古罗马史家的平民教育——阿庇安《罗马史》中“凯撒死后的两场演说”绎读

Roman Historian on Civilian's Education——An Interpretation of “Two Speeches after the Death of Caesar” in Appian's Roman History

"凯撒之死"是罗马史上最重大的事件之一。在现存的古代文献中,唯有阿庇安呈现了布鲁图和安东尼在凯撒死后的两场演说。布鲁图通过演说使平民赦免了其谋杀者,安东尼则通过葬礼演说使平民发生了转向和暴动。两场演说充分暴露了平民在凯撒事件乃至整个内战中的作用。阿庇安通过描述演说的具体内容和平民的反应,揭示并批评了平民无知、冲动和贪婪的政治品格,以此教育平民和后世读者:国家政制的兴亡与民众政治品格的优劣息息相关。

'The death of Julius Caesar' is one of the most important historical events in Rome.Among the extant ancient books,only Appian recorded two speeches made by Brutus and Antony after Caesar's death.While Brutus helped all the murderers get an amnesty after he made a speech to the civilians,Anthony persuaded the same civilians to change their mind and caused a riot at the funeral of Caesar.These two speeches fully exposed the role of the Romans in Caesar's events and the whole civil wars.The analysis shows that Appian purports to educate the Roman civilians and the readers that the rise or fall of the Roman polity is closely related to the political characters of the Roman civilians by presenting the detail of the speeches and the response of the Romans to reveal the Romans' political characters of ignorance,impulse and greed.