙和防御工事，而没有用到社会服务中去。
