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On October 23rd, 1642,another man, King Charles I,
1642年10月23日 国王查理一世
surveyed the same landscape from the same ridge.
也在同一处山脊眺望这片原野
The meadows were now full,not with cows and harebells,but cannon, pikes and musketeers.
那时没有绿草茵茵 没有耕牛和蓝铃花 而是大炮 长矛和火枪手
By nightfall,there would be 3,000 British corpses lying in the freezing mud.
夜幕降临时 三千不列颠士兵牺牲在了冰冷的大地上
Here at Edgehill, Eden had become Golgotha.
边山 从伊甸园成为殉难地
Over the next long years,the nations that both James and Charles yearned to bring together
在之后的漫长岁月中 詹姆斯一世和查理一世共同向往的联合王国
would tear each other apart in murderous civil wars.
在杀气腾腾的内战中分崩离析
Hundreds of thousands of lives would be lost in battles, sieges, epidemics and famine.
成千上万的人丧命于 战斗 围攻 传染病和饥荒
A raw body count fails to measure the full enormity of a disaster
粗略的死亡人数统计根本无法描述
which reached into virtually every part of Britain,from Cornwall to County Connaught,from York to the Hebrides.
这一遍布大不列颠的灾难有多残酷 从康沃尔到康瑙特 从约克 到赫布里底群岛
It tore apart communities of the parish and the county,
教区与郡县 分崩离析
which all through the turmoil of the Reformation had managed to agree on how the country should be governed and who should do the governing.
曾经历过改革骚乱的人们 本已达成共识 该让谁来统治 以及如何统治
Men who had broken bread together now tried to break each other's heads.
曾经同甘共苦的人们 如今短兵相接
Men who had judged together now judged each other.
曾经携手裁决公断的人们 如今互相指责
At the end of it all,there would be a united Britain as the Stuarts had hoped,
至尘埃落定时 斯图亚特王期许的联合大不列颠终于诞生
but it would not be a united kingdom,it would be a united republic.
但不是联合王国 而是共和国
