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In 19 B.C., the Roman poet Virgil was traveling from Greece to Rome with the emperor Augustus.
公元前19年，古罗马诗人维吉尔跟随奥古斯都大帝从希腊出游回到罗马。
On the way, he stopped to go sightseeing in Megara, a town in Greece.
半路上，他停下来观赏希腊小镇迈加拉的风景。
Out in the sun for too long, he suffered heatstroke and died on his journey back to Italy.
因站在阳光下太久，他中了暑，在回意大利的路上不幸去世。
On his deathbed, Virgil thought about the manuscript he had been working on for over ten years, an epic poem that he called the "Aeneid."
临死时，维吉尔回想到过去十年一直在撰写的书稿，一部他称为《埃涅伊德》的史诗。
Unsatisfied with the final edit, he asked his friends to burn it,
由于对终稿不满意，他请求朋友们烧掉这本书，
but they refused, and soon after Virgil's death, Augustus ordered it to be published.
但他们拒绝了，维吉尔去世后不久，奥古斯都下令出版这部史诗。
Why was Augustus so interested in saving Virgil's poem?
为什么奥古斯对拯救维吉尔这部史诗有如此大的兴趣？
The Romans had little tradition of writing serious literature
古罗马人没有创作严肃文学的传统，
and Virgil wanted to create a poem to rival the "Iliad" and "Odyssey" of Ancient Greece.
而维吉尔想要创作一部能与古希腊史诗《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》抗衡的史诗。
The "Aeneid," a 9,896 line poem, spans twelve separate sections, or books,
《埃涅伊德》是一部有9896行，分为12个独立章节（或书）的长诗，
the first six of which mirror the structure of the "Odyssey" and the last six echo the "Iliad."
前六章模仿了《奥德赛》的结构，后六章则与《伊利亚特》相呼应。
Also like the Greek epics, The "Aeneid" is written entirely in dactylic hexameter.
《埃涅伊德》同希腊的史诗一样，完全是按照六音步长短短格写成的。
In this meter, each line has six syllable groups called feet made up of dactyls which go long, short, short, and spondees which go long, long.
按照这个韵律，每一行都有六个音节小组，称为韵脚，由长短短格构成，长-短-短，长长格就是长-长。
So the famous opening line in the original Latin starts, "Arma Virvmqve Cano," which can be translated as "I sing of arms and the man,"
所以拉丁文源语开场白是Arma Virvmqve Cano，可以翻译成：我颂扬战争和男人，
arms, meaning battles and warfare, another "Iliad" reference, and the man being the hero Aeneas.
arms是战争的意思，这也是参照《伊利亚特》的写法，这个男人指的是特洛伊战争中的勇士埃涅阿斯。
To understand the "Aeneid," it's necessary to examine the unsettled nature of Roman politics in the second half of the 1st century B.C.
要理解《埃涅伊德》这部史诗，有必要研究一下公元前1世纪后半叶罗马政治不稳定的特点。
In 49 B.C., Julius Caesar, Augustus's great uncle,
公元前49年，尤利乌斯·凯撒，也就是伟大的奥古斯都的舅爷，
triggered nearly 20 years of civil war when he led his army against the Roman Republic.
发起了长达20年的内战，亲自带军进攻罗马共和国。
After introducing a dictatorship, he was assassinated.
成为又一个独裁者之后，他被刺杀。
Only after Augustus's victory over Marc Antony and Cleopatra in 31 B.C.
公元前31年，在奥古斯都打败马克·安东尼和克利欧佩特拉后，
did peace return to Rome and Augustus became the emperor.
罗马才又迎来了和平，奥古斯都成为了大帝。
Virgil aimed to capture this sense of a new era and of the great sacrifices that the Romans had endured.
维吉尔想要抓住新时代以及罗马人民的伟大牺牲这个灵感。
He wanted to give the Romans a fresh sense of their origins, their past, and their potential.
他想要带给予罗马人有关他们的起源、过去和潜能的一个全新的诠释。
By connecting the founding of Rome to the mythological stories that his audience knew so well,
维吉尔通过将罗马帝国的形成过程和他的读者早已熟知的传说联系起来，
Virgil was able to link his hero Aeneas to the character of Augustus.
能够把他的英雄埃涅阿斯和奥古斯都的性格联系到一起。
In the epic poem, Aeneas is on a quest to establish a new home for his people.
在这部史诗中，埃涅阿斯一直为人民寻求建立一个新的家园。
This duty, or pietas as the Romans called it, faces all kinds of obstacles.
然而这个责任，或是罗马人所谓的piatas，面临着各种困难。
Aeneas risks destruction in the ruins of Troy, agonizes over love when he meets the beautiful Queen of Carthage, Dido,
阿涅阿斯在特洛伊的废墟面临危险，在迦太基美丽的狄多女王那里面对不能爱的痛苦，
and in one of the most vivid passages in all of ancient literature, has to pass through the underworld.
所有的古代文学里最生动形象的一个章节中提到，他还不得不通过地狱。
On top of all that, he must then fight to win a homeland for his people around the future sight of Rome.
最后，他必须为他的子民战斗，在日后成为罗马的土地上建立一个家园。
Virgil presents Aeneas as a sort of model for Augustus,
维吉尔这样描写埃涅阿斯，是为了给奥古斯都设立榜样，
and that's probably one of the reasons the emperor was so eager to save the poem from destruction.
这可能也是奥古斯都大帝如此迫切地阻止这部史诗被销毁的原因之一。
But Virgil didn't stop there. In some sections, Aeneas even has visions of Rome's future and of Augustus himself.
但是维吉尔并没有就此停止。在一些章节中，埃涅阿斯还提到了对罗马的未来以及对奥古斯都本人的期许。
Virgil presents Augustus as a victor, entering Rome in triumph and shows him expanding the Roman Empire.
维吉尔在史诗中将奥古斯都描述成胜利者，带领罗马走向繁荣，扩张了罗马帝国的疆域。
Perhaps most importantly, he's hailed as only the third Roman leader in 700 years
或许最重要的是，他被认为是700年来的第三个罗马帝王，
to shut the doors of the Temple of Janus signifying the arrival of permanent peace.
关上象征着永久和平的亚努斯神庙之门。
But there's a twist. Virgil only read Augustus three selected extracts of the story and that was Augustus's entire exposure to it.
但是其中还蕴含着一个转折。维吉尔生前只为奥古斯都诵读过史诗中的三个选段。
Some of the other sections could be seen as critical, if not subtly subversive about the emperor's achievements.
其他的选段对帝王有所批评，甚至是对他的成就明显具有颠覆性的评价。
Aeneas, again a model for Augustus, struggles with his duty and often seems a reluctant hero.
埃涅阿斯作为奥古斯都的榜样，纠结于自己的职责，似乎是个不情愿的英雄。
He doesn't always live up to the behavior expected of a good Roman leader. He struggles to balance mercy and justice.
他并不总能做到一个好的罗马帝王需要做的事。他一直纠结于怜悯和正义的平衡。
By the end, the reader is left wondering about the future of Rome and the new government of Augustus.
最后，读者会期待罗马的未来会怎样，奥古斯都带领的新政府会怎么样。
Perhaps in wanting the story published, Augustus had been fooled by his own desire for self-promotion.
也许为了出版这个故事，奥古斯都被自我吹捧的欲望蒙蔽了。
As a result, Virgil's story has survived to ask questions about the nature of power and authority ever since.
于是，维吉尔的故事便留存了下来，从此继续质疑权利和权威的本质。
