You see, in the previous empires, like the Assyrian Empire, or these kinds of-- the Egyptian Empire, when people conquered other peoples, often all they wanted was tribute.

之前的各个帝国，比如亚述帝国，或者埃及帝国-,当他们战胜其他民族时，往往只是觊觎贡品。

耶鲁公开课 - 新约课程节选

And Machiavelli wrote, of course, the dominant form of political organization was the empire or, to speak more precisely, the Christian empire.

当然马奇亚维利所写的，优势政治组织模式,是帝国，或更确切地说，是基督帝国。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选

Machiavelli rejected this idea of the empire and harked back, instead, to the model of republican Rome.

马奇亚维利拒绝这种,帝国的想法并回到先前论点，相对地，他回提罗马共和的模式。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选

The Holy Roman Empire, as it was known in the time of Machiavelli, was the successor to the ancient Roman state, the older Roman Empire.

神圣罗马帝国，是马奇亚维利那年代的称号，那是古罗马国的继承者，即较古老的罗马帝国。

耶鲁公开课 - 政治哲学导论课程节选