罗马帝国衰亡史—Chapter 1—View of the Provinces of the Roman Empire 2

Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine Under the successors of Alexander, Syria was the seat of the Seleucidae, who reigned over Upper Asia, till the successful revolt of the Parthians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean.

When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire; nor did that province, in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds边界 than the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards the south the confines of Egypt, and the Red Sea.

Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of Syria.

The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast;

the latter was a territory scarcely superior to Wales, either in fertility or extent.

Yet Phoenicia and Palestine will for ever live in the memory of mankind;

since America, as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other. 腓尼基人的文字，犹太人的宗教

A sandy desert alike destitute of wood and water skirts along the doubtful confine of Syria, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea.

The wandering life of the Arabs was inseparably connected with their independence; and wherever, on some spots less barren than the rest, they ventured to form any settled habitation, they soon became subjects to the Roman empire.

Egypt The geographers of antiquity have frequently hesitated to what portion of the globe they should ascribe Egypt.

Ptolemy and Strabo, with the modern geographers, fix the Isthmus of Suez as the boundary of Asia and Africa. Dionysius, Mela, Pliny, Sallust, Hirtius, and Solinus, have preferred for that purpose the western branch of the Nile, or even the great Catabathmus, or descent, which last would assign to Asia, not only Egypt, but part of Libya.

By its situation that celebrated kingdom is included within the immense peninsula of Africa;

but it is accessible only on the side of Asia, whose revolutions, in almost every period of history, Egypt has humbly obeyed.

A Roman praefect was seated on the splendid throne of the Ptolemies;

and the iron sceptre of the Mamalukes马穆鲁克 is now in the hands of a Turkish pasha.

The Nile flows down the country, above five hundred miles from the tropic of Cancer to the Mediterranean, and marks, on either side, the extent of fertility by the measure of its inundations.

Cyrene昔兰尼, situate towards the west, and along the sea-coast, was first a Greek colony, afterwards a province of Egypt, and is now lost in the desert of Barca.

inundation 英[ˌɪnʌnˈdeɪʃən] n. 淹没; 洪水泛滥; 水灾;

Africa From Cyrene to the ocean, the coast of Africa extends above fifteen hundred miles; yet so closely is it pressed between the Mediterranean and the Sahara, or sandy desert, that its breadth seldom exceeds fourscore or an hundred miles.

The eastern division was considered by the Romans as the more peculiar and proper province of Africa. Till the arrival of the Phoenician colonies, that fertile country was inhabited by the Libyans, the most savage of mankind.

Under the immediate jurisdiction of Carthage, it became the centre of commerce and empire;

but the republic of Carthage is now degenerated into the feeble and disorderly states of Tripoli and Tunis.

The military government of Algiers oppresses the wide extent of Numidia, as it was once united under Massinissa and Jugurtha（《朱古达战争》）: but in the time of Augustus, the limits of Numidia were contracted; and, at least, two-thirds of the country acquiesced in the name of Mauritania毛里塔尼亚, with the epithet of Caesariensis. The genuine Mauritania, or country of the Moors, which, from the ancient city of Tingi, or Tangier, was distinguished by the appellation of Tingitana廷吉塔纳, is represented by the modern kingdom of Fez.

Salle, on the Ocean, long infamous for its piratical depredations海盗掠夺, was noticed by the Romans, as the extreme object of their power, and almost of their geography.

A city of their foundation may still be discovered near Mequinez, the residence of the barbarian whom we condescend to style the Emperor of Morocco; but it does not appear that his more southern dominions, Morocco itself, and Segelmessa, were ever comprehended within the Roman province.

The western parts of Africa are intersected by the branches of Mount Atlas 阿特拉斯山,

a name so idly celebrated by the fancy of poets;

but which is now diffused传播 over the immense ocean that rolls between the ancient and the new continent.

The Mediterranean with its islands

Having now finished the circuit of the Roman empire, we may observe, that Africa is divided from Spain by a narrow strait of about twelve miles, through which the Atlantic flows into the Mediterranean.

The columns of Hercules, so famous among the ancients, were two mountains which seemed to have been torn asunder by some convulsion of the elements; and at the foot of the European mountain the fortress of Gibraltar is now seated.

The whole extent of the Mediterranean Sea, its coasts, and its islands, were comprised within the Roman dominion. Of the larger islands, the two Baleares 巴利阿里群岛, which derive their name of Majorca and Minorca from their respective size, are subject at present, the former to Spain, the latter to Great Britain.

It is easier to deplore the fate, than to describe the actual condition, of Corsica 科西嘉.

Two Italian sovereigns assume a regal title from Sardinia and Sicily.

Crete, or Candia, with Cyprus, and most of the smaller islands of Greece and Asia, have been subdued by the Turkish arms; whilst the little rock of Malta 马耳他 defies经受住 their power, and has emerged, under the government of its military Order马耳他骑士团, into fame and opulence.

General idea of the Roman empire

This long enumeration of provinces, whose broken fragments have formed so many powerful kingdoms, might almost induce us to forgive the vanity or ignorance of the ancients.

Dazzled with the extensive sway (统治; 势力; 控制), the irresistible strength,

and the real or affected moderation of the emperors,

they permitted themselves to despise, and sometimes to forget, the outlying countries which had been left in the enjoyment of a barbarous independence;

and they gradually usurped the licence of confounding the Roman monarchy with the globe of the earth.

But the temper, as well as knowledge, of a modern historian requires a more sober and accurate language.

He may impress a juster image of the greatness of Rome, by observing

that the empire was above two thousand miles in breadth, from the wall of Antoninus and the northern limits of Dacia, to mount Atlas and the tropic of Cancer;

that it extended, in length, more than three thousand miles from the Western Ocean to the Euphrates;

that it was situated in the finest part of the Temperate Zone, between the twenty-fourth and fifty-sixth degrees of northern latitude;

and that it was supposed to contain above sixteen hundred thousand square miles, for the most part of fertile and well-cultivated land.