位於西敏寺的牛頓之墓,墓碑由威廉·肯特(William Kent,1685~1748)設計,麥克爾·賴斯布拉克(John Michael Rysbrack, 1694~1770)雕作。
自從看過《達文西密碼》後,就對這個由Pope埋葬的少了一個球的騎士墓深深著迷,
In London lies a knight a Pope interred.(倫敦騎士身後為教宗所埋葬)
His labor's fruit a Holy wrath incurred.(一生功績徒惹聖座憤怒難當)
You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.(欲覓之球原應棲於英雄墓上)
It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb.(瑰紅肌膚與受孕子宮細思量)
石棺上方為牛頓斜臥姿態的塑像,他的右肘支靠處是四本書,分別是神學(Divinity) 、年代學(Chronology)、光學(Opticks)和原理(Philosophia Naturalis Principia Mathematica)。他的腳邊站著兩位手拿捲軸的天使,卷面展開的是牛頓在光學書裡畫的七色圓圖。在他斜靠的身後聳立著一座金字塔,塔面上鑲著一個圓球,圓球之上塑有一位天文繆思女神。大圓球上畫有黃道十二宮和相關星座,還描繪著出現於1680年那顆彗星的運行軌跡。
幾番波折終於來到此,我竟是被黑色大理石棺浮雕上的那群小男孩給深深吸引:這群男孩,一個在玩弄稜鏡、一個玩弄望遠鏡、一個拿著一枚新鑄的金幣,還有一個掛有太陽及行星的槓桿。寺內不能拍照,想說紀念品店可以買到牛頓墓的大張圖,結果沒有,只有詩人角的小冊子,為了尋找那個太陽系槓桿的圖,我搜遍浩瀚網海.....(終於找到了。2016/6/14)
墓誌銘上文字是拉丁文,翻譯成英文如下:
Here is buried Isaac Newton, Knight, who by a strength of mind almost divine, and mathematical principles peculiarly his own, explored the course and figures of the planets, the paths of comets, the tides of the sea, the dissimilarities in rays of light, and, what no other scholar has previously imagined, the properties of the colours thus produced. Diligent, sagacious and faithful, in his expositions of nature, antiquity and the holy Scriptures, he vindicated by his philosophy the majesty of God mighty and good, and expressed the simplicity of the Gospel in his manners. Mortals rejoice that there has existed such and so great an ornament of the human race! He was born on 25th December 1642, and died on 20th March 1726.
(p.s.The date of death is given in contemporary Old Style dating, which in present dating is 1727.)
詩人 Alexander Pope 為牛頓寫的詩並沒有刻在墓碑上面:
Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night:
God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.
我一直很好奇,牛頓的鄰居是誰?搜尋了許久,終於找到答案:James Stanhope及其家族
相關文章:
- 2014劍橋倫敦尋夢行~四訪西敏寺,終於掃到牛頓的墓 (2014/9/9)
- 2014劍橋倫敦尋夢行~西敏寺牛頓墓石棺上的太陽系槓桿 (2016/6/15)
Back to 2014劍橋倫敦尋夢行 (首頁)