第88页 Chapter 22 Rome and Carthage

这一章信息量满满，是从开头到现在为止最长的一章，时长约24分钟，分了五次才听完。按照主要历史事件标记喜欢的句子如下。
1.  迦太基城邦的兴起
Carthage was a plutocracy and the real power of the state lay in the hands of a dozen big ship-owners and mine-owners and merchants who met in the back room of an office and regarded their common Fatherland as a business enterprise which ought to yield them a decent profit.
迦太基的政权掌握在富人手里，像运行企业一样运行国家，重要的决定都是黑箱操作。
Of course, such a "plutocracy" was forever at the mercy of the crowd. As long as there was plenty of work and wages were high, the majority of the citizens were quite contented, allowed their "betters" to rule them and asked no embarrassing questions. But when no ships left the harbor, when no ore was brought to the smelting-ovens, when dockworkers and stevedores were thrown out of employment, then there were grumblings and there was a demand that the popular assembly be called together as in the olden days when Carthage had been a self-governing republic.
这一段不知道是不是反讽的语气。只要经济好被剥削的劳动人民有银子发，那么他们就安于现状不闹事。一旦经济不行，工业不运转了，失业人口多了，人民穷了，就团结起来搞事。
2. 古罗马干掉了伊特鲁里亚（Etruscan），落后文明干掉先进文明的又一次事例。
But just as the Greeks had not loved their Aegean teachers, in this same way did the Romans hate their Etruscan masters. They got rid of them as soon as they could and the opportunity offered itself when Greek merchants discovered the commercial possibilities of Italy and when the first Greek vessels reached Rome.
希腊Greece成立之前，从某Aegean失传国家那里学来了先进科学技术。古罗马成立之前，受教于有可能从东方传入文明的Etruscan，一旦羽翼丰满立即干掉了Etruscan。
3. 罗马对希腊的学习和模仿。
But once the kings had been driven from the city, the Romans were forced to bridle the power of the nobles, and it took many centuries before they managed to establish a system which gave every free citizen of Rome a chance to take a personal interest in the affairs of his town.
废除国王之后，罗马花了几个世纪来摆脱贵族寡头治国，建立类似于希腊的“民主系统”（只针对“自由人”，不包括奴隶）。给权力上缰，bridle用得好。
They were less imaginative than the Greeks and they preferred an ounce of action to a pound of words.
罗马的议会更有效率。“行胜于言”用ouce v.s pound 的表达方式很形象。
4. 罗马和迦太基的第二次战争（之第三次战争），面对迦太基强大的军事实力，罗马采用了游击战术，禁不住让人想起太祖对某党和Japan的作战方针，不知道太祖当年有没有读过这段历史。作者从情感上支持采取先进zz制度的罗马，却把汉尼拔Hannibal这个以自杀告终的迦太基军事将领的一生写得荡气回肠。汉尼拔应该是迦太基的民族英雄，类似于落败的项羽，尽管失败了仍然充满个人魅力。
He refused to accept battle but forever he followed Hannibal, destroyed everything eatable, destroyed the roads, attacked small detachments and generally weakened the morale of the Carthaginian troops by a most distressing and annoying form of guerilla warfare.
罗马将军Fabius的战术：断粮，毁路，突袭小支部队，渐渐瓦解迦太基军队的士气，令他们不爽又无没办法。可能游击战guerilla真的是以弱胜强的一条上策。根据Wiki显示，游击战是罗马人从汉尼拔那儿学习并改进的，“师夷长技以制夷”。
Unfortunately the messengers fell into the hands of the Romans and Hannibal waited in vain for further news until his brother's head, neatly packed in a basket, came rolling into his camp and told him of the fate of the last of the Carthaginian troops.
汉尼拔热切等待的弟弟的援军，信使被罗马截获，弟弟被罗马人杀死。汉尼拔等来等去等到了装着弟弟头颅的篮子。房龙描写历史的残酷，从细微处入手的笔法真的让人动容。
5. 罗马对迦太基等国家的侵略。汉尼拔被打败之后煽动其他国家对抗罗马，却给了罗马入侵东方的借口，扩大了欧洲（白人）势力。
Driven from one city to another, a fugitive without a home, Hannibal at last knew that the end of his ambitious dream had come. His beloved city of Carthage had been ruined by the war. She had been forced to sign a terrible peace. Her navy had been sunk. She had been forbidden to make war without Roman permission. She had been condemned to pay the Romans millions of dollars for endless years to come. Life offered no hope of a better future. In the year 190 B.C. Hannibal took poison and killed himself.
迦太基被罗马摧毁，签了不平等条约，大量的战争赔款和主权沦丧，未来渺茫。汉尼拔在流亡生涯的穷途末路之际选择了自杀。读之动容。
For two whole weeks the store-houses and the palaces and the great arsenal burned. Then a terrible curse was pronounced upon the blackened ruins and the Roman legions returned to Italy to enjoy their victory.
一边是败亡的花了两个星期（17天）才付之焦土的迦太基，一边是罗马人凯旋意大利，欢庆胜利。房龙真的很会写。
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读后感区：
罗马对迦太基的第一次胜利，房龙认为是由于有了先进科技的可以登陆敌方舰队的船只。第二次则是消耗战术，以（军队实力上的）弱胜强（前两次都吃了败仗，第三次用游击战术消耗对方，第四次正面作战惨遭罗马历史上最大的军事失败，之后又接着消耗战术，汉尼拔没有迦太基的援军，罗马联盟的其他城邦和意大利人都不鸟外族汉尼拔，虽然汉尼拔每次打仗都赢但是军队人数越来越少），消耗了战斗力占绝对优势的迦太基一方，在孤立无援下，最终给了罗马反攻的机会。
这一章真的是让人感叹日光之下无新鲜事。“游击战术”、“群众路线”，反围剿，似乎都在这章找到了影子，汉尼拔被召回母国，又让人想起赵括的例子。
汉尼拔这个军事天才和悲剧英雄塑造得很成功。看了一下Wikihttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B1%89%E5%B0%BC%E6%8B%94，Zama战役被被打败后，汉尼拔的军事能力被迦太基政权否定（廉颇啊），开始从政，被迦太基放逐，一边流亡一边游说、帮助其他国家对抗罗马，罗马要其他国家交出汉尼拔，汉尼拔自杀。
Goodreads上有人批评这本书是白人精英主义，渐渐现出一些端倪来。作者在谈论雅典和罗马的时候，都特别自豪于它们的民主制度，认为非洲小亚细亚等地区采取的是落后的制度，灭亡是历史的必然，迦太基是有色人种（brown people），入侵意大利应该被消灭，对罗马人之后的暴行采取了一种包庇的写法。古老的东方教会了年轻的西方后，被西方打败并没落，作者采取了一种心安理得的态度。