Sun, 2023-10-15 22:22
这枚1686年教宗英诺森十一世在位期间教皇国发行的Giulio银币自带彩色包浆，它是2011年我从Lanz家（eBay）历经83次出价拍得，乍听是有点儿唬人，其实当年也就不过300来欧，放在今天或许连600欧都卖不出，如此看来，这大概并非是桩好买卖。
不过凡事过于纠结利益得失无异于自寻烦恼，不如想点儿能自洽的——诸如这铭文深得我心：QVI DAT PAVPERI NON INDIGEBIT. 赒济穷困的，必不致缺乏——来自《圣经》箴言部分第28章第27节。不知道《圣经》的中文版是谁译的，腔调里自带着一种特别的节奏与韵律。我想这话要是让孟子来翻译，大概会是“得道多助”；而若从李白口中吟出，则会是“千金散尽还复来”了吧。说到这儿，又联想到英国人约瑟夫·艾狄生于1710年在《一先令奇遇记》中提到的那则始传于伊丽莎白时代的古谚语：谁若(在钱袋里）存上一枚伊丽莎白(一世)女王的银先令，那他将永世都不会缺钱花~
▲ 发行于1561年~1571年的伊丽莎白一世银先令
Joseph Addison
THE ADVENTURES OF A SHILLING
Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum,Tendimus
—VIRG.Through various hazards and events we move.
—DRYDEN.
From my own Apartment, November 10.
I was last night visited by a friend of mine, who has an inexhaustible fund of discourse, and never fails to entertain his company with a variety of thoughts and hints that are altogether new and uncommon. Whether it were in complaisance to my way of living, or his real opinion, he advanced the following paradox, “That it required much greater talents to fill up and become a retired life, than a life of business.” Upon this occasion he rallied very agreeably the busy men of the age, who only valued themselves for being in motion, and passing through a series of trifling and insignificant actions. In the heat of his discourse, seeing a piece of money lying on my table, “I defy (says he) any of these active persons to produce half the adventures that this twelvepenny piece has been engaged in, were it possible for him to give us an account of his life.”
My friend’s talk made so odd an impression upon my mind, that soon after I was a-bed I fell insensibly into a most unaccountable reverie, that had neither moral nor design in it, and cannot be so properly called a dream as a delirium.
Methoughts the shilling that lay upon the table reared itself upon its edge, and turning the face towards me, opened its mouth, and in a soft silver sound, gave me the following account of his life and adventures:
“I was born (says he) on the side of a mountain, near a little village of Peru, and made a voyage to England in an ingot, under the convoy of Sir Francis Drake. I was, soon after my arrival, taken out of my Indian habit, refined, naturalized, and put into the British mode, with the face of Queen Elizabeth on one side, and the arms of the country on the other. Being thus equipped, I found in me a wonderful inclination to ramble, and visit all parts of the new world into which I was brought. The people very much favored my natural disposition, and shifted me so fast from hand to hand, that before I was five years old, I had traveled into almost every corner of the nation. But in the beginning of my sixth year, to my unspeakable grief, I fell into the hands of a miserable old fellow, who clapped me into an iron chest, where I found five hundred more of my own quality who lay under the same confinement. The only relief we had, was to be taken out and counted over in the fresh air every morning and evening. After an imprisonment of several years, we heard somebody knocking at our chest, and breaking it open with a hammer. This we found was the old man’s heir, who, as his father lay a dying, was so good as to come to our release: he separated us that very day. What was the fate of my companions I know not: as for myself, I was sent to the apothecary’s shop for a pint of sack. The apothecary gave me to an herb-woman, the herb-woman to a butcher, the butcher to a brewer, and the brewer to his wife, who made a present of me to a nonconformist preacher. After this manner I made my way merrily through the world; for, as I told you before, we shillings love nothing so much as traveling. I sometimes fetched in a shoulder of mutton, sometimes a play-book, and often had the satisfaction to treat a Templar*
*Note: a law-student; a member of one of the two Inns of Court which occupy the site of the old semi-monastic establishment of the Knights Templars.
at a twelvepenny ordinary, or carry him, with three friends, to Westminster Hall.*
*Note: Used for Law Courts till 1882.
“In the midst of this pleasant progress which I made from place to place, I was arrested by a superstitious old woman, who shut me up in a greasy purse, in pursuance of a foolish saying, ‘That while she kept a Queen Elizabeth’s shilling about her, she should never be without money.’ I continued here a close prisoner for many months, till at last I was exchanged for eight and forty farthings.
“I thus rambled from pocket to pocket till the beginning of the civil wars, when, to my shame be it spoken, I was employed in raising soldiers against the king: for being of a very tempting breadth, a sergeant made use of me to inveigle country fellows, and list them in the service of the parliament.
“As soon as he had made one man sure, his way was to oblige him to take a shilling of a more homely figure, and then practice the same trick upon another. Thus I continued doing great mischief to the crown, till my officer, chancing one morning to walk abroad earlier than ordinary, sacrificed me to his pleasures, and made use of me to bestow me on a milk-maid. This wench bent me, and gave me to her sweetheart, applying more properly than she intended the usual form of, ‘To my love and from my love.’ This ungenerous gallant marrying her within a few days after, pawned me for a dram of brandy, and drinking me out next day, I was beaten flat with a hammer, and again set a running.
“After many adventures, which it would be tedious to relate, I was sent to a young spendthrift, in company with the will of his deceased father. The young fellow, who I found was very extravagant, gave great demonstrations of joy at the receiving of the will: but opening it, he found himself disinherited and cut off from the possession of a fair estate, by virtue of my being made a present to him. This put him into such a passion, that after having taken me in his hand, and cursed me, he squirred me away from him as far as he could fling me. I chanced to light in an unfrequented place under a dead wall, where I lay undiscovered and useless, during the usurpation of Oliver Cromwell.
“About a year after the king’s return, a poor cavalier that was walking there about dinner-time, fortunately cast his eye upon me, and, to the great joy of us both, carried me to a cook’s shop, where he dined upon me, and drank the king’s health. When I came again into the world, I found that I had been happier in my retirement than I thought, having probably, by that means, escaped wearing a monstrous pair of breeches.*
*Note: Said to be an allusion to the appearance of the shields on the coins of the Commonwealth.
“Being now of great credit and antiquity, I was rather looked upon as a medal than an ordinary coin; for which reason a gamester laid hold of me, and converted me to a counter, having got together some dozens of us for that use. We led a melancholy life in his possession, being busy at those hours wherein current coin is at rest, and partaking the fate of our master, being in a few moments valued at a crown, a pound, or a sixpence, according to the situation in which the fortune of the cards placed us. I had at length the good luck to see my master break, by which means I was again sent abroad under my primitive denomination of a shilling.
“I shall pass over many other accidents of less moment, and hasten to that fatal catastrophe, when I fell into the hands of an artist, who conveyed me under ground, and with an unmerciful pair of shears, cut off my titles, clipped my brims, retrenched my shape, rubbed me to my inmost ring, and, in short, so spoiled and pillaged me, that he did not leave me worth a groat. You may think what a confusion I was in, to see myself thus curtailed and disfigured. I should have been ashamed to have shown my head, had not all my old acquaintance been reduced to the same shameful figure, excepting some few that were punched through the belly. In the midst of this general calamity, when everybody thought our misfortune irretrievable, and our case desperate, we were thrown into the furnace together, and (as it often happens with cities rising out of a fire) appeared with greater beauty and lustre than we could ever boast of before. What has happened to me since this change of sex which you now see, I shall take some other opportunity to relate. In the mean time, I shall only repeat two adventures, as being very extraordinary, and neither of them having ever happened to me above once in my life. The first was, my being in a poet’s pocket, who was so taken with the brightness and novelty of my appearance, that it gave occasion to the finest burlesque poem in the British language, entitled from me, ‘The Splendid Shilling.’* The second adventure, which I must not omit, happened to me in the year 1703, when I was given away in charity to a blind man; but indeed this was by a mistake, the person who gave me having heedlessly thrown me into the hat among a pennyworth of farthings.”
*Note: By John Phillips (died in 1708)
(1710)
MLA CITATION
Addison, Joseph. “The adventures of a shilling.” 1710. Quotidiana. Ed. Patrick Madden. 15 Dec 2006. 06 Nov 2023 <http://essays.quotidiana.org/addison/adventures_of_a_shilling/>.
一 先 令 奇 遇 记
[英]约瑟夫·艾狄生 于1710年11月10日（方开瑞 译）
昨晚友人来访。他博闻广识，侃侃而谈，而且总忘不了给对方讲些新奇的想法和点子。不知是为了迎合我的癖性或发自他内心，他发表了以下悖论，即“孑身独处比忙忙碌碌更需才智”。鉴于此，他欣然结交当代风云人物。这些人重于动，尽做些琐屑的事情。这位友人谈兴正浓时，忽然看见案头一枚硬币，便说：“我敢断言这些活动家连这枚先令的一半经历也讲不出来，即便他们能讲出自己的生平。”
友人之言于我看来颇为怪奇。我随后不久卧床休憩时，不知不觉顿生幻想，其中即无道德说教，也无任何意图。如其称之为梦，倒不如称之胡思乱想更为恰当。
在我梦幻之中，那枚先令竖起来，面向我开了口。它用一种轻柔、清跃的声音，像我叙说了以下生平和奇遇：
“我出生于（他说）一座山的半山腰上，一个秘鲁小村庄附近。后来由弗兰西斯-德雷克爵士（英国海军将领，曾到西非和西属美因河地区从事贩卖奴隶的活动，后作过环球航行，并多次率舰队与西班牙无敌舰队交战——译者注）护卫着，越洋过海来到英国。到达英国之后不久，我失去了秘鲁印第安人的外表（指银块被熔化加工——译者注）。被人精炼，得以归化，带上了英国样式。一面带有伊丽莎白女王的尊荣，另一面带有英国国徽。这样装备一番后，我感觉自己极喜好漫步，喜欢游历这个新世界各个角落。人们赞赏我的天然状态，把我在他们之间传来传去。因此，我还不到五岁时就游遍了英国各地。但是，在我刚刚六岁时，令我说不出有多悲伤的是，我落入了一个可怕的老家伙手里。他把我扔在一只铁箱里，我发现还有五百个同伴被囚在这里。我们只是悲哀的每天早晚被人拿出来在新鲜的空气中数来数去。被囚禁了数年之后，我们听到有人敲铁箱子，然后用锤子打开了箱子。我们发现这人是老人的继承人。在其父卧床奄奄一息时，他很和善，给我们松了绑。就在那天他把我们分开了。伙伴们命归何处我无从知晓。我自己则被带到了一家药店换了一品脱萨克葡萄酒。药剂师把我给了采草药的妇女，采草药的妇女把我给了屠夫，屠夫把我给了酿酒师，酿酒师把我交给了他的老婆，她则把我作为礼物给了一位不奉国教的牧师。这样，我快乐地游历世界。因为，如我先前所说，我们先令银币们最喜欢旅游了。我有时买回带肩肉的羊前腿肉，有时买回一个剧本，常满足于在12便士的小旅馆里款待在伦敦内殿或中殿律师学院设有事务所或者居住的律师，可供这位律师及其三位朋友参观法院的车费。”
“在这周游各地的愉快过程中，我落在了一位迷信的老太婆手里，把我关在一只油污的手包里。她信奉一个愚蠢的说法：谁要是随身带着一枚伊丽莎白女王的先令，谁就永远不会缺钱花。我在这里被继续囚禁数月，直到最后我被兑换成48个法寻（英国旧时硬币或币值。一法寻值1/4便士——译者注）。”
“这样，我从一个人的口袋辗转到另一个人的口袋，直到英国内战初期。我被用来——说起来很惭愧——征募士兵与英王对抗。因为我较为厚实诱人，一位中士利用我来引诱乡下青年，征召他们效忠议会。”
“他一旦选定一人，就迫使这人拿着一枚模样较为平常的先令，对另一个人施展同样的伎俩。这样，我继续为害国王。直到我的那位军官有一天早晨比平常早一些出去，拿我去供他寻欢作乐——引诱一位挤奶女工。这位女工把我弄弯，送给了她的恋人。那句‘给予我爱，来自我爱’的名言，她无意中运用得更为得体。这位吝啬的男子随后几天内就与那位女工结了婚，拿我去换了一点点白兰地，次日就喝了个精光。人家把我用锤子打平，又使我辗转各地。”
“经历了许多奇遇（这些奇遇讲起来挺乏味的）之后，我落入了一个花钱大手大脚的年轻人手里。这位年轻人还有一纸他那已故的父亲留下的遗嘱。我觉得这人很奢侈。收到其父遗嘱时他欣喜若狂，但打开遗嘱后才发现其父以已经把我送给他作为礼物为理由，剥夺了他的遗产继承权，使他无法继承一笔相当大的遗产（英国旧习俗，在剥夺某人遗产继承权时，往往先赠一先令，表示没有把他忘掉——译者注）。
“他勃然大怒，把我握在手里，诅咒我，并使出浑身力气把我跑了出去。我碰巧落在一堵废墙下人迹罕至的地方。在奥利弗-克伦威尔篡权夺位期间我躺在这里，没有被人发现。”
“国王复位之后约一年光景，一位贫穷的保王党成员大约在正餐时间路过这里，他的目光恰巧落在我身上。令我们两人皆大欢喜的是，他把我带到一家小饭馆。他把我花出去，吃了一顿，为国王的健康干杯。我又来到这个世界上，发现自己在这些年遁世幽居期间比自己想象的还高兴：这样或许逃脱了穿清教徒惯于穿的那种肥得出奇的灯笼裤（指先令庆幸自己没有在克伦威尔当政时被重新铸成一个有克伦威尔头像的先令——译者注）。”
“尽管我现在声誉很高，已成古物，但人们宁可把我看作一枚纪念章而非普通的硬币。因此，一个赌棍得到了我，把我当作赌博的筹码。他为此已攒了好多先令硬币。在他手里我们过着可悲的生活，期间忙忙碌碌，而当时王政复辟后流通的钱币却闲置不用。我们与主人共命运，随着主人的牌运一会儿值一克朗，一会儿又值一英镑，或者值六便士。我终于有幸看到主人破了产。这样，我又辗转世上，面额还是一先令。”
我将把其他不太重要的事情略去不提，尽快讲讲那次灭顶之灾。我落入一位铸币人之手。他把我偷偷带走，用一把冷酷无情的大剪子，割去我身上的字，减去了我的边缘，缩小了我的形状，一直把我磨到最里面的那一圈。总之，他把我破坏、掠夺得不值多少钱了。你可以想象出我看到自己被如此缩小、弄得面目全非时有多困惑，如果不是我的老相识也被人弄成同样可耻的样子（有几个被人从腰部戳穿）的话，我会羞于见人的。在这次灭顶之灾当中，正当大家都认为我们的厄运无法补救、情况危急时，我们被人统统扔进熔炉。而且，和经常矗立在烈火中的城市一般，我么在熔炉中的景象比以前更漂亮，发出更灿烂的光辉。至于您现在看见我身上的头像改变了性别（指1694年玛丽女王去世后，其夫威廉三世继位，他将原来的流通硬币重新铸造，所以先令影壁上的伊丽莎白女王头像换成了威廉三世的头像——译者注）以来所发生的事情，我将令找机会叙述。同时，我只重复两个奇遇，这两个奇遇我一生中只经历了一次。第一个奇遇是，一位诗人把我装在口袋里。他十分喜欢我的外观新奇、颜色鲜亮。他诗兴大发，作出了英语中最优秀的一首讽刺诗，并以我的名字给他的诗命名：《光彩夺目的先令》。第二个不可略去不提的奇遇发生于1703年。那年有人把我施舍给了一个盲汉。其实际上这是出于误会。施舍者无意之中把我扔进盲汉的帽子里盛的几个法寻当中。