The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Leonardo Da Vinci [interesting novels to read TXT] 📗

say of him; for they are but few whom his vices have disgusted, and he only dislikes those men whose natures are contrary to those vices. And many hate their fathers, and break off friendship with those who reprove their vices; and he will not permit any examples against them, nor any advice.

If you meet with any one who is virtuous do not drive him from you; do him honour, so that he may not have to flee from you and be reduced to hiding in hermitages, or caves or other solitary places to escape from your treachery; if there is such an one among you do him honour, for these are our Saints upon earth; these are they who deserve statues from us, and images; but remember that their images are not to be eaten by you, as is still done in some parts of India [Footnote 15: In explanation of this passage I have received the following communication from Dr. G. W. LEITNER of Lahore: “So far as Indian customs are known to us, this practice spoken of by Leonardo as ‘still existing in some parts of India’ is perfectly unknown; and it is equally opposed to the spirit of Hinduism, Mohammedanism and Sikhism. In central Thibet the ashes of the dead, when burnt, are mixed with dough, and small figures—usually of Buddha—are stamped out of them and some are laid in the grave while others are distributed among the relations. The custom spoken of by Leonardo may have prevailed there but I never heard of it.” Possibly Leonardo refers here to customs of nations of America.] where, when the images have according to them, performed some miracle, the priests cut them in pieces, being of wood, and give them to all the people of the country, not without payment; and each one grates his portion very fine, and puts it upon the first food he eats; and thus believes that by faith he has eaten his saint who then preserves him from all perils. What do you think here, Man, of your own species? Are you so wise as you believe yourselves to be? Are these things to be done by men?

 

1359.

 

As I told you in past days, you know that I am without any…. Francesco d’Antonio. Bernardo di Maestro Jacopo.

 

1360.

 

Tell me how the things happened.

 

1361.

 

j lorezo\ 2 inbiadali\ 3 inferri de\ 4in lorezo\ 5[inno abuil] 6 in acocatu\ 7 per la sella\ 8colte di lor\ 9v cavallott\ I0el uiagg\ IIal\ I2a lurez\ 13in biada\ 14inferri\ 15abuss\ 16in viagg\ 17alorz\ [Footnote: This seems to be the beginning of a letter, but only the first words of the lines have been preserved, the leaf being torn down the middle. No translation is possible.]

 

1362.

 

And so may it please our great Author that I may demonstrate the nature of man and his customs, in the way I describe his figure.

[Footnote: A preparatory note for the passage given as No. 798, 11. 41—42.]

 

1363.

 

This writing distinctly about the kite seems to be my destiny, because among the first recollections of my infancy, it seemed to me that, as I was in my cradle, a kite came to me and opened my mouth with its tail, and struck me several times with its tail inside my lips.

[Footnote: This note probably refers to the text No. 1221.]

 

1364.

 

[When I did well, as a boy you used to put me in prison. Now if I do it being grown up, you will do worse to me.]

 

1365.

 

Tell me if anything was ever done.

 

1366.

 

Tell me if ever I did a thing which me ….

 

1367.

 

Do not reveal, if liberty is precious to you; my face is the prison of love.

[Footnote: This note seems to be a quotation.]

 

1368.

 

Maestro Leonardo of Florence.

[Footnote: So Leonardo writes his name on a sheet with sundry short notes, evidently to try a pen. Compare the signature with those in Nos. 1341, 1348 and 1374 (see also No. 1346, l. 33). The form “Lionardo” does not occur in the autographs. The Portrait of the Master in the Royal Library at Turin, which is reproduced—slightly diminished—on Pl. I, has in the original two lines of writing underneath; one in red chalk of two or three words is partly effaced: lionardo it… lm (or lai?); the second written in pencil is as follows: fatto da lui stesso assai vecchio. In both of these the writing is very like the Master’s, but is certainly only an imitation.]

Notes bearing Dates (1369—1378).

 

1369.

 

The day of Santa Maria della Neve [of the Snows] August the 2nd 1473. [Footnote: W. An. I. 1368. 1369. This date is on a drawing of a rocky landscape. See Chronique des Arts 1881 no. 23: Leonard de Vinci a-t-il ete au Righi le 5 aout 1473? letter by H. de Geymuller. The next following date in the MSS. is 1478 (see No.

663).

1370.

 

On the 2nd of April 1489, book entitled ‘Of the human figure’. [Footnote: While the letters in the MS. notes of 1473 and 1478 are very ornate, this note and the texts on anatomy on the same sheet (for instance No. 805) are in the same simple hand as we see on Pl. CXVI and CXIX. No 1370 is the only dated note of the years between 1480 and 1489, and the characters are in all essential points identical with those that we see in the latest manuscripts written in France (compare the facsimiles on Pl. CXV and p. 254), so that it is hardly possible to determine exactly the date of a manuscript from the style of the handwriting, if it does not betray the peculiarities of style as displayed in the few notes dated previous to l480.—Compare the facsimile of the manuscripts 1479 on Pl.LXII, No. 2; No. 664, note, Vol. I p. 346. This shows already a marked simplicity as compared with the calligraphy of I478.

The text No. 720 belongs to the year 1490; No. 1510 to the year 1492; No. 1459, No. 1384 and No. 1460 to the year 1493; No. 1463, No. 1517, No. 1024, 1025 and 1461 to the year 1494; Nos. 1523 and 1524 to the year 1497.

 

1371.

 

On the 1st of August 1499, I wrote here of motion and of weight.

[Footnote:1371. Scrissi qui. Leonardo does not say where; still we may assume that it was not in Milan. Amoretti writes, Memorie Storiche, chap. XIX: Sembra pertanto che non nel 1499 ma nel 1500, dopo il ritorno e la prigionia del duca, sia da qui partito Lionardo per andare a Firenze; ed e quindi probabile, che i mesi di governo nuovo e incerto abbia passati coll’ amico suo Francesco Melzi a Vaprio, ove meglio che altrove studiar potea la natura, e soprattutta le acque, e l’Adda specialmente, che gia era stato l’ogetto delle sue idrostatiche ricerche. At that time Melzi was only six years of age. The next date is 1502; to this year belong No. 1034, 1040, 1042, 1048 and 1053. The note No. 1525 belongs to the year 1503.]

 

1372.

 

On the 9th of July 1504, Wednesday, at seven o’clock, died Ser Piero da Vinci, notary at the Palazzo del Podesta, my father, —at seven o’clock, being eighty years old, leaving behind ten sons and two daughters.

[Footnote: This statement of Ser Piero’s age contradicts that of the Riassunto della portata di Antonio da Vinci (Leonardo’s grandfather), who speaks of Ser Piero as being thirty years old in 1457; and that of the Riassunto della portata di Ser Piero e Francesco, sons of Antonia da Vinci, where Ser Piero is mentioned as being forty in 1469. These documents were published by G. UZIELLI, Ricerche intorno a L. da Vinci, Firenze, 1872, pp. 144 and 146. Leonardo was, as is well known, a natural son. His mother ‘La Catarina’ was married in 1457 to Acchattabriga di Piero del Vaccha da Vinci. She died in 1519. Leonardo never mentions her in the Manuscripts. In the year of Leonardo’s birth Ser Piero married Albiera di Giovanni Amadoci, and after her death at the age of thirty eight he again married, Francesca, daughter of Ser Giovanni Lanfredi, then only fifteen. Their children were Leonardo’s halfbrothers, Antonio (b. 1476), Ser Giuliano (b. 1479), Lorenzo (b. 1484), a girl, Violante (b. 1485), and another boy Domenico (b. 1486); Domenico’s descendants still exist as a family. Ser Piero married for the third time Lucrezia di Guglielmo Cortigiani by whom he had six children: Margherita (b. 1491), Benedetto (b. 1492), Pandolfo (b. 1494), Guglielmo (b. 1496), Bartolommeo (b. 1497), and Giovanni) date of birth unknown). Pierino da Vinci the sculptor (about 1520-1554) was the son of Bartolommeo, the fifth of these children. The dates of their deaths are not known, but we may infer from the above passage that they were all still living in 1505.]

 

1373.

 

On Wednesday at seven o’clock died Ser Piero da Vinci on the 9th of July 1504.

[Footnote: This and the previous text it may be remarked are the only mention made by Leonardo of his father; Nos. 1526, 1527 and No. 1463 are of the year 1504.]

 

1374.

 

Begun by me, Leonardo da Vinci, on the l2th of July 1505.

[Footnote: Thus he writes on the first page of the MS. The title is on the foregoing coversheet as follows: Libro titolato disstrafformatione coe (cioe) d’un corpo nvn (in un) altro sanza diminuitione e acresscemento di materia.]

 

1375.

 

Begun at Milan on the l2th of September 1508.

[Footnote: No. 1528 and No. 1529 belong to the same year. The text Vol. I, No. 4 belongs to the following year 1509 (1508 old style); so also does No. 1009.— Nos. 1022, 1057 and 1464 belong to 1511.]

 

1376.

 

On the 9th of January 1513.

[Footnote: No. 1465 belongs to the same year. No. 1065 has the next date 1514.]

 

1377.

 

The Magnifico Giuliano de’ Medici left Rome on the 9th of January 1515, just at daybreak, to take a wife in Savoy; and on the same day fell the death of the king of France.

[Footnote: Giuliano de Medici, brother to Pope Leo X.; see note to Nos. 1351-1353. In February, 1515, he was married to Filiberta, daughter of Filippo, Duke of Savoy, and aunt to Francis I, Louis XII’s successor on the throne of France. Louis XII died on Jan. 1st, and not on Jan. 9th as is here stated.— This addition is written in paler ink and evidently at a later date.]

 

1378.

 

On the 24th of June, St John’s day, 1518 at Amboise, in the palace of…

[Footnote: Castello del clli. The meaning of this word is obscure; it is perhaps not written at full length.]

XXII.

Miscellaneous Notes.

The incidental memoranda scattered here and there throughout the MSS. can have been for the most part intelligible to the writer only; in many cases their meaning and connection are all the more obscure because we are in ignorance about the persons with whom Leonardo used to converse nor can we say what part he may have played in the various events of his time. Vasari and other early biographers give us a very superficial and far from accurate picture of Leonardo’s private life. Though his own memoranda, referring for the most part to incidents of no permanent interest, do not go far towards supplying this deficiency, they are nevertheless of some importance and interest as helping us to solve the numerous mysteries in which the history of Leonardo’s long life remains involved. We may at