罗马帝国衰落的起点——以琉善对公元2世纪罗马社会的认识为中心

The Starting Point of the Decline of the Roman Empire: Centres on Lucian's Understanding about the Roman Society in the Second Century

公元2世纪的罗马帝国,并非如后世学者所断定的那般全面昌盛。吉本称这一时期为"黄金时代"。其实,这种说法略有不妥。从彼时罗马人的视角去考察,可以看到帝国更加真实的面貌。琉善这位2世纪帝国的重要学者,敏锐地观察到繁华背后的衰败因子。深入分析解读琉善的作品,总结其眼中的罗马社会风貌,探索罗马帝国衰落的起点是本文的研究重点。从琉善的作品中,可以看出2世纪的罗马社会业已沉醉于浮华生活,失去了以往奋发向上的精神气质。罗马帝国精神层面的衰退早在公元2世纪就已经出现了。

The Roman Empire in the second century was not as all-round prosperity as the later generation scholars asserted. Edward Gibbon called this period golden age. In fact, this judgment is not entirely accurate. Observing from the viewpoint of the Roman who had lived in that time, scholars would see a clearer picture of the Empire. Lucian, who was an important intellectual of the Roman Empire at that time, keenly observed the declining origin behind prosperity. The key point of this article is to analyze the Roman society in the second century by making a systematic analysis and interpretation of Lucian's works, and to thus trace to the starting point of the decline of the Empire. From the instances that Lucian criticized, we find out that the Roman society in the second century had already indulged in glitzy lifestyle and lost the indomitable temperament of bygone days.