6　埃及的故事

埃及的興衰

尼羅河是人類善良的朋友，但偶爾是嚴厲的工頭。它教會兩岸人們具備“團隊協(xié)作”的可貴精神。人們齊心協(xié)力建造水渠，修筑堤壩。就這樣，他們學會了與人融洽相處。這種互惠互利的相處形式很快促使團隊發(fā)展成一個有組織的國家。

接著，有個人因強大而凸顯出來。當西亞的鄰邦因嫉妒而來侵犯這塊富饒的谷地時，他成了大家的領袖和總指揮。在某個適當?shù)臅r候，他又變成了國王，統(tǒng)治著從地中海到西部山脈的所有領土。

但對于古代法老（意思是“住在大房子里的人”）這些冒險的政治行動，在田里吃苦耐勞的農(nóng)夫沒有絲毫興趣。只要國王不加重賦稅，農(nóng)夫就愿接受法老的統(tǒng)治，就像接受偉大的奧西里斯的統(tǒng)治一樣。

不過，一旦外邦入侵者來搶奪農(nóng)民的財產(chǎn)，情況就大不相同了。一個叫希克索斯的野蠻的阿拉伯牧人部落，在2000年的獨立生活之后，進攻了埃及，并且在此后的500年里一直是尼羅河谷的主人。埃及人不歡迎他們，也痛恨希伯來人。起初，

the valley of the Nile. They were highly unpopular and great hate was also felt for the Hebrews who came to the land of Goshen to find a shelter after their long wandering through the desert and who helped the foreign usurper by acting as his tax-gatherers and his civil servants. But shortly after the year 1700 B.C.the people of Thebes began a revolution and after a long struggle the Hyksos were driven out of the country and Egypt was free once more.

A thousand years later, when Assyria conquered all of western Asia, Egypt became part of the empire of Sardanapalus. In the seventh century B.C.it became once more an independent state which obeyed the rule of a king who lived in the city of Sa?s in the Delta of the Nile. But in the year 525 B.C., Cambyses, the king of the Persians, took possession of Egypt and in the fourth century B.C., when Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great, Egypt too became a Macedonian province. It regained a semblance of independence when one of Alexander’s generals set himself up as king of a new Egyptian state and founded the dynasty of the Ptolemies, who resided in the newly built city of Alexandria.

Finally, in the year 39 B. C., the Romans came. The last Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, tried her best to save the country. Her beauty and charm were more dangerous to the Roman generals than half a dozen Egyptian army corps. Twice she was successful in her attacks upon the hearts of her Roman conquerors. But in the year 30 B.C., Augustus, the grandnephew and heir of C?sar, landed in Alexandria. He did not share his late granduncle’s admiration for the lovely princess. He destroyed her armies, but spared her life that he might make her march in his triumph as part of the spoils of war. When Cleopatra heard of this plan, she killed herself by taking poison. And Egypt became a Roman province.

希伯來人想尋找一個避風港，在沙漠中長途跋涉后來到歌珊地[1]。但后來，希伯來人幫助外邦篡奪，還當了外邦的稅務官和大臣。但是公元前1700年之后不久，底比斯人開始反抗。經(jīng)過長期的抗爭，希克索斯人被趕了出去，埃及又獲得了自由。

1000年后，亞述征服了整個西亞，埃及成了薩丹納帕路斯[2]帝國的一部分。公元前7世紀，埃及再次成為獨立的國家，統(tǒng)治它的國王住在尼羅河三角洲的薩伊斯城。但到了公元前525年，波斯國王岡比西斯攻占了埃及。公元前4世紀，波斯又被亞歷山大大帝征服，同時埃及變?yōu)轳R其頓的一個省。后來，亞歷山大手下的一位將軍自立為新埃及國的國王，建立了托勒密王朝，并定都于新建的亞歷山大城。這時，埃及重新獲得了名義上的獨立。

最后，在公元前39年，羅馬人來了。埃及末代女王克婁巴特拉竭盡全力挽救自己的國家。對羅馬將軍來說，她的美貌和魅力比6個埃及兵團更具威脅。她曾兩次成功俘虜了羅馬領袖的心。但公元前30年，凱撒的外甥和繼承人奧古斯都登陸亞歷山大城。他不像已故的舅公那樣傾慕這位可愛的女王。他摧毀了她的軍隊，卻留下了她的性命，原想在他凱旋的時候把她作為戰(zhàn)利品的一部分游街示眾，不料克婁巴特拉聽說后服毒自盡。從此，埃及成為羅馬的一個省。