最后的俱草草
爱德华-吉本（Edward Gibbon,1737-94）叙述他写《罗马帝国衰亡史》的动因。 It was at Rome, on the 15th of October, 1764, as I sat musing admidst the ruins of the Capitol,while the barefooted friars were singing vespers in the Temple of Jupiter, that the idea of writing of the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind. 1764年10月15日，在罗马，我坐在加比陀山的废墟上发呆，听见朱庇特深面里赤脚的修士们唱起了晚祷曲，这是有个念头第一次涌上我心头：写下这个城市的衰落和灭亡的历史。 ...