During the next two centuries, seven other crusades took place. Gradually the Crusaders learned the technique of the trip. The land voyage was too tedious and too dangerous. They preferred to cross the Alps and go to Genoa or Venice where they took ship for the east. The Genoese and the Venetians made this trans-Mediterranean passenger service a very profitable business. They charged exorbitant rates, and when the Crusaders(most of whom had very little money) could not pay the price, these Italian"profiteers" kindly allowed them to "work their way across." In return for a fare from Venice to Acre, the Crusader undertook to do a stated amount of fighting for the owners of his vessel. In this way Venice greatly increased her territory along the coast of the Adriatic and in Greece, where Athens became a Venetian colony, and in the islands of Cyprus and Crete and Rhodes.
在接下来的两个世纪里，欧洲人又发动了另外七次东征。十字军战士们逐渐学会了前往亚洲的旅行技巧。陆路行程太艰苦，也太危险。他们情愿先越过阿尔卑斯山，到意大利的威尼斯或热那亚，然后再搭乘海船去东方。精明世故的热那亚人和威尼斯人把这桩运送十字军跨越地中海的服务做成了有厚利可图的大生意。他们索取高额旅费，当十字军战士付不出这个价钱时（他们大部分都囊中羞涩），这些意大利"奸商"便做出大发善心的样子，先允许他们上船，但要"一路工作以抵偿船费"。往往为了偿付从威尼斯到阿克的旅费，十字军战士得答应为船主从事一定量的战斗，用获得的土地还钱。通过这种方法，威尼斯大大增加了它在亚得里亚海沿岸、希腊半岛、塞浦路斯、克里特岛及罗得岛控制的土地，最后，连雅典也成为了一块名符其实的威尼斯殖民地。
All this, however, helped little in settling the question of the Holy Land. After the first enthusiasm had worn off, a short crusading trip became part of the liberal education of every well-bred young man, and there never was any lack of candidates for service in Palestine. But the old zeal was gone. The Crusaders, who had begun their warfare with deep hatred for the Mohammedans and great love for the Christian people of the eastern Roman Empire and Armenia, suffered a complete change of heart. They came to despise the Greeks of Byzantium, who cheated them and frequently betrayed the cause of the Cross, and the Armenians and all the other Levantine races, and they began to appreciate the virtues of their enemies who proved to be generous and fair opponents.
当然，这一切都无助于解决棘手的圣地问题。当最初的宗教狂热渐渐退去，一段为时不长的十字军旅程倒变成了每一个出身良好的欧洲青年的通才教育课程。因此，报名去巴勒斯坦服役的候选人总是源源不绝。不过，古老的热情已经不复存在。最初，十字军战士怀着对穆斯林的刻骨仇恨，对东罗马帝国及亚美尼亚的基督徒群众的极大爱心，开始其艰苦的远征，如今却经历了内心的巨变。他们开始憎恨拜占廷的希腊人，因为后者常常欺骗他们，并不时出卖十字架的事业。他们同样憎恨亚美尼亚人以及所有东地中海地区的民族。相反，他们逐渐学会欣赏穆斯林敌人的种种品行，事实证明他们是豪爽公正的对手，值得尊重。
来源:可可英语 http://www.kekenet.com/Article/201707/514182.shtml
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