亚历山大只向东方进军。“只”当然并非是个正确的词！

　　But the lands that lay to the west of Greece did not tempt him – just a couple of Phoenician and Greek colonies and a handful of densely wooded peninsulas inhabited by tribes of stubborn and unruly peasants.

　　但是希腊以西的地方，并没有吸引他——那里是几个腓尼基和希腊的殖民地以及几个覆盖着茂密森林的半岛，居住着刚强、贫穷、尚武的农村部族。

　　One of these peninsulas was Italy, and one of the peasant tribes, the Romans.

　　意大利便是一个这样的半岛，而罗马人则是一个这样的农村部族。

　　At the time of Alexander the Great, the Roman empire was no more than a little patch of land in the heart of Italy,

　　在亚历山大大帝时代，罗马帝国尚还是意大利中部的一小块地盘，

　　and Rome a tiny city of twisting streets within strong walls.

　　罗马是一座偏僻的小城市，有坚固的城墙。

　　But Rome's inhabitants were a proud people.

　　但是罗马的居民是一个骄傲的民族。

　　They loved recounting stories of the greatness of their past and were convinced of a great future.

　　他们津津乐道他们伟大的历史并相信他们伟大的未来。

　　Their history, as they told it, went back to ancient Troy.

　　他们的历史，像他们说得那样，可追溯到古代特洛伊时期。

　　A Trojan named Aeneas fled to Italy.

　　一个名叫埃涅阿斯的特洛伊人逃到意大利。

　　His descendants were the twin brothers Romulus and Remus, sons of Mars, the god of war, who were suckled and raised in the forest by a wild she-wolf.

　　他的后代是一对孪生子罗慕洛和瑞穆，战神玛尔斯是这一对孪生子的父亲，他们由一匹母野狼在森林里哺育和喂养长大。