纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 053洛泰尔一世水晶雕刻（7）（在线收听）

These ideals, articulated over a thousand years ago, are still central to European political life today. Here's Lord Bingham again:

这一早在一千多年前便提出的政治理想，如今仍是欧洲政治生活的核心。宾厄姆勋爵告诉我：

"In the centre of the Lothair Crystal, one sees the king who commissioned it to be made in the role of judge, and this is of considerable interest and importance, because historically the crown and monarchy has always been regarded as the fount of justice. Interestingly, the Queen, when she took her Coronation Oath in 1953, swore-it's a very old oath prescribed by an Act of 1688 - but she swore to do justice and mercy in all her judgements. And this is exactly the role in which one sees King Lothair, in the role of actually personally administering justice which, of course, the Queen no longer does. But the judges who do it in her name are very proud to be called Her Majesty's judges, recognising that they're exercising their judicial functions on her behalf."

在水晶的中央，能看到国王承担了法官的职责。这十分有趣，也意义重大，因为自古以来，王位与王杈就被视作正义的源泉。1953年伊丽莎白二世在加冕典礼上宣读的晳词便来自一项立于1688年的法案中的古老替词。她将在日后的所有判决中秉持仁慈与公正。这正是民众眼中洛泰尔应当担任的践行正义的角色。诚然，如今女王并不亲自担任这一角色，但以女王之名行使审判权的法官都以“女王陛下的法官”这一头衔为荣。

The Susannah Crystal was made for a king without an heir, in a kingdom without a future. In 869, when Lothair died un-divorced, his uncles did indeed partition his lands, and all that remains of Lotharingia today is the name of Lorraine. For over a thousand years, indeed until 1945, Lothair's Middle Kingdom was bitterly fought over by the successors of the wicked uncles, France and Germany.

苏撒拿水晶是在一个没有未来的王国里为一位没有子嗣的国王制作的。869年，洛泰尔去世了，其时他仍未离婚。叔叔们果然瓜分了他的王国，洛塔林基亚如今只剩下一个地区名—洛林。在逾千年的光阴 里，实际上直到1954年，洛泰尔那中部王国一直都是两位邪恶叔叔的继任者-德国与法国所争抢的土地。

But if Lothair had succeeded in divorcing his wife, and had a legitimate heir, Lorraine might now rank with Spain, France and Germany as one of the great states of continental Europe. Lotharingia perished, but the principle that Lothair's Crystal proclaims has survived. A central duty of the ruler of the state is to guarantee that justice is done, dispassionately and in open court. Innocence must be protected. The Lothair Crystal is one of the first European images of the notion of the rule of law.

如果洛泰尔能如愿与妻子离婚并拥有合法继承人，也许如今洛林已是欧洲大陆上与西班牙、法国和德国并驾齐驱的大国。洛塔林基亚消失了，但洛泰尔水晶上宣扬的原则被保留了下来：国家统治者的核心任务是在公开法庭上不带任何私人倾向地保证正义的伸张。无辜者必须得到保护。洛泰尔水晶是欧洲最早体现法治观念的图像之一。