and the invention of democracy, because it was off the wall

因为从希腊人的传统观点来看
from the perspective of Greek tradition.

这是很不寻常的
And of course, anybody from time to time,

当然时不时也会有人认为
there are individuals who thought that monarchy might be a fine thing.

君主制可能也不错
They ran against something

他们和一些
that was regarded with much more hostility by the Greeks.

更为希腊人所反感的对手竞争
When they're through and had reached their peak,

当他们赢得竞争到达权利的顶峰时
their notion of monarchy is something fit for barbarians,

他们所谓的君主制其实更适合于异邦人
but not for Greeks. A free man may not live under a monarchy,

而不是希腊人君主统治下不存在自由人
and the roots of that, I think, are visible in Homer.

这个想法的根源可以在《荷马史诗》中找到
In passing, I just want to say that Homer, of course,

顺便提一下我只想说《荷马史诗》
is the basic text, the basic document for all Greek

毫无疑问是古希腊一切文献资料的基石