It's March the 17th in A.D. 73. We're visiting ancient Rome to watch the Liberalia, an annual festival that celebrates the liberty of Rome's citizens. We're looking in at a 17-year-old named Lucius Popidius Secundus. He's not from a poor family, but he lives in the region known as the Subura, a poorer neighborhood in Rome, yet close to the center of the city. (Gong) The tenants of these apartments are crammed in, (Grunting) which poses considerable risk. Fires are frequent and the smell of ash and smoke in the morning is not uncommon. Lucius, who awoke at dawn, has family duties to perform today. (Cheering) His 15-year-old brother is coming of age. Half the children in ancient Rome die before they reach adulthood, so this is a particularly important milestone. Lucius watches his brother stand in his new toga before the household shrine with its protective deities, as he places his bulla, a protective amulet, in the shrine with a prayer of thanks. The bulla had worked. It had protected him. Unlike many others, he had survived to become an adult. At 17, Lucius has almost completed his education. He has learned to speak well, make public speeches, and how to read and write both Latin and Greek. His father has taught him the types of things you can't learn in the classroom: how to run, how to swim, and how to fight. Lucius could choose, at 17, to become a military tribune and command soldiers on the edge of the Empire. But in other ways, Lucius is still a child. He's not trusted to arrange business deals. His father will take care of that until he is 25. And Dad will arrange Lucius' marriage to a girl 10 years younger. His dad has his eye on a family with a 7-year-old daughter. Back to the Liberalia. As Lucius leaves with his family, the shops are open as the population goes about its business. The streets are full of itinerant traders selling trinkets and people bustling from place to place. Large wagons are not allowed in the city until after the ninth hour but the streets are still crowded. Fathers and uncles take the kids to the Forum Augustus to see statues of Rome's famous warriors like Aeneas, who led Rome's ancestors, the Trojans, to Italy. And Romulus, Rome's founder. And all the great generals of the Republic from more than 100 years earlier. Lovingly, we can imagine fathers and guardians with their now adult children remembering stories of Rome's glory and re-telling the good deeds and sayings of the great men of the past: lessons on how to live well, and to overcome the follies of youth. There is a sense of history in this place, relevant to their present. Romans made an empire without end in time and space. (Thump) Rome was destined to be eternal through warfare. Wars were a fact of life, even in A.D. 73. There are campaigns in the north of England and into Scotland, to the north of the River Danube into Romania, and on the frontier between Syria and Iraq to the east. It's now the eighth hour -- time to head for the baths. Lucius and his family head up the Via Lata, the wide street, to the Campus Martius, and the enormous Baths of Agrippa. The family members leave the clients and freedmen outside, and enter the baths with their peer group. Baths would change from dark, steamy rooms to light ones. The Romans had perfected window glass. Everyone moves from the cold room to the tepid room and to the very hot room. (Man) Oops! More than an hour later, the bathers leave massaged, oiled, (Whistling) and have been scraped down with a strigil to remove the remaining dirt. At the ninth hour, seven hours after they left home, the men return for a celebratory dinner. Dinner is an intimate affair, with nine people reclining around the low table. Slaves attend to their every need if the diners, through gestures, demand more food and wine. As the day closes, we can hear the rumble of wagons outside. The clients and freedmen, with a meal of robust -- if inferior -- food inside them, shuffle off to the now tepid baths before returning to their apartment blocks. Back at Lucius' house, the drinking continues into the night. Lucius and his stepbrother don't look too well. A slave stands by in case either of them needs to vomit. With hindsight, we know Lucius' future. In 20 years' time, the Emperor Vespasian's youngest son, Domitian, as emperor, will enact a reign of terror. Will Lucius survive? (Drums)
这是公元73年 三月十七日 我们到古罗马参加酒神节 这个一年一度的庆典 是为了庆祝罗马市民的自由 我们的主角是一个名叫 Lucius Popidius Secundus的十七岁少年 他的家庭并不贫穷 但他居住的地方叫作Subura 是一个靠近城市中心却比较贫穷的社区 那里的公寓挤满了居民 住户常面临危险 火灾时常发生 早晨闻到烟灰味是很正常的事 Lucius在黎明醒来 他要参加今天的家庭活动 (欢呼声) 他15岁的弟弟要成年了 在古罗马 有一半的儿童在成年前夭折 所以这是一个非常重要的时刻 Lucius看着他的弟弟穿着新长袍 站在家族守护神的神龛前 把他的护身符垂饰 放在神龛里 并祈祷表示感谢 这个护身符起了作用 保护他成长 与很多小孩不一样 他存活下来 并且长大成人 十七岁的Lucius即将完成他的学业 他已学会了在公众演讲时得体的阐述他的观点 以及拉丁文和希腊文的读写 他的父亲也教他很多 在课堂上学不到的东西: 如何跑步 如何游泳 如何格斗 17岁的Lucius可以选择去做一个民选出的军事保民官 或者去帝国边境指挥士兵 然而从另一方面来说 Lucius仍然是个孩子 他还不能够自如地处理各种交易 在他25岁之前 这些事情由他的父亲打理 父亲还会帮Lucius安排和一个小他10岁的女孩结婚 他的父亲看上了一个有7岁大女孩的家庭 回到酒神节这个主题 当Lucius和他的家人出门时 路边的商店都开门做生意了 街道上充满了卖小商品的旅行商人 人潮处处 熙熙攘攘 大型马车在日间九点(罗马历 相当于下午3点)之前是不许进城的 但街上依然水泄不通 父亲们和亲戚们带着孩子们来到奥古斯都广场 去看一些罗马著名战士的雕像 例如埃涅阿斯 他带领罗马人的祖先 特洛伊人前往意大利 还有罗慕路斯 罗马的奠基者 以及一百年前所有的共和国将领 我们可以想象这样一副温馨的画面 父亲和监护人们 陪伴着他们刚成年的孩子们 回溯罗马的辉煌历史 重温那些历史伟人的名言轶事 以及经验教训 让年轻人引以为鉴 避免做出任何蠢事 对当下的他们来说 这个地方俨然具备一股思古之幽情 罗马人缔造了一个完全不受时间和空间限制的帝国 (鼓声) 靠战争来获得永生是罗马的宿命 即使在公元73年 战争也是生活的一部分 有无数关于罗马军队从英国北部打到爱尔兰 从多瑙河以北打到罗马尼亚 往东打到叙利亚和伊拉克边界的战役 现在是日间八点 到了沐浴的时间 Lucius一家人前往科尔索大道 经过战神广场 到达阿格里帕大浴场 Lucius一家把门客们留在外面 和同阶级的人一起进入浴场 蒸汽弥漫的浴场里逐渐由暗变亮 罗马人懂得如何制造精美的玻璃 每个人从冷水池 到温水池 再进入高温池 一个多小时后 沐浴者离开浴池 进行按摩 抹油 并用擦身板除去身上的污垢 在日间九点的时候 他们已经离家七个小时了 人们回家享用庆祝的晚宴 晚宴是全家人的亲密时刻 九个人斜躺在矮桌周围 用餐者只需打一下手势 奴隶们就会送上美酒和食物 太阳下山时 我们听见外面马车的喧嚣声 门客们饱餐一顿后——即使比主人的餐食稍低一等 就前去那水已经变温的浴场 最后才回到他们各自的公寓 回到Lucius的家 他们一直喝酒到晚上 Lucius和他的异母兄弟看起来不太好 一个奴隶就站在旁边 为他们呕吐做准备 而由后来的历史 我们知道Lucius的未来 二十年后 统治者维斯帕先的小儿子 多米提安成为继任者 开始暴政统治 Lucius能幸存下去吗 (鼓声)