in their community by virtue of birth.

因为他们生而高贵
You are born to be one of these people

你生来就是这些人中的一员
because your father was such a person belonging to the right families

因为你父亲就是某个有权有势的家族的人
and so on.

诸如此类
The noble families of Greece,and we see it already in Homer,

希腊的贵族家族我们在荷马身上已看到了
typically claim descent from some god or other

典型地声称贵族权力由神祇所授予
and ordinary people do not have that ability.

并表示普通人没有那种能力
The family and the individual are the critical elements.

家族和个人是关键性元素
A larger community,meaning your entire village,

而对一个大点的集体比如整个村庄
your entire city, your entire region,

整个城市整个地区
that is barely mentioned,

就几乎只字不提
that is not talked about. Again, think about Achilles,

完全忽略了再想想看阿喀琉斯