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For whatever reason the Barbarians who raided the Empire preferred striking at the agricultural Western halfof the Empire
无论如何，蛮族入侵更愿意攻打西罗马农业帝国
than at the urbanized Eastern half of the Empire.
而不是东罗马高度城市化的帝国。
4.When did the Western Empire fall?
4.西罗马帝国何时灭亡?
The influential historian Edward Gibbon, a favorite of our nation's founders,
颇具影响力的历史学家我国最受欢迎的缔造者爱德华·吉本
believed that the Western Empire fell in 476 AD with the departure of Romulus Augustus and the accession of King Odovacar of Italy.
认为西罗马是在476年奥古斯都路斯退位，意大利国王奥多亚克登基后灭亡的 。
It's doubtful that anybody outside of the royal courts noticed any difference, same taxes, same local bureaucracy, same money.
我们怀疑罗马皇室以外的人是否注意到任何差异，他们交同样的税款，服从同样的官僚机构，使用同样的货币。
When Theodoric and his Ostrogoth's defeated Odovacar in 493 AD
当迪奥多里克等东哥特人在493年打败奥多亚克时
life again went on pretty much as usual except for that neither Odovacar nor Theodoric
罗马人的生活里除了奥多亚克和迪奥多里克都没有
ever claimed to be the Western Emperor, they were only King of Italy.
自称为西罗马帝国的皇帝以外，和以往一样没有发生任何改变。
Both kings respected the old Roman culture,
这两个国王都尊重罗马的古老文化
as did the Eastern Emperor Justinian who had re-conquered Italy and North Africa by 540 AD.
在540年重新夺回意大利和北非的东罗马皇帝查士丁尼也是如此
Of course Justinian destroyed much of Italy's surviving infrastructure in doing this,
当然，在这一过程中查士丁尼摧毁了意大利余下的设施
but at least he was a genuine Emperor who spoke Latin.
但是至少他是真正的说拉丁语的皇帝
I myself as I have said so before would pick 568 AD,
我之前说过 我个人认为是公元568年
which marked the beginning of the Lombard invasion of Italy
那年，伦巴第入侵意大利，
because under the Lombard's Italy would very soon come to bare very little, if any resemblance to the great city founded at eight o'clock in the morning of Thursday April 21st 753 BC.
因为伦巴第统治下的意大利很快就和成立于公元前753年4月21日星期四上午八点的那座伟大城市几乎没有任何相似点了
