The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (43 page)

[6] Clay, gold.

[Footnote: 7.
oro. fango
: gold, clay. These words stand below the
allegorical figure.]

If you take Pleasure know that he has behind him one who will deal
you Tribulation and Repentance.

[9] This represents Pleasure together with Pain, and show them as
twins because one is never apart from the other. They are back to
back because they are opposed to each other; and they exist as
contraries in the same body, because they have the same basis,
inasmuch as the origin of pleasure is labour and pain, and the
various forms of evil pleasure are the origin of pain. Therefore it
is here represented with a reed in his right hand which is useless
and without strength, and the wounds it inflicts are poisoned. In
Tuscany they are put to support beds, to signify that it is here
that vain dreams come, and here a great part of life is consumed. It
is here that much precious time is wasted, that is, in the morning,
when the mind is composed and rested, and the body is made fit to
begin new labours; there again many vain pleasures are enjoyed; both
by the mind in imagining impossible things, and by the body in
taking those pleasures that are often the cause of the failing of
life. And for these reasons the reed is held as their support.

[Footnote: 676. The pen and ink drawing on PI. LIX belongs to this
passage.]

[Footnote: 8.
tribolatione
. In the drawing caltrops may be seen
lying in the old man's right hand, others are falling and others
again are shewn on the ground. Similar caltrops are drawn in MS.
Tri. p. 98 and underneath them, as well as on page 96 the words
triboli di ferro
are written. From the accompanying text it
appears that they were intended to be scattered on the ground at the
bottom of ditches to hinder the advance of the enemy. Count Giulio
Porro who published a short account of the Trivulzio MS. in the
"
Archivio Storico Lombardo
", Anno VIII part IV (Dec. 31, 1881) has
this note on the passages treating of "
triboli
": "
E qui
aggiunger� che anni sono quando venne fabbricata la nuova
cavallerizza presso il castello di Milano, ne furono trovati due che
io ho veduto ed erano precisamente quali si trovano descritti e
disegnati da Leonardo in questo codice
".

There can therefore be no doubt that this means of defence was in
general use, whether it were originally Leonardo's invention or not.
The play on the word "
tribolatione
", as it occurs in the drawing
at Oxford, must then have been quite intelligible.]

[Footnote: 9—22. These lines, in the original, are written on the
left side of the page and refer to the figure shown on PI. LXI. Next
to it is placed the group of three figures given in PI. LX No. I.
Lines 21 and 22, which are written under it, are the only
explanation given.]

Evil-thinking is either Envy or Ingratitude.

677.

Envy must be represented with a contemptuous motion of the hand
towards heaven, because if she could she would use her strength
against God; make her with her face covered by a mask of fair
seeming; show her as wounded in the eye by a palm branch and by an
olive-branch, and wounded in the ear by laurel and myrtle, to
signify that victory and truth are odious to her. Many thunderbolts
should proceed from her to signify her evil speaking. Let her be
lean and haggard because she is in perpetual torment. Make her heart
gnawed by a swelling serpent, and make her with a quiver with
tongues serving as arrows, because she often offends with it. Give
her a leopard's skin, because this creature kills the lion out of
envy and by deceit. Give her too a vase in her hand full of flowers
and scorpions and toads and other venomous creatures; make her ride
upon death, because Envy, never dying, never tires of ruling. Make
her bridle, and load her with divers kinds of arms because all her
weapons are deadly.

Toleration.

Intolerable.

No sooner is Virtue born than Envy comes into the world to attack
it; and sooner will there be a body without a shadow than Virtue
without Envy.

[Footnote: The larger of the two drawings on PI. LXI is explained by
the first 21 lines of this passage. L. 22 and 23, which are written
above the space between the two drawings, do not seem to have any
reference to either. L. 24-27 are below the allegorical twin figure
which they serve to explain.]

678.

When Pluto's Paradise is opened, then there may be devils placed in
twelve pots like openings into hell. Here will be Death, the Furies,
ashes, many naked children weeping; living fires made of various
colours….

679.

  John the Baptist
  Saint Augustin
  Saint Peter
  Paul
  Elisabeth
  Saint Clara.
  Bernardino
  Our Lady Louis
  Bonaventura
  Anthony of Padua.
  Saint Francis.
  Francis,
  Anthony, a lily and book;
  Bernardino with the [monogram of] Jesus,
  Louis with 3 fleur de lys on his breast and
              the crown at his feet,
  Bonaventura with Seraphim,
  Saint Clara with the tabernacle,
  Elisabeth with a Queen's crown.

[Footnote: 679. The text of the first six lines is written within a
square space of the same size as the copy here given. The names are
written in the margin following the order in which they are here
printed. In lines 7—12 the names of those saints are repeated of
whom it seemed necessary to point out the emblems.]

List of drawings.

680.

  A head, full face, of a young man
  with fine flowing hair,
  Many flowers drawn from nature,
  A head, full face, with curly hair,
  Certain figures of Saint Jerome,
  [6] The measurements of a figure,
  Drawings of furnaces.
  A head of the Duke,
  [9] many designs for knots,
  4 studies for the panel of Saint Angelo
  A small composition of Girolamo da Fegline,
  A head of Christ done with the pen,
  [13] 8 Saint Sebastians,
  Several compositions of Angels,
  A chalcedony,
  A head in profile with fine hair,
  Some pitchers seen in(?) perspective,
  Some machines for ships,
  Some machines for waterworks,
  A head, a portrait of Atalanta raising her
  face;
  The head of Geronimo da Fegline,
  The head of Gian Francisco Borso,
  Several throats of old women,
  Several heads of old men,
  Several nude figures, complete,
  Several arms, eyes, feet, and positions,
  A Madonna, finished,
  Another, nearly in profile,
  Head of Our Lady ascending into Heaven,
  A head of an old man with long chin,
  A head of a gypsy girl,
  A head with a hat on,
  A representation of the Passion, a cast,
  A head of a girl with her hair gathered in a knot,
  A head, with the brown hair dressed.

[Footnote: 680. This has already been published by AMORETTI
Memorie
storiche
cap. XVI. His reading varies somewhat from that here
given,
e. g.
l. 5 and 6.
Certi Sangirolami in su d'una figura
;
and instead of I. 13.
Un San Bastiano
.]

[Footnote: 680. 9.
Molti disegni di gruppi
. VASARI in his life of
Leonardo (IV, 21, ed. MILANESI 1880) says: "
Oltrech� perse tempo
fino a disegnare
gruppi
di corde fatti con ordine, e che da un
capo seguissi tutto il resto fino all' altro, tanto che s'empiessi
un tondo; che se ne vede in istampa uno difficilissimo e molto
bello, e nel mezzo vi sono queste parole: Leonardus Vinci
Accademia
".
Gruppi
must here be understood as a technical
expression for those twisted ornaments which are well known through
wood cuts. AMORETTI mentions six different ones in the Ambrosian
Library. I am indebted to M. DELABORDE for kindly informing me that
the original blocks of these are preserved in his department in the
Biblioth�que Nationale in Paris. On the cover of these volumes is a
copy from one of them. The size of the original is 23 1/2
centimetres by 26 1/4. The centre portion of another is given on p.
361. G. Govi remarks on these ornaments (
Saggio
p. 22): "
Codesti
gruppi eran probabilmente destinati a servir di modello a ferri da
rilegatori per adornar le cartelle degli scolari (?). Fregi
somigliantissimi a questi troviamo infatti impressi in oro sui
cartoni di vari volumi contemporanei, e li vediam pur figurare nelle
lettere iniziali di alcune edizioni del tempo.
"

D�rer who copied them, omitting the inscription, added to the second
impressions his own monogram. In his diary he designates them simply
as "
Die sechs Knoten
" (see THAUSING, Life of A. D�rer I, 362,
363). In Leonardo's MSS. we find here and there little sketches or
suggestions for similar ornaments. Compare too G. MONGERI,
L'Arte
in Milano
, p. 315 where an ornament of the same character is given
from the old decorations of the vaulted ceiling of the Sacristy of
S. Maria delle Grazie.]

[Footnote: 680, 17. The meaning in which the word
coppi
, literally
pitchers, is here used I am unable to determine; but a change to
copie
seems to me too doubtful to be risked.]

681.

  Stubborn rigour.
  Doomed rigour.

[Footnote: See PI. LXII, No. 2, the two upper pen and ink drawings.
The originals, in the Windsor collection are slightly washed with
colour. The background is blue sky; the plough and the instrument
with the compass are reddish brown, the sun is tinted yellow].

682.

  Obstacles cannot crush me
  Every obstacle yields to stern resolve
  He who is fixed to a star does not change
  his mind.

[Footnote: This text is written to elucidate two sketches which were
obviously the first sketches for the drawings reproduced on PL LXII,
No. 2.]

683.

Ivy is [a type] of longevity.

[Footnote: In the original there is, near this text, a sketch of a
coat wreathed above the waist with ivy.]

684.

Truth the sun.
falsehood a mask.
innocence,
malignity.

Fire destroys falsehood,
that is sophistry, and
restores truth, driving out
darkness.

Fire may be represented as the destroy of
all sophistry, and as the
image and demonstration of truth;
because it is light and drives
out darkness which conceals
all essences [or subtle things].

[Footnote: See PI. LXIII. L. 1-8 are in the middle of the page; 1.
9-14 to the right below; 1. 15-22 below in the middle column. The
rest of the text is below the sketches on the left. There are some
other passages on this page relating to geometry.]

Fire destroys all sophistry, that is deceit;
and maintains truth alone, that is gold.

Truth at last cannot be hidden.
Dissimulation is of no avail. Dissimulation is
to no purpose before
so great a judge.
Falsehood puts on a mask.
Nothing is hidden under the sun.

Fire is to represent truth because it
destroys all sophistry and lies; and the
mask is for lying and falsehood
which conceal truth.

685.

  Movement will cease before we are
  weary
  of being useful.

  Movement will fail sooner than usefulness.
  Death sooner than I am never weary of
  weariness. being useful,
  In serving others I is a motto for carnval.
  cannot do enough. Without fatigue.

  No labour is
  sufficient to tire me.

Hands into which
ducats and precious
stones fall like snow; they
never become tired by serving,
but this service is only for its
utility and not for our I am never weary
own benefit. of being useful.

Naturally
nature has so disposed me.

686.

This shall be placed in the
hand of Ingratitude.
Wood nourishes the fire that
consumes it.

687.

When the sun appears
which dispels darkness in
general, you put out the
light which dispelled it
for you in particular
for your need and convenience.

688.

  On this side Adam and Eve on the other;
  O misery of mankind, of how many things do
  you make yourself the slave for money!

[Footnote: See PI. LXIV. The figures of Adam and Eve in the clouds
here alluded to would seem to symbolise their superiority to all
earthly needs.]

689.

Thus are base unions sundered.

[Footnote: A much blurred sketch is on the page by this text. It
seems to represent an unravelled plait or tissue.]

690.

Constancy does not begin, but is that
which perseveres.

[Footnote: A drawing in red chalk, also rubbed, which stands in the
original in the middle of this text, seems to me to be intended for
a sword hilt, held in a fist.]

691.

  Love, Fear, and Esteem,—
  Write these on three stones. Of servants.

692.

Prudence Strength.

693.

Fame alone raises herself to Heaven,
because virtuous things are in favour with God.

Disgrace should be represented upside
down, because all her deeds are contrary to
God and tend to hell.

694.

Short liberty.

695.

  Nothing is so much to be feared as Evil
  Report.
  This Evil Report is born of life.

696.

Not to disobey.

697.

  A felled tree which is shooting
  again.

  I am still hopeful.
  A falcon,
  Time.

[Footnote: I.
Albero tagliato
. This emblem was displayed during
the Carnival at Florence in 1513. See VASARI VI, 251, ed. MILANESI
1881. But the coincidence is probably accidental.]

698.

Truth here makes Falsehood torment
lying tongues.

699.

  Such as harm is when it hurts me not,
  is good which avails me not.

[Footnote: See PI. LX, No. 2. Compare this sketch with that on PI.
LXII, No. 2. Below the two lines of the text there are two more
lines:
li g�chi (giunchi) che rit�g� le paglucole (pagliucole)
chelli (che li) anniegano
.]