约翰·西利、爱德华·弗里曼的古今比较及其帝国观念

The Comparisons between the Ancient Times and the Modern Times Made by John Seeley and Edward Freeman and Their Concepts of Empire

在19世纪后期和20世纪初的英帝国问题讨论中,基于古典历史诠释的古今比较介入其中,为论证英帝国统治合理性及构想英帝国发展方向提供新的依据。其中,罗马帝国与古希腊殖民化的历史被用来支持两种帝国观念。约翰·西利和爱德华·弗里曼分别是两种帝国观念的代表:前者通过使用“罗马类比”,证明了英属印度存在的合理性,并认为未来的英帝国是一个统一的世界国家;后者基于类比古希腊殖民化的历史,强调英帝国应当发展成松散的联盟体系。历史观念的差异,尤其是对古今关系的不同认识是两位历史学家在思考英帝国问题时运用不同历史类比的重要原因。

The comparisons between the ancient times and the modern times based on the interpretation of the classical history were involved in the discussions of the British Empire during the late 19thcentury and the early 20thcentury.This became the important materials to prove the rationality of the British imperial rule and imagine the direction of the imperial development.Among such discussions,the history of the Roman Empire and ancient Greek Colonisation were used to support two concepts of empire.John Seeley and Edward Freeman were representatives of those two concepts.The former justified the rationality of British India by using the‘Roman Analogy’and considered the future British Empire a unified world state.The latter emphasised that the British Empire should develop into a loose alliance system based on the analogy with the history of ancient Greek Colonisation.The difference in historical concepts,especially the different understanding of the relationship between the ancient times and the modern times,was an important reason why those two historians used different historical analogies while thinking about the British Empire.