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the men and the women of this society
这一社会中的男人和女人
have the chance to discover the arts.
拥有了探索艺术的机会
There's music and there's dancing, there's poetry.
音乐 舞蹈 还有诗歌
But there's also a hint
但其中也暗示了
of the direction of travel in which this society is moving,
社会正在转变的前进方向
because on the beach is a longboat being constructed,
因为沙滩上有一艘正在建造的大艇
and the hint there is the men of this society
暗示着这个时代的男人
are going to go out into the world and forge an empire.
要走出去创造一个帝国
And centuries later, in the centrepiece,
几个世纪后 在中间
literally the centrepiece of this series of paintings,
就在这一系列画作的中间
is The Consummation Of Empire.
是《辉煌成就》
This is mankind's greatest achievements.
它展示了人类的伟大成就
There's classical architecture, there's great civic statues.
有古典建筑 有伟大的城市雕像
This is a society with fleets of ships
这一社会有舰队
engaged in trade and in war.
参与商业和战争
It's also a civilisation that has given birth to democracy.
也是在这一文明中诞生了民主
And that's not led to a flowering of Republican values,
但这并没有走向共和理念的繁荣
that democracy has been corrupted,
托马斯.科尔告诉我们
Thomas Cole is telling us, by the emperor,
民主被国王破坏了
the figure who's marching into his great city
就是画中正走向他辉煌城市的人
ahead of a column of horses and elephants.
城市就在马象列队的前面
This is a demagogue
就是这位政治煽动家
who has sowed the seeds of the fall of his civilisation.
播种了其文明衰落的种子
The fourth painting, Destruction,
第四幅画《毁灭》
is the moment of the fall of an empire.
描述了帝国毁灭的时刻
The city is being invaded.
城市被入侵了
We don't know who this army is,
我们不知道军队来自何方
they could be these forces of a stronger,
他们可能是来自更强大繁荣的
more morally virile Empire.
帝国的军事力量
They could be the slaves of this empire,
也可能是这个帝国的奴隶
who have risen up in revolution,
揭竿而起
or they could be, this could be a civil war.
又可能是一场内战
All of those eventualities are hinted at here.
所有的可能性都有暗示
But what is clear is that this society has brought its fall down
但很明显 这个社会的崩坏
upon its own head, because of its own moral corruption.
是因为自身的堕落 因为道德的腐败
What is missing from this city is nature.
这座城市中缺少的是自然
All the trees have been expunged.
所有的树都消失了
And in the final painting, centuries have passed.
在最后一幅画中 数个世纪过去了
This is Desolation.
这幅是《荒芜》
From thousands of people,
从成千上万的人
we have a scene completely empty of human beings.
到现在画面中空无一人
Nature has recolonised.
自然再度占领大地
Course Of Empire isn't really about the classical world.
《帝国兴衰》不是在描绘古代世界
These paintings aren't about Rome in the fifth century.
这些画不是在描绘五世纪的罗马
They're about the United States of America
它们是在说十九世纪中叶的
in the middle of the 19th.
美利坚合众国
Because Thomas Cole was one of many figures
由于托马斯.科尔是当时相信
who believed his society stood at the crossroads.
美国社会正处在十字路口的众多人之一
It would either stay true to its original founding principles,
要么坚持原来的建国准则
