罗马帝国衰亡史—Chapter 1—View of the Provinces of the Roman Empire

View of the provinces of the Roman empire

We have attempted to explain

the spirit which moderated, and the strength which supported,

the power of Hadrian and the Antonines.

We shall now endeavour, with clearness and precision, to describe the provinces

once united under their sway, but,

at present, divided into so many independent and hostile estates.

Spain Spain, the western extremity of the empire of Europe, and of the ancient world, has, in every age, invariably preserved the same natural limits;

the Pyrenaean mountains, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic Ocean.

That great peninsula, at present so unequally divided between two sovereigns, was distributed by Augustus into three provinces, Lusitania, Baetica, and Tarraconensis.

The kingdom of Portugal now fills the place of the warlike country of the Lusitanians; and the loss sustained by the former, on the side of the East is compensated by an accession of territory towards the North.

The confines of Grenada and Andalusia correspond with those of ancient Baetica. The remainder of Spain, Gallicia and the Asturias, Biscay and Navarre, Leon and the two Castilles, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia, and Arragon, all contributed to form the third and most considerable of the Roman governments, which, from the name of its capital, was styled the province of Tarragona.

Of the native barbarians, the Celtiberians were the most powerful, as the Cantabrians and Asturians proved the most obstinate.

Confident in the strength of their mountains, they were the last who submitted to the arms of Rome, and the first who threw off the yoke of the Arabs.

Gaul Ancient Gaul, as it contained the whole country between the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Rhine, and the Ocean, was of greater extent than modern France.

To the dominions of that powerful monarchy,

with its recent acquisitions of Alsace and Lorraine 阿尔萨斯和洛林,

we must add the duchy of Savoy,

the cantons of Switzerland,

the four electorates of the Rhine,

and the territories of Liege, Luxemburg, Hainault, Flanders, and Brabant.

When Augustus gave laws to the conquests of his father, he introduced a division of Gaul equally adapted to the progress of the legions, to the course of the rivers, and to the principal national distinctions, which had comprehended above an hundred independent states.

The seacoast of the Mediterranean, Languedoc 郎格多克, Provence, and Dauphine, received their provincial appellation from the colony of Narbonne.

The government of Aquitaine was extended from the Pyrenees to the Loire.

The country between the Loire and the Seine was styled the Celtic Gaul, and soon borrowed a new denomination from the celebrated colony of Lugdunum, or Lyons里昂.

The Belgic比尔及 lay beyond the Seine, and in more ancient times had been bounded only by the Rhine; but a little before the age of Caesar the Germans, abusing their superiority of valour, had occupied a considerable portion of the Belgic territory.

The Roman conquerors very eagerly embraced so flattering a circumstance, and the Gallic frontier of the Rhine, from Basil to Leyden, received the pompous names of the Upper and the Lower Germany.

Such, under the reign of the Antonines, were the six provinces of Gaul - the Narbonnese, Aquitaine, the Celtic, or Lyonnese, the Belgic, and the two Germanies.

Britain We have already had occasion to mention the conquest of Britain, and to fix the boundary of the Roman province in this island. It comprehended all England, Wales, and the Lowlands of Scotland, as far as Dumbarton and Edinburgh.

Before Britain lost her freedom, the country was irregularly divided between thirty tribes of barbarians, of whom the most considerable were

the Belgae in the West,

the Brigantes in the North,

the Silures in South Wales,

and the Iceni in Norfolk and Suffolk.

As far as we can either trace or credit the resemblance of manners and language, Spain, Gaul, and Britain were peopled by the same hardy race of savages.

Before they yielded to the Roman arms, they often disputed the field, and often renewed the contest.

After their submission they constituted the western division of the European provinces, which extended from the columns of Hercules to the wall of Antoninus and from the mouth of the Tagus to the sources of the Rhine and Danube.

Italy Before the Roman conquest, the country which is now called Lombardy was not considered as a part of Italy.

It had been occupied by a powerful colony of Gauls, who settling themselves along the banks of the Po波河, from Piedmont to Romagna, carried their arms and diffused their names from the Alps to the Apennine亚平宁.

The Ligurians dwelt on the rocky coast, which now forms the republic of Genoa.

Venice was yet unborn; but the territories of that state, which lie to the east of the Adige, were inhabited by the Venetians.

The middle part of the peninsula that now composes the duchy of Tuscany托斯卡纳 and the ecclesiastical state, was the ancient seat of the Estruscans and Umbrians to the former of whom Italy was indebted for the first rudiments of civilised life.

The Tiber rolled at the foot of the seven hills of Rome, and the country of the Sabines, the Latins, and the Volsci, from that river to the frontiers of Naples, was the theatre of her infant victories.

On that celebrated ground the first consuls deserved triumphs; their successors adorned villas, and their posterity后裔; 子孙 have erected convents.

Capua and Campania possessed the immediate territory of Naples; the rest of the kingdom was inhabited by many warlike nations, the Marsi, the Samnites, the Apulians, and the Lucanians; and the sea coasts had been covered by the flourishing colonies of the Greeks.

We may remark, that when Augustus divided Italy into eleven regions, the little province of Istria伊斯特里亚 was annexed to that seat of Roman sovereignty.

The Danube and Illyrian frontier The European provinces of Rome were protected by the course of the Rhine and the Danube. The latter of those mighty streams, which rises at the distance of only thirty miles from the former, flows above thirteen hundred miles, for the most part, to the south-east, collects the tribute of sixty navigable rivers, and is, at length, through six mouths, received into the Euxine, which appears scarcely equal to such an accession of waters.

equal to - having the requisite qualities for.

The provinces of the Danube soon acquired the general appellation of lllyricum, or the Illyrian frontier, and were esteemed the most warlike of the empire;

but they deserve to be more particularly considered under the names of Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Dalmatia, Dacia, Maesia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece.

ap·pel·la·tion1 /ˌapəˈlāSHən/

noun FORMAL a name or title.

"the city fully justifies its appellation “the Pearl of the Orient.”"

Rhaetia The province of Rhaetia, which soon extinguished the name of the Vindelicians, extended from the summit of the Alps to the banks of the Danube; from its source, as far as its conflux with the Inn.

讲述吉本时代的Rhaetia

The greatest part of the flat country is subject to the elector of Bavaria 巴伐利亚选帝侯;

the city of Augsburg is protected by the constitution of the German empire;

the Grisons格劳宾登 are safe in their mountains,

and the country of Tyrol is ranked among the numerous provinces of the house of Austria.

Noricum and Pannonia The wide extent of territory, which is included between the Inn, the Danube, and the Save; Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Lower Hungary, and Sclavonia斯拉沃尼亚, was known to the ancients under the names of Noricum and Pannonia.

In their original state of independence, their fierce inhabitants were intimately connected.

intimately in a way that involves a close link or relationship.

"themes of love and death were intimately connected"

Under the Roman government they were frequently united, and they still remain the patrimony of a single family. They now contain the residence of a German prince, who styles himself Emperor of the Romans, and form the centre, as well as strength, of the Austrian power.

It may not be improper to observe, that if we except

Bohemia, Moravia, the northern skirts of Austria, and a part of Hungary,

between the Theiss and the Danube,

all the other dominions of the House of Austria were comprised within the limits of the Roman empire.

Dalmatia Dalmatia, to which the name of Illyricum more properly belonged, was a long but narrow tract between the Save and the Adriatic.

The best part of the sea-coast, which still retains its ancient appellation, is a province of the Venetian state, and the seat of the little republic of Ragusa.

The inland parts have assumed the Sclavonian names of Croatia and Bosnia; the former obeys an Austrian governor, the latter a Turkish pasha帕夏;

but the whole country is still infested by tribes of barbarians, whose savage independence irregularly marks the doubtful limit of the Christian and Mahometan power.

Moesia and Dacia After the Danube had received the waters of the Theiss and the Save, it acquired, at least among the Greeks, the name of Ister伊斯特河.

It formerly divided Maesia and Dacia, the latter of which, as we have already seen, was a conquest of Trajan, and the only province beyond the river.

If we inquire into the present state of those countries, we shall find that, on the left hand of the Danube, Temeswar and Transylvania have been annexed, after many revolutions, to the crown of Hungary;

whilst the principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia acknowledge the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte.

On the right hand of the Danube, Maesia, which, during the middle ages, was broken into the barbarian kingdoms of Servia塞尔维亚 and Bulgaria保加利亚, is again united in Turkish slavery. 吉本时代的以上诸民族，还在奥斯曼帝国的统治下。

Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece

The appellation of Roumelia, which is still bestowed by the Turks

on the extensive countries of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece,

preserves the memory of their ancient state under the Roman empire.

In the time of the Antonines, the martial regions of Thrace, from the mountains of Haemus and Rhodope, to the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, had assumed the form of a province. Notwithstanding the change of masters and of religion, the new city of Rome 君士坦丁堡, founded by Constantine on the banks of the Bosphorus, has ever since remained the capital of a great monarchy.

The kingdom of Macedonia, which, under the reign of Alexander, gave laws to Asia, derived more solid advantages from the policy of the two Philips;

and with its dependencies of Epirus and Thessaly, extended from the Aegean to the Ionian Sea.

When we reflect on the fame of Thebes and Argos, of Sparta and Athens,

we can scarcely persuade ourselves that so many immortal republics of ancient Greece were lost in a single province of the Roman empire, which, from the superior influence of the Achaean league, was usually denominated the province of Achaia.

Asia Minor

Such was the state of Europe under the Roman emperors.

The provinces of Asia, without excepting the transient conquests of Trajan, are all comprehended within the limits of the Turkish power.

But, instead of following the arbitrary divisions of despotism and ignorance, it will be safer for us, as well as more agreeable, to observe the indelible 不褪色的 characters of nature.

小亚细亚的范围：The name of Asia Minor is attributed with some propriety to the peninsula, which, confined betwixt the Euxine and the Mediterranean, advances from the Euphrates towards Europe.

The most extensive and flourishing district, westward of Mount Taurus and the river Halys, was dignified by the Romans with the exclusive title of Asia.

The jurisdiction of that province extended over the ancient monarchies of Troy, Lydia, and Phrygia, the maritime countries of the Pamphylians, Lycians, and Carians, and the Grecian colonies of Ionia, which equalled in arts, though not in arms, the glory of their parent.

The kingdoms of Bithynia and Pontus possessed the northern side of the peninsula from Constantinople to Trebizond. 特拉布宗

On the opposite side, the province of Cilicia was terminated by the mountains of Syria: the inland country, separated from the Roman Asia by the river Halys, and from Armenia by the Euphrates, had once formed the independent kingdom of Cappadocia.

In this place we may observe that the northern shores of the Euxine,

beyond Trebizond in Asia, and beyond the Danube in Europe,

acknowledged the sovereignty of the emperors,

and received at their hands either tributary princes or Roman garrisons.

Budzak, Crim Tartary, Circassia, and Mingrelia,

are the modern appellations of those savage countries.