盧比歐普尼克斯演講Secretary Rubio at the Pnyx, Athens

SECRETARY RUBIO: There are great ruins all across the world. In many cases, they are places where history seems to have exhausted itself: remnants of distant cultures that have long passed beyond living memory.

世上處處都有宏偉的廢墟。它們多半是歷史自行燃盡之處：遙遠文明的殘骸，早已走出活人的記憶。

But the Acropolis is different.

但衛城不同。

For thousands of years, the civilization that built what stands behind me¹ has captivated the imagination of the Western world. Generations of our statesmen, artists, and philosophers have looked to it – they’ve looked to it with wonder and they’ve looked to it with awe.

數千年來，築起我身後這一切的文明¹，始終令西方世界心馳神往。我們一代又一代的政治家、藝術家、哲學家都仰望著它——懷著驚奇仰望，懷著敬畏仰望。

Now time has a tendency to dull the senses: great victories and catastrophic defeats, they seem to shrink to becoming like a footnote in a textbook, another fact for our schoolchildren to memorize and forget. But the Greeks of antiquity, they seem to have an almost mystical hold on our memory. They call us back to them, again and again.

時間總會磨鈍人的知覺：輝煌的勝利、慘烈的敗亡，終究都縮成課本裡的一行註腳，成了學童背過就忘的又一條知識。唯獨古希臘人，似乎以一股近乎神祕的力量攫住了我們的記憶，一次又一次，把我們喚回他們身邊。

480 years before Christ, the armies of Xerxes arrived in this city² and they put its sanctuaries to the torch. Most Athenians had by then evacuated by ship to a nearby island. But there was a handful of them that refused to leave their home. So instead, they barricaded themselves in the rocky fortress of the Acropolis to fight an extraordinary last stand, heaving massive stones down the cliffs onto the Persian invaders and holding the greatest empire of the age at bay for days. They were eventually overwhelmed. The Persians plundered the temples, burned the shrines, and razed the Acropolis to the ground but when the Athenians returned, they gathered the broken remains of the old Acropolis and buried them in the hill where it had stood³. And decades later, under Pericles, they raised the Parthenon⁴.

西元前 480 年，薛西斯的大軍兵臨此城²，一把火燒了城中的聖所。那時，多數雅典人早已乘船撤往鄰近的島嶼。卻有一小群人不肯離開家園。他們退守衛城這座岩石堡壘，打了一場非凡的最後之戰：把巨石從崖上推落，砸向波斯入侵者，教那個時代最強大的帝國寸步難進，一守就是好幾天。他們終究寡不敵眾。波斯人劫掠神廟、焚毀神龕，將衛城夷為平地。然而雅典人歸來之後，拾起舊衛城的斷垣殘片，把它們埋進衛城原本矗立的那座山丘³。數十年後，在伯里克利治下，他們築起了帕德嫩⁴。

For 25 centuries since, the Parthenon has stood.⁵ Empires have risen and fallen beneath its shadow. And the progeny of the men who built it – the sons of Athens and Rome – have carried their civilization with them to the ends of the Earth⁶.

自此二十五個世紀，帕德嫩巍然屹立。⁵帝國在它的影子下興起，又在它的影子下傾覆。而建造它的人留下的子孫——雅典與羅馬之子——把他們的文明一路帶到了地極⁶。

Two and a half centuries after the founding of the American republic halfway across the world from where I stand now – I stand here today as the Secretary of State of that republic, and a great-grandson of settlers who arrived in the new world from Spain⁷ – I stand here to testify to a debt that no lapse of time, no distance of space can ever extinguish.

在離此地半個地球之遙，美利堅共和國立國已兩個半世紀。今天我站在這裡，以這個共和國國務卿的身分，也以一群自西班牙遠渡新大陸的拓墾者之曾孫⁷的身分；我站在這裡，為一筆債作見證——一筆任憑歲月流逝、山海阻隔，都無法抹去的債。

The history of America, the history of my country, is covered with the fingerprints of antiquity. Greece is literally carved into the architecture of our government: in the towering columns, in the domes and the monuments⁸ across our capital city. The city where our Constitution was born – Philadelphia – is itself a Greek name⁹.

美國的歷史，我祖國的歷史，處處印著古代的指紋。希臘實實在在地鐫刻在我們的政府建築上：在首都那一根根高聳的石柱，在一座座圓頂與紀念碑⁸。我們憲法誕生的城市——費城（Philadelphia）——本身就是一個希臘名字⁹。

The men who founded my country were fascinated by the heritage we inherited from yours. They were exceptionally well-read in history – they were vividly aware of their unique place in it – but no other age of the past held their attention or their imagination quite like that of antiquity. Many, many people are surprised to learn that the most commonly cited author in the Federalist Papers was not an Enlightenment philosopher or political theorist. No, the most commonly cited author in the Federalist Papers was Plutarch¹⁰, the Greek biographer of Greece and Rome’s great men.

締造我國的先賢，深深著迷於我們從貴國承繼的遺產。他們博覽史籍，也清楚自己在歷史中的獨特位置；但過往沒有哪個時代，像古典時代那樣牢牢攫住他們的目光與想像。許多人聽了都大吃一驚：《聯邦黨人文集》裡引用最多的作者，不是哪位啟蒙哲人或政治理論家。不，《聯邦黨人文集》引用最多的，是普魯塔克¹⁰——那位為希臘、羅馬偉人立傳的希臘作家。

Now, much has been written and said about the influence of ancient Greece on the ideas of the American Founders – and, for that matter, on all of the Western philosophers and statesmen that preceded them. Most of us are familiar with the basic history. Athens gave us democracy. Plato and Aristotle gave us Western philosophy. Our ideas of law, of virtue, of citizenship, and republican government were shaped in the Greek city-states. Even much of our political vocabulary – words like democracy, tyranny¹¹, the word “politics” itself – found its origins here.

古希臘如何影響美國的開國元勛——乃至在他們之前所有的西方哲人與政治家——早已論者如雲。這段歷史的梗概，我們大多耳熟能詳：雅典給了我們民主，柏拉圖與亞里斯多德給了我們西方哲學；我們對法律、美德、公民與共和政體的觀念，都在希臘城邦裡成形。就連我們許多政治詞彙——「民主」（democracy）、「暴政」（tyranny）¹¹，乃至「政治」（politics）一詞本身——也都源於此地。

Now, all of that is true. But the things we owe to this place – as Americans, and as Westerners – are actually far far deeper. These institutions and ideas – these institutions and ideas were the outward expression of more fundamental qualities we see in the ancient Greeks – qualities that can’t be reduced to any particular political system or theory.

這一切都是真的。但我們——身為美國人、身為西方人——虧欠這片土地的，其實還要深得多、深得多。這些制度與理念，這些制度與理念，不過是古希臘人更根本的氣質向外的流露；那份氣質，無法化約為任何一種政治體制或學說。

Here, in Athens, we found the first full realization of all the essential traits that would come to define the West: fierce individuality and relentless ambition; daring exploration and invention; a yearning for discovery, for adventure, risk and glory. An insatiable curiosity about the world and the principles by which it operates, a hunger to know the mysteries of nature and grasp the secrets of the cosmos. An impatience with the notion of impossibility, chafing at all boundaries and limits¹², straining to peer into the depths of the unknown.

正是在這裡，在雅典，日後定義西方的種種核心特質，第一次完整成形：強悍的個體與不息的雄心；大膽的探索與發明；對發現、冒險、風險與榮耀的嚮往。對世界及其運行之理永不饜足的好奇，渴望參透自然的奧祕、握住宇宙的祕密。對「不可能」三個字的不耐，對一切疆界與限制的不甘¹²，傾盡全力，要望進未知的深處。

These were not just the formulas or precepts of a particular school of philosophy. They were the characteristic of a people – expressed in their traditions, their stories, their imagination; in the qualities they demanded of their citizens; in the things they lived and fought and died for.

這些不只是某個哲學流派的公式或教條，而是一個民族的性格——流露在他們的傳統、故事與想像裡，流露在他們對公民的期許裡，流露在他們為之而生、為之而戰、為之而死的一切裡。

To know them is to know ourselves.¹³

認識他們，就是認識我們自己。¹³

What blossomed here in this place was the Western desire to uncover all that ignorance, darkness, and distance had kept hidden from the mind of man. The Greeks did not just shape history; the Greeks gave us history itself¹⁴. Much about – much of what we know about many ancient civilizations comes almost entirely from the records of Greek explorers and historians, explorers and historians who didn’t just chronicle the histories of their own people, but ventured outwards to observe and record the sagas of foreign peoples and cultures all across the world.

在這片土地上綻放的，是西方那顆求索之心：要揭開被無知、黑暗與遙遠遮蔽、不讓人心看見的一切。希臘人不只塑造了歷史；希臘人給了我們「歷史」本身¹⁴。我們對許多古文明的認識，幾乎全來自希臘探險家與史家的記載——他們不只為本族修史，更走向遠方，去觀看、記下天下異邦異俗的種種傳奇。

Where others looked inward, the Greeks were the first to direct their focus outward¹⁵, to chase the thrill and glory of seeing all that was strange and new. It was this trait – it was this trait that would push the West to create and build things that others could not, marking us out from so many other cultures and civilizations where stability and subsistence were the highest ends of life.

當別人還在向內凝望，希臘人已率先把目光投向遠方¹⁵，追逐目睹一切新奇事物的悸動與榮光。正是這份特質——正是這份特質，推著西方去創造、去建設旁人做不到的事物，使我們有別於許多以安穩與溫飽為人生最高目的的文化與文明。

But it is not just the ambition to explore the unknown that we inherit from the Greeks; it is the conviction that the unknown canbe known. The confidence that the world can be charted and measured and mapped and understood – and that there is a rational order to the cosmos¹⁶, governed by certain fundamental laws, laws that men can observe and the mind can come to understand.

但我們從希臘人那裡承繼的，不只是探索未知的雄心，更是「未知可知」的信念。相信世界可以被標繪、被丈量、被繪成地圖、被理解；相信宇宙自有其理性的秩序¹⁶，由若干根本法則統御——那些法則，人能觀察，心智終能明白。

This was the foundation of the Western mind: our math, our science, our medicine. Our philosophy, ethics, and religion. It paved the way for the gospel of Jesus Christ to find fertile soil in Europe¹⁷ and flourish into the empire of Christendom. It was the foundation of the riches of Christian theology – of Augustine and Aquinas and the whole tradition of natural law¹⁸.

這是西方心智的基石：我們的數學、科學與醫學，我們的哲學、倫理與宗教。它為耶穌基督的福音鋪好了路，讓福音在歐洲落入沃土¹⁷，蔚為基督教世界的帝國。它也是基督教神學豐厚寶藏的根基——奧古斯丁、阿奎那，以及整個自然法的傳統¹⁸。

It gave birth to a civilization marked not just by a common culture, it was marked by a common anthropology¹⁹ – a common view of man and his place in the universe. Its descendants would share not just the idea of a natural order, but a distinctive understanding of virtue; of destiny and fate; of truth, goodness, and beauty²⁰; of a code that dictates how men ought to live; of objective standards and ideals to strive towards.

它孕育出一個文明，其印記不只是共同的文化，更是共同的「人觀」¹⁹——對人是什麼、人在宇宙中居於何處的共同見解。這個文明的後裔，共享的不只是「自然秩序」的觀念，還有一套獨特的領悟：關於美德；關於天命與宿命；關於真、善、美²⁰；關於人應當如何生活的準則；關於值得畢生追求的客觀標準與理想。

For the Greeks of antiquity, the pursuit of excellence was the very principle of man’s existence. They organized all of civic life around contest, ambition, competition: in philosophy and poetry, in sculpture and drama, in athletics and art, in war and statecraft. The classical Greek city was an arena for great men to test and prove themselves, to hone their potential through perpetual struggle – to be the best, the strongest, the most beautiful²¹, straining to inch ever closer to perfection.

對古希臘人而言，追求卓越就是人之為人的根本。他們讓整個城邦生活都圍繞著較量、雄心與競爭運轉：哲學與詩歌，雕塑與戲劇，競技與藝術，戰爭與治國，無不如此。古典希臘城邦是一座競技場，讓偉人在其中試煉、證明自己，在永不止息的奮鬥中淬鍊潛能——要做最好的、最強的、最美的²¹，竭力向完美再挪近一寸。

Now I know that to modern ears, what I just described, this way of life, may sound odd; it may even sound cruel. The ideal of many ideologies in our time has, frankly, become a world of perfect safety, devoid of risk or failure, with neither the glory of victory nor the shame of defeat. Too often these days, we build downwards. We design our standards to ensure no one will lose; we preoccupy ourselves more with the comfort of the worst than the potential of the best. We hold the most exceptional things among us hostage to the average²², the ordinary, the mediocre.

我知道，在現代人聽來，我方才描述的這種活法也許古怪，甚至殘酷。坦白說，我們這個時代許多意識形態的理想，已變成一個萬無一失的世界：沒有風險，沒有失敗，既無勝利的榮光，也無落敗的恥辱。如今我們太常「往下蓋」。我們訂標準，是為了確保沒有人會輸；我們在意最差者的安逸，勝過最優者的潛能。我們讓群體中最傑出的事物，淪為平均、平凡與平庸的人質²²。

The men who made the Parthenon, they built upwards. They held that the highest and most noble aspiration in life was to surpass all others, to strive to be the best in all things. The ancient Greek city-states were filled. They were filled with intense passion and rivalry and faction and conflict. But from that constant struggle for distinction – from that came the great flowering of art and philosophy and political and intellectual energy that would transform a collective of Mediterranean cities into the birthplace of the greatest civilization in the world.

建造帕德嫩的人，是「往上蓋」的。他們認為人生最崇高的志向，是超越眾人，凡事力爭第一。古希臘的城邦裡，充滿了——充滿了熾烈的激情、敵對、黨爭與衝突。然而正是從那場永無休止的爭先之鬥中，綻放出藝術、哲學、政治與思想的盛世，讓一群地中海城邦，蛻變為世上最偉大文明的誕生地。

The thumos, as the ancient Greeks called it²³ – the fire of passion, strength, courage, pride – is the heart of great civilization. And without it? Without it, nations lose their will to fight, the will to strive, the will to survive²⁴.

古希臘人稱之為 thumos（血氣）²³——那團熱情、力量、勇氣與自尊之火——正是偉大文明的心臟。若沒有它呢？沒有它，國家便會失去戰鬥的意志、奮鬥的意志、求生的意志²⁴。

Today, too much of the West has forgotten this quality. Over time, we in the West came to feel ashamed of the very things that made us exceptional. We felt embarrassed that our achievements set us apart from the rest of the world. Our prosperity somehow became a source of guilt. We no longer believed we deserved and had earned our greatness.

今天，西方有太多地方遺忘了這份特質。日積月累，我們西方人竟開始以那些成就我們卓越的事物為恥。我們的成就讓我們與世界其他地方不同，我們卻為此難為情。我們的富足不知怎地成了罪疚的來源。我們不再相信，自己配得上、也確實掙來了自己的偉大。

The word “nationalism” became a dirty word. And so we tore down our monuments²⁵; we condemned our own history. And in too many places, we taught our children to be ashamed of the countries they would inherit. In the process, we opened our borders and outsourced our industry, and allowed our militaries to wither and to decay.

「民族主義」成了一個髒字。於是我們推倒自己的紀念碑²⁵，譴責自己的歷史。在太多地方，我們教孩子為他們將要繼承的國家感到羞恥。就在這個過程裡，我們敞開了邊界，外包了產業，任由軍隊凋零、朽壞。

And with every passing year, we seemed to outsource more of our sovereignty²⁶, transferring our decisions to global bureaucracies far beyond the reach of our control.

年復一年，我們彷彿連主權也一點一點外包出去²⁶，把決定權交給遠在我們掌控之外的全球官僚機構。

But others were all too happy to fill the vacuum that we left – the vacuum left behind by our weakness. And as the West’s confidence faltered, its adversaries and its rivals only grew more assertive, building up their own wealth and their own power in our stead.

而我們留下的真空——因我們的軟弱而留下的真空——自有人樂於填補。西方的自信一旦動搖，它的對手與競爭者只會更加咄咄逼人，取我們而代之，積攢起他們自己的財富與力量。

And now, today, we find ourselves at a crossroads. Because the next decade and the decisions we make will write the story of the next century. The course we take will determine whether the West maintains its place at the head of the world or resigns itself to a future of atrophy and servitude and decline²⁷. We will either choose to act now or lose the choice to act at all.

而此時此刻，我們站在十字路口。因為未來十年，以及我們所做的抉擇，將寫下下一個世紀的故事。我們走哪條路，將決定西方是繼續居於世界之首，還是甘於一個萎縮、受奴役、日漸衰敗²⁷的未來。我們要麼現在就選擇行動，要麼從此失去選擇的權利。

Under President Trump, the United States has made its choice. We choose the unapologetic pursuit of national power²⁸: to take back control of our critical supply chains, to reindustrialize our economy, to rebuild our defense, to fight for dominance of the technologies and industries of the future.

在川普總統領導下，美國已經做出選擇。我們選擇理直氣壯地追求國家力量²⁸：奪回關鍵供應鏈的主控權，讓經濟重新工業化，重建國防，爭奪未來科技與產業的霸權。

We choose to reach for new frontiers: in advanced manufacturing and super intelligence; in drones, weapons, and warfare; in chips, minerals, cyber, and every other domain of human possibility. To unleash our energy, to rebuild our factories, to return our astronauts to the moon²⁹ and launch a new age of exploration in space.

我們選擇伸手去觸碰新的邊疆：先進製造與超級智慧；無人機、武器與戰爭；晶片、礦產、網路，以及人類一切可能的疆域。釋放我們的能源，重建我們的工廠，讓我們的太空人重返月球²⁹，開啟太空探索的新紀元。

Now for all their lofty ideals, the ancient Greeks were not naive. They understood that nations have interests.³⁰ They understood that statecraft requires prudence and diplomacy, but they also understood that it requires the ability to wield force when prudence and diplomacy fail. They understood that power requires not only having the means to defend yourself, it requires the credibility that you are willing to use it.

古希臘人理想雖高，卻不天真。他們明白國家有利益。³⁰他們明白治國需要審慎與外交，也明白在審慎與外交失靈時，必須有能力動用武力。他們明白，力量不只是擁有自保的手段，還要讓人相信你真的會用。

This is the classical understanding of politics and of statecraft that the Trump Administration hopes to reclaim – reclaim not just for our country, but for the whole of our civilization.

這正是川普政府希望重新拾回的古典政治觀與治國之道——不只為我們的國家拾回，也為我們整個文明拾回。

We believe that Europe can awaken from its long slumber and rekindle the fire that was lit here millennia ago³¹.

我們相信，歐洲能從漫長的沉睡中醒來，重新點燃數千年前在此燃起的那把火³¹。

There are already signs.

徵兆已經出現。

Across this continent, we are witnessing what we hope will be the beginnings of a generational shift: skyrocketing defense spending, a flurry of new partnerships and programs, expanded manufacturing and production, following on the historic defense commitments made last year in The Hague³².

在這片大陸上，我們正目睹一場變化，盼它是一場世代轉向的開端：國防支出直線攀升，新的夥伴關係與計畫接踵而至，製造與生產不斷擴張——這一切，都接在去年海牙那項歷史性的國防承諾³²之後。

Greece has been at the center of this shift. The people of this nation have proved themselves once again to be an indispensable friend to Europe and to the United States alike, on everything from energy to migration to defense, where Greece has been a model ally³³.

希臘始終站在這場轉向的中心。這個國家的人民再次證明，他們是歐洲與美國不可或缺的朋友——從能源、移民到國防，希臘處處都是模範盟友³³。

And it’s our sincerest hope that all of Europe will follow your example.

我們由衷盼望，全歐洲都能以你們為榜樣。

Though passions may, at times, have strained the bonds of affection³⁴ between the United States and Europe, it must not be allowed to break them. Together, we must strengthen an alliance capable of confronting threats of our age.

激情或許一時繃緊了美國與歐洲之間的情感紐帶³⁴，但絕不能任它斷裂。我們必須攜手，壯大一個足以迎擊這個時代種種威脅的同盟。

And we can. Because we do not believe the transatlantic friendship should be zero sum. Quite the opposite: our vision is of an alliance whose strength is greater than the sum of its parts³⁵. It is a vision we saw in action just last month, in an unprecedented new agreement between the United States, Denmark, and Greenland³⁶ – an agreement that will reshape the Arctic and bolster the security of all of NATO. All three partners in that deal emerged victorious. All of Europe – and NATO and the United States emerged safer, stronger, and more secure because of it.

我們做得到。因為我們不認為跨大西洋的友誼應當是零和。恰恰相反：我們的願景，是一個整體大於部分之和³⁵的同盟。就在上個月，這個願景已見諸行動——美國、丹麥與格陵蘭簽下一項前所未有的新協議³⁶，它將重塑北極，鞏固整個北約的安全。協議三方皆是贏家。全歐洲，連同北約與美國，都因此更安全、更強大、更有保障。

We want to win together. We must win together.

我們要一起贏。我們必須一起贏。

Now it’s has become fashionable today to believe that enlightened foreign policy means prioritizing the global community³⁷ over one’s own people. And I think here, too, we have much to learn from the men of ancient Greece because they knew that there was nothing selfish or wrong about loyalty to your nation, nor anything selfish or wrong about fighting to defend its interests above all else.

如今流行一種說法：開明的外交，就是把「國際社會」擺在自己的人民之前³⁷。我認為在這一點上，我們同樣能向古希臘人學到很多。因為他們知道，忠於自己的國家，沒有什麼自私或不對；為捍衛國家利益而戰、將它置於一切之上，也沒有什麼自私或不對。

They believed – fiercely – in the ideal of the great man: the exceptional individual who obtains immortality through his own deeds³⁸. But they believed that glory and fame, those things were won through striving, sacrificing and achieving greatly for something larger than yourself. The recurring hero of the ancient Greek world was the man who was willing to pay any cost for a cause worthy of his loyalty.

他們熾烈地信奉「偉人」的理想：一個卓越的個人，以自身的功業換得不朽³⁸。但他們也相信，榮耀與聲名，要靠為比自己更大的事物奮鬥、犧牲、成就大業，才能贏得。古希臘世界一再出現的英雄，是那個願為值得效忠的志業付出一切代價的人。

We see this in Socrates³⁹, who refused to abandon the inquiry into truth even at the cost of his own life. We see it in the legendary stand of 300 Spartans⁴⁰ – surrounded and hopelessly outnumbered by the vast armies of Persia – who refused the chance to save themselves, choosing to fight to the last man rather than abandon their post or abandon their duty. And we see it in the epic myth of Achilles⁴¹, who is offered the choice to return home and live a long and peaceful life – but chooses instead to remain at Troy and perish in pursuit of eternal glory.

我們在蘇格拉底身上看見這一點³⁹：即使賠上性命，他也不肯放棄對真理的追問。我們在三百斯巴達勇士的傳奇死守⁴⁰中看見這一點：他們被波斯大軍團團圍住，眾寡懸殊、毫無勝算，卻拒絕了求生的機會，寧可戰至最後一人，也不擅離崗位、不背棄職責。我們也在阿基里斯的史詩神話⁴¹裡看見這一點：他可以選擇返鄉，安度漫長而平靜的一生，他卻選擇留在特洛伊，為永恆的榮耀赴死。

These – these are the qualities that would shape the Western moral imagination. From the Christian martyr who refused to betray his faith to the patriot who gave his life for his country; from Saint Thomas More⁴² to the Battle of the Alamo⁴³, running through the immortal closing words of the Declaration of Independence of the United States which says, “We mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.⁴⁴”

這些——正是這些特質，塑造了西方的道德想像。從不肯背棄信仰的基督教殉道者，到為國捐軀的愛國者；從聖湯瑪斯・摩爾⁴²到阿拉莫之役⁴³，一路貫穿美國《獨立宣言》那不朽的結語：「我們以生命、財產與神聖的榮譽，彼此立誓。」⁴⁴

It is from the Greeks that the West inherited its sense of duty – an unbreakable loyalty to one’s code, one’s cause, one’s country. Our heroes, the heroes of the West are those who choose to remain faithful to their duty precisely when it is most difficult and painful to do so: the man who is bound by his word, the soldier who will not abandon his post, the captain, the proverbial captain, who goes down with his ship⁴⁵.

西方的責任感，正是從希臘人那裡承繼而來——對自己的信條、自己的志業、自己的國家，那份牢不可破的忠誠。我們的英雄，西方的英雄，是那些恰恰在最艱難、最痛苦的時刻，仍選擇堅守本分的人：一諾千金的人，寸步不離崗位的士兵，還有那位船長——俗話裡與船同沉的那位船長⁴⁵。

This is wholly different from what we see, even now, for example from fanatics like the radical mullahs of Iran, whose cult of death hails child suicide bombers as national heroes⁴⁶, and portrays martyrdom as an end to itself.

這與我們至今仍看到的景象截然不同——例如伊朗那些激進毛拉之流的狂熱分子：他們的死亡崇拜把兒童自殺炸彈客奉為民族英雄⁴⁶，把殉道本身當成目的。

Our heroes – our heroes may be willing to die for their cause; but our heroes do not worship death. It is precisely because we value life that we come to recognize the heroism in those who would sooner sacrifice it than to betray their principles. Now, we take the West’s conception of these things – heroism, honor, duty – we take these things for granted. We assume that these somehow are universal to all people in all times and in all places. They are not.⁴⁷ They are the product of a distinct character, a distinct character which arose here and shaped the whole story of the civilization that came after it. A civilization that we must fight to defend today with the same passion as our forefathers did.

我們的英雄——我們的英雄或許甘願為志業赴死，但我們的英雄不崇拜死亡。正因我們珍惜生命，才看得見那些寧可捨身、也不背棄原則之人的英雄氣概。如今，對於西方這些觀念——英雄氣概、榮譽、責任——我們都視為理所當然，以為它們放諸四海、亙古皆然。並非如此。⁴⁷它們出自一種獨特的性格——一種在此地誕生、並塑造了其後整部文明史的獨特性格。今天，我們必須以先人那樣的熱情，奮戰捍衛這個文明。

The men who built the Parthenon were succeeded by the architects of European Christendom, who raised the cathedrals of Milan, Cologne, and Florence⁴⁸. The quest to perfect the human form that moved the ancient Greek sculptors found a new expression in Michelangelo⁴⁹. The Greek philosophers’ search for the structure of the universe was inherited by Copernicus, and then Galileo, then Kepler, and in Newton⁵⁰.

建造帕德嫩的人之後，接棒的是歐洲基督教世界的建築師，他們築起了米蘭、科隆與佛羅倫斯的大教堂⁴⁸。曾驅使古希臘雕塑家追求完美人體的那股渴望，在米開朗基羅身上找到了新的表達⁴⁹。希臘哲人對宇宙結構的探求，由哥白尼承繼，再傳伽利略、克卜勒，終至牛頓⁵⁰。

The hunger for new knowledge, that’s what gave birth to Magellan’s first expedition around the world⁵¹, to Columbus’ discovery of the Americas, and ultimately to Apollo 11’s journey to the moon. And the qualities that led Alexander to conquer the entire known world reappeared in Caesar, then Charlemagne, and Cortes⁵².

對新知的飢渴，催生了麥哲倫的首次環球遠航⁵¹、哥倫布發現美洲，終於催生了阿波羅 11 號的登月之旅。而驅使亞歷山大征服整個已知世界的那些特質，又在凱撒身上重現，再是查理曼，再是科爾特斯⁵²。

And in America, that same tradition rediscovered itself anew. An open and wild land became the site of a great revival of Western imagination and ambition. The Greek aspiration for new horizons became the American frontier spirit. The civilization of Athens and Rome transformed an infant seaboard republic into a continental empire⁵³.

而在美洲，同一個傳統又重新找到了自己。一片遼闊而荒野的土地，成了西方想像與雄心大復興的舞台。希臘人對新天際的嚮往，化作美國的拓荒精神。雅典與羅馬的文明，讓一個襁褓中的濱海共和國，長成橫跨整片大陸的帝國⁵³。

The greatest Americans of every generation have carried the unmistakable features of their forefathers – born in Athens, formed by Rome, baptized in Christendom⁵⁴, hardened in the furnace of medieval Europe, endowed with the English genius for liberty, and then carried across the Atlantic to be reborn on the shores of a new world.

每一代最偉大的美國人，眉宇間都帶著先祖不會錯認的輪廓——生於雅典，成於羅馬，受洗於基督教世界⁵⁴，在中世紀歐洲的熔爐裡鍛打成鋼，承襲英格蘭人追求自由的天賦，而後橫渡大西洋，在新世界的岸邊重生。

Together, we must now rediscover that spirit. We are at an inflection point – an inflection point not only in the history of my nation, but an inflection point in the whole of our civilization.

此刻，我們必須一起尋回那份精神。我們正站在轉捩點上——不只是我國歷史的轉捩點，更是我們整個文明的轉捩點。

The threats we face today are every bit as real as they were on the dramatic stage of antiquity.

我們今日面對的威脅，與古代那座波瀾壯闊的舞台上一樣真實。

National interests did not vanish in the face of international institutions.⁵⁵ War did not disappear simply because we preferred peace. Other states continued to arm, to seek influence, to compete for territory, and technology, and resources, and markets, and energy, and power.

國家利益並未在國際機構面前消失。⁵⁵戰爭也不會因為我們嚮往和平就消失。別的國家仍在擴軍，仍在爭取影響力，仍在爭奪領土、科技、資源、市場、能源與權力。

And now, there is war again. There is new competition between great powers again. There is vulnerability, aggression, terrorism, a whole universe of new threats and attacks again.

而如今，戰爭又回來了。大國之間的新角力又回來了。脆弱、侵略、恐怖主義，一整個宇宙的新威脅與新攻擊，全都回來了。

And so we must rebuild our institutions and our alliances to face these threats together – understanding that the purpose of these things is not to abolish the sovereignty of the nations that constitute them; it is to defend them. And that nations need not abandon their distinct identities in order to recognize their common interests.

所以，我們必須重建我們的機構與同盟，共同面對這些威脅；同時明白，它們的目的不是廢除成員國的主權，而是捍衛這些國家；也明白，各國不必放棄自己獨特的認同，也能認清彼此共同的利益。

We have built a model of that with our partners here in Greece. In our defense partnerships, in energy and technology, in our shared ambition to secure Europe’s borders from the threats of mass migration⁵⁶.

我們已和希臘的夥伴共同立下這樣的典範：在國防合作上，在能源與科技上，在守護歐洲邊界、使其免受大規模移民威脅⁵⁶的共同抱負上。

Our friendship dates back to the earliest years of my nation. When Greece rose in 1821⁵⁷ to recover its independence after centuries of Ottoman rule, Americans recognized something familiar in that struggle. Three years later, the great American statesman Daniel Webster, he delivered a famous address to Congress⁵⁸, helping bring the cause of the Greek Revolution before the representatives of the young American republic.

我們的友誼，可以上溯到我國最早的歲月。1821 年，希臘在鄂圖曼統治數百年後揭竿而起⁵⁷，爭取重獲獨立；美國人在那場奮鬥裡，看見了似曾相識的身影。三年後，偉大的美國政治家丹尼爾・韋伯斯特在國會發表一篇著名演說⁵⁸，把希臘革命的大業，帶到這個年輕共和國的民意代表面前。

And he began by calling their attention to everything around them. This is what he said in his speech; he said: “This free form of government, this popular assembly⁵⁹… this practice of free debate, and public discussion, the contest of mind with mind… even the edifice in which we assemble, these proportioned columns, this ornamented architecture, all remind us that Greece has existed, and that we, like the rest of mankind, are greatly her debtors.”

他一開口，就請在場眾人看看周遭的一切。他在演說中是這麼說的：「這自由的政體，這人民的議會⁵⁹……這自由辯論、公開議事的風氣，這心智與心智的交鋒……乃至我們集會的這座殿堂，這些比例勻稱的石柱，這雕飾華美的建築，無不提醒我們：希臘曾經存在，而我們，與全人類一樣，都深深虧欠於她。」

Those words are as true today as they were when he said them. And all of us – not just Americans, but Europeans and our friends across the West – must relearn the lessons our forefathers took from this place and from its history.

這番話在今天，一如他說出口的那天，依然真切。而我們所有人——不只美國人，還有歐洲人，以及我們在整個西方的朋友——都必須重新學習先人從這片土地、從它的歷史中汲取的教誨。

The history of Greece – the history of Greece does not just offer us a glimpse – it does not offer a glimpse of our institutions in their earliest forms. The history of Greece shows us an image of ourselves.⁶⁰

希臘的歷史——希臘的歷史給我們的，不只是一瞥——不只是一瞥我們種種制度最初的模樣。希臘的歷史，讓我們看見自己的身影。⁶⁰

It shows us that ours is the inheritance of great heroes, and that we should be proud – that we should be intensely proud – of where we come from. We should marvel at what our forefathers carved out of this countryside. The story of our civilization is the greatest story ever known to man.⁶¹ And it began here, with the first men and women of the West. From them – from them – we can rediscover the virtues, the courage, and the strength to confront the dangers that we face in our time.

它讓我們看見，我們承繼的是偉大英雄的遺產；我們應當為自己的來處驕傲——無比地驕傲。我們應當讚嘆，先人如何從這片山野中鑿出這一切。我們文明的故事，是人類所知最偉大的故事⁶¹；而它就從這裡開始，從西方最早的那些男男女女開始。從他們身上——從他們身上——我們能重新找回美德、勇氣與力量，去迎向我們這個時代的危險。

Thank you.

謝謝各位。