FARTHER nrth and t the east was a tribef peple wh were cnsidered by bth the Rmans and the Germanic tribes t be very fierce. They were called Huns. They lived farff in the eastern frests， in a partf the wrld that nne then knew much abut.
Even the Germans themselves， fierce fighters thugh they were， feared the Huns， and it was chiefly because they were afraidf them and wanted t get away frm them as far as they culd that the Germans wentver the brders int the Rman Empire. It was much easier t fight the Rmans than it was t fight the Huns.
The leaderf the Huns， named Attila， basted that nthing ever grew again where his hrse had trd. He and his Huns had cnquered and laid waste the cuntry all the way frm the East almst t Paris. At last a Rman-Germanic army made a stand against them and fught a great battle at a place nt s very far frm Paris， a place called Ch？lns.
The Germans fught desperately； they fught madly； and the Huns were beaten. It was lucky they were beaten， fr if they had wn， these wild barbarians might have cnquered and ruled the wrld. S the battlef Ch？lns， 451 A.D.， is written in histry in capital letters and large figures-CH？LNS， 451.
After Attila and his Huns had been beaten at Ch？lns， they then went after the Rmans. Turning back they went dwn int Italy， where there was nne able t stp them. They destryed everything as they mvedn. The peplef the cuntry didn"t even attempt t fight. They thught the Huns were mnsters and simply fled befre them.n t Rme the Huns went.
Nw， there was in Rme at this time a ppe named Le I which means Lin. Le，f curse， was neither a sldier nr a fighting man， but he and his cardinals and bishps wentut frm Rme t meet Attila. They were nt clad in armr， and nnef them carried any weapns with which t fight. The ppe and thse with him were dressed in grgeus rbes and richly clred garments. It seemed as if they must be slaughtered by Attila and his Huns like lambs befre wlves.
Smething strange happened when Attila and the ppe met； exactly what nne knws. Perhaps Attila was awed by the pmp and splendrf thseChristians. Perhaps he feared what heaven might d t him if he destryed thse hly beings wh had cmeut t meet him as if frm heaven. At any rate， he did nt destry them， nr did he enter Rme， but turned abut and left Italy， left it fr gd and all， and he and his Huns returned t the unknwn land t the nrth frm which they had cme.
Nw that the dreaded Attila wasutf the way， the Vandals in Africa saw their chance t attack Rme. Attila had barely left Italy befre the Vandals crssedver frm Africa and sailed up the Tiber t Rme. They captured the city withut any difficulty， helped themselves t everything they wanted， and carried away all Rme"s treasures.
Prld Rme！ The Eternal City was at last beaten， beaten fr gd！ It had been the champin fr a great many years. But nw all Rme"s strength was gne. The city was n lnger able t defend itself. Rme"s last emperr had the high-sunding name Rmulus Augustulus， the same name as the first king， Rmulus， with the additinf Augustulus， which means the little Augustus. But in spitef his high-sunding name， Rmulus Augustulus culd d nthing.
It was in the year 476 that Rme was beaten. The western halff the empire，f which Rme had been the capital， brke up int pieces， and the pieces were ruledver by varius Germanic rulers. Like Humpty Dumpty， Rme had had a great fall， and all the king"s hrses and all the king"s men culdn"t put it tgether again.nly the eastern part，f which Cnstantinple was the capital， still wentn. This eastern half was nt cnquered by the barbarians， and it still kept ging fr nearly a thusand years lnger until-but wait till we cme t that time in histry.
Peple speakf this date， 476， as the endf Ancient Histry. A date like 476 is very cnvenient and definite， and peple like definite dates， butf curse Ancient Histry didn"t cme t a sudden end the wayne year cmes t an endn December 31 and anther year begins atnce. Yu might say that Ancient Histry began t fade away lng befre 476 and that a new era began t fade inver a lng peridf time bth befre and after 476. Still， 476 is a gd date t remember.
This new era， called the Middle Agesr the medieval perid， began， then， in 476 and lasted until 1453. What happened in 1453？ Yu will learn that later.
During the early partf the Middle Ages， till， abut the year 1000， the Germanic peples were the chief peple in Eurpe. They were quick t learn many things frm the Rmans whm they had cnquered. Even befre， they had cnquered Rme， mstf them had already becme Christians. They als learned Latin.
Withut the unityf the Rman Empire， peple n lnger traveled verymuchr very far. This meant that peple frm places like Spain and Italy and Gaul didn"t talk t eachther veryften.ver the years they began t use different expressins and t prnunce wrds differently. As centuries passed， the cmmn peple n lnger spke theld classical Latin but spke what were really the new languagesf Spanish， Italian， and French. These were different frm Latin and different frm eachther， t. Hwever， because they all grewutf Latin， they have a ltf wrds that are very much alike.
In Britain， the Angl-Saxns wuld have nthing t d with the Rmans and wuld nt use the Rman language but kept theirwn language. After a while this languagef the Angl-Saxns was called English. The Angl-Saxns als kept theirwn religin until abutne hundred years later，r abut 600 A.D. .
At that time sme English slaves were being sld in the slave-market in Rme. They were very handsme. The ppe saw them and asked wh they were.
"They are Angles，" he was tld.
"Angles！" exclaimed he， "They are handsme enugh t be "angels，"and they shuld certainly be Christians."Rme sent sme missinaries t England t cnvert the English： t change Angles t angels. S at last the English， t， became Christians.
【中文阅读】
在遥远的北方和欧洲以东的地方分布着一个部落，这个部落的人被罗马人和日 耳曼部落的人看作凶猛无比，他们被称为匈奴人。匈奴人的故乡在遥远的东方森林 里，当时是世界上一个不太为人所知的地方。
尽管日耳曼人本身都是十分勇猛的战士，但他们还是害怕匈奴人。正因为日耳 曼人害怕匈奴人，想尽可能地远离他们，所以日耳曼人才越过边界侵入罗马帝国。 他们觉得和罗马人打仗比对付匈奴人要容易得多。
当时匈奴的首领名叫阿提拉，他曾经吹嘘说，凡是他的马踩过的地方，从此寸 草不长。阿提拉率领匈奴人从东一路向西攻占，差不多打到了巴黎，他们把所到之 处都夷为平地。最后，一支由罗马人和日耳曼人联合组成的军队前去抵抗匈奴人的 进攻，他们在离巴黎不远的一个叫沙隆的地方打了一场大战役。
日耳曼人拼死战斗，疯狂搏杀，匈奴人最终被打败了。幸亏他们被打败了，因 为如果他们得胜的话，这些疯狂的野蛮人可能就会征服和统治全世界呢。所以，公 元 451 年的沙隆战役在历史书中是用大写字母、大号字符特别记录的--451，沙隆 之战。
阿提拉和他率领的匈奴人在沙隆被打败之后，他们此时跟在罗马人后面。匈奴 人就此转过身，向南进入意大利，在那儿他们所向披靡。他们一路上烧杀抢掠，毁坏了一切，当地人甚至没有勇气去抵挡一下。他们视匈奴人为怪物，匈奴人一出现， 他们就望风而逃。就这样，匈奴人到了罗马。
此时，罗马有一位教皇名叫利奥一世，在拉丁语中，"利奥"的意思是"狮子"。 当然，利奥一世既不是军人，也不是战士。但是，他带领着枢机团和主教们走出罗 马，前去面见阿提拉。他们既没穿盔甲，又手无寸铁。教皇和他的随从都穿着华丽 的长袍和色彩艳丽的衣服，他们就这样去见阿提拉和匈奴人，就好像一群小羊来到 一群野狼面前，似乎难免被杀。
当阿提拉和利奥一世教皇相遇的时候，不可思议的事情发生了，现在已没有人 知道当时的具体情况。可能阿提拉看到这些基督徒这样的气派和气势，不禁感到敬 畏，也可能是他害怕如果杀死这些仿佛来自天国与他会面的圣人们，上天会惩罚他。 无论是哪种情况，总之他没有伤害他们，也没有入侵罗马，而是转身离开了意大利， 永久地离开了意大利。然后阿提拉和匈奴人回到了他们在北边那不为人知的老家。
既然令人恐惧的阿提拉已经不再挡道，非洲的汪达尔人觉得他们进攻罗马的大 好时机来了。阿提拉前脚刚走，汪达尔人就从非洲乘船越过地中海，沿台伯河向上 航行到了罗马。他们不费吹灰之力就攻下了罗马城，然后随心所欲地窃取一切，把 罗马的珍宝洗劫一空。
可怜的古罗马！这座"不朽城"终于被打垮，而且是彻底被打垮了。罗马当了 好多年的世界霸主，而如今罗马所有的实力都荡然无存了。这个城市再也没有能力 自保了。罗马最后一位皇帝有个听起来很堂皇的名字叫"罗慕洛 奥古斯都卢斯"， 这名字和罗马的第一个国王罗慕洛相同，再加上"奥古斯都卢斯"，"奥古斯都卢斯" 意思就是"小奥古斯都"1。但是，尽管这个皇帝的名字听起来很堂皇，他却已无法挽 救罗马帝国了。
罗马城的失陷是在公元 476 年。从此，以罗马为都城的西罗马帝国四分五裂， 分别被不同部落的日耳曼人统治。有一首童谣是这样的："矮胖子坐墙头，矮胖子栽 跟头，国王的马，国王的兵，无法还他原来的样。"罗马帝国就像这个矮胖子一样栽 了个大跟头，再也无法拼凑到一起了。只有以君士坦丁堡为都城的东罗马帝国还继 续存在。东罗马帝国没有被野蛮人征服，又延续了将近一千年，直到--还是等到 我们讲到历史中的那个时代再说吧。
人们把 476 年这个年份作为古代史的结束。像 476 年这样的日期既好记又明确， 人们喜欢明确的日期。但是，古代史显然不会是在这一年就忽然结束了，这和每一 年到 12 月 31 日结束，新一年马上开始，是完全不同的。你可以说古代史在 476 年之前很久就开始渐渐消失，而一个新的时代也要经过 476 年之前之后很长一段时间才开始渐渐显露。尽管如此，476 年是个很好记的日期。 那么，这个被称为"中世纪"或"中古时代"的新时代，起始于 476 年，延续到 1453 年。在 1453 年发生了什么呢？以后会知道。
中世纪的早期，从 476 年到大约 1000 年的时候，日耳曼各民族是欧洲的主要民1 "奥古斯都"是罗马帝国第一个皇帝屋大维的称号--译者注。
族。他们很快就从被他们征服的罗马人那里学到了很多东西，甚至在他们征服罗马 之前，他们中的大多数人就已经成了基督徒，他们还学习拉丁文。
统一的罗马帝国不复存在，人们也不再经常旅行或去远处了。这就意味着来自 西班牙、意大利和高卢这些不同地区的人们很少有相互交流的机会。许多年后，他 们开始使用不同的表达方式，说话的语音也不一样了。好几个世纪过去了，老百姓 都不再讲陈旧、古典的拉丁文，而是使用西班牙语、意大利语和法语这些真正新的 语言。这些语言都不同于拉丁文，相互之间也不同。不过，因为它们都是源自拉丁 文，所以有很多词汇都非常相似。
在不列颠，盎格鲁－撒克逊人不会和罗马人有任何关系，也不会使用罗马语， 而是坚持使用自己的语言。一段时间后，盎格鲁－撒克逊人的这种语言被称为"英 语"。盎格鲁－撒克逊人还一直维持着自己的宗教直到大约一百年后，也就是公元 600 年左右。
那个时期，有些英国奴隶在罗马的奴隶市场上被贩卖。他们都长得十分英俊。
有一次罗马教皇看到了他们，问他们是什么人。 "他们是盎格鲁人。"别人告诉他。
"盎格鲁！"他喊道，"他们这样英俊，应该是"天使"才对。他们应该成为基 督徒。"1后来，罗马就派了一些传教士去英国，要使英国人改信基督教，要把盎格鲁人 变成"天使"。就这样，英国人最终也成了基督徒。
1 "盎格鲁" （Angle）和"天使"（angel）这两个单词拼写很相似；另外"天使"是基督教中的 概念，教皇希望他们信奉基督教--译者注。