Pericles' friend and associate,

和菲狄亚斯朋友间的联系
and the Megarian decree was Aristophanes' own joke,

麦加拉禁令只不过是阿里斯托芬的小玩笑
but it was taken seriously by other ancient writers,

但其他古代作家却大作文章
and it surely reflected charges that were made

这反映的显然是与伯里克利
by real contemporary enemies of Pericles.

同时期的政敌们的控诉
The hard kernel of opinion central to all this

这种观点的核心是
is the common belief that the cause of the war

人们普遍认为战争的起因
was the Megarian degree and that Pericles was responsible for it.

是麦加拉禁令并且伯里克利要对此负责
Well, of course, that view,

当然这种观点
at the very most,

充其量不过是一种
is an over simplification and any good historian

过分简化而任何优秀的历史学家
would have rejected it as a sufficient explanation.

都能以充分的理由将其驳倒的浅见