I have to believe that whoever came up with that theory for the first time was aided in coming to it by thinking about the end of the Roman Empire, when something precisely like that did happen.

我想任何人第一次接触该理论,都会自动联想到罗马帝国的衰亡,进而支持该理论,因为类似的事情确实曾经发生过

耶鲁公开课 - 古希腊历史简介课程节选

So the union of a universalist religion, with a monarch such as the Roman Empire, who ruled a vast empire, could nonetheless have put an end to any prospect of freedom as in other civilizations.

所以说,若是由信普救说者教会,与罗马帝国为代表的君主政体结盟,便会断送,其他文明中存在的自由前景

耶鲁公开课 - 古希腊历史简介课程节选

First, the Treaty declared that the individual sovereign state would henceforth become the highest level of authority; you might say, putting an end once and for all " to the universalist claims of the Holy Roman Empire.

第一，条约宣称,各个主权国家,都因此而成为各自国家里最高的权力;,永远终结了,普遍意义上的“神圣罗马帝国。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选