The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci, Complete by Leonardo Da Vinci

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1285.

A JEST.

A man wishing to prove, by the authority of Pythagoras, that he had
formerly been in the world, while another would not let him finish
his argument, the first speaker said to the second: "It is by this
token that I was formerly here, I remember that you were a miller."
The other one, feeling himself stung by these words, agreed that it
was true, and that by the same token he remembered that the speaker
had been the ass that carried the flour.

A JEST.

It was asked of a painter why, since he made such beautiful figures,
which were but dead things, his children were so ugly; to which the
painter replied that he made his pictures by day, and his children
by night.

1286.

A man saw a large sword which another one wore at his side. Said he
"Poor fellow, for a long time I have seen you tied to that weapon;
why do you not release yourself as your hands are untied, and set
yourself free?" To which the other replied: "This is none of yours,
on the contrary it is an old story." The former speaker, feeling
stung, replied: "I know that you are acquainted with so few things
in this world, that I thought anything I could tell you would be new
to you."

1287.

A man gave up his intimacy with one of his friends because he often
spoke ill of his other friends. The neglected friend one day
lamenting to this former friend, after much complaining, entreated
him to say what might be the cause that had made him forget so much
friendship. To which he answered: "I will no longer be intimate with
you because I love you, and I do not choose that you, by speaking
ill of me, your friend, to others, should produce in others, as in
me, a bad impression of yourself, by speaking evil to them of me,
your friend. Therefore, being no longer intimate together, it will
seem as though we had become enemies; and in speaking evil of me, as
is your wont, you will not be blamed so much as if we continued
intimate.

1288.

A man was arguing and boasting that he knew many and various tricks.
Another among the bystanders said: "I know how to play a trick which
will make whomsoever I like pull off his breeches." The first man--
the boaster--said: "You won't make me pull off mine, and I bet you a
pair of hose on it." He who proposed the game, having accepted the
offer, produced breeches and drew them across the face of him who
bet the pair of hose and won the bet [4].

A man said to an acquaintance: "Your eyes are changed to a strange
colour." The other replied: "It often happens, but you have not
noticed it." "When does it happen?" said the former. "Every time
that my eyes see your ugly face, from the shock of so unpleasing a
sight they suddenly turn pale and change to a strange colour."

A man said to another: "Your eyes are changed to a strange colour."
The other replied: "It is because my eyes behold your strange ugly
face."

A man said that in his country were the strangest things in the
world. Another answered: "You, who were born there, confirm this as
true, by the strangeness of your ugly face."

[Footnote: The joke turns, it appears, on two meanings of trarre and
is not easily translated.]

1289.

An old man was publicly casting contempt on a young one, and boldly
showing that he did not fear him; on which the young man replied
that his advanced age served him better as a shield than either his
tongue or his strength.

1290.

A JEST.

A sick man finding himself in _articulo mortis_ heard a knock at the
door, and asking one of his servants who was knocking, the servant
went out, and answered that it was a woman calling herself Madonna
Bona. Then the sick man lifting his arms to Heaven thanked God with
a loud voice, and told the servants that they were to let her come
in at once, so that he might see one good woman before he died,
since in all his life he had never yet seen one.

1291.

A JEST.

A man was desired to rise from bed, because the sun was already
risen. To which he replied: "If I had as far to go, and as much to
do as he has, I should be risen by now; but having but a little way
to go, I shall not rise yet."

1292.

A man, seeing a woman ready to hold up the target for a jousting
match, exclaimed, looking at the shield, and considering his spear:
"Alack! this is too small a workman for so great a business."

IV.

PROPHECIES.

1293.

THE DIVISION OF THE PROPHECIES.

First, of things relating to animals; secondly, of irrational
creatures; thirdly of plants; fourthly, of ceremonies; fifthly, of
manners; sixthly, of cases or edicts or quarrels; seventhly, of
cases that are impossible in nature [paradoxes], as, for instance,
of those things which, the more is taken from them, the more they
grow. And reserve the great matters till the end, and the small
matters give at the beginning. And first show the evils and then the
punishment of philosophical things.

Of Ants.

These creatures will form many communities, which will hide
themselves and their young ones and victuals in dark caverns, and
they will feed themselves and their families in dark places for many
months without any light, artificial or natural.

[Footnote: Lines 1--51 are in the original written in one column,
beginning with the text of line 11. At the end of the column is the
programme for the arrangement of the prophecies, placed here at the
head: Lines 56--79 form a second column, lines 80--97 a third one
(see the reproduction of the text on the facsimile PI. CXVIII).

Another suggestion for the arrangement of the prophecies is to be
found among the notes 55--57 on page 357.]

( Of Bees.)

And many others will be deprived of their store and their food, and
will be cruelly submerged and drowned by folks devoid of reason. Oh
Justice of God! Why dost thou not wake and behold thy creatures thus
ill used?

( Of Sheep, Cows, Goats and the like.)

Endless multitudes of these will have their little children taken
from them ripped open and flayed and most barbarously quartered.

( Of Nuts, and Olives, and Acorns, and Chesnuts, and such like. )

Many offspring shall be snatched by cruel thrashing from the very
arms of their mothers, and flung on the ground, and crushed.

( Of Children bound in Bundles. )

O cities of the Sea! In you I see your citizens--both females and
males--tightly bound, arms and legs, with strong withes by folks who
will not understand your language. And you will only be able to
assuage your sorrows and lost liberty by means of tearful complaints
and sighing and lamentation among yourselves; for those who will
bind you will not understand you, nor will you understand them.

( Of Cats that eat Rats.)

In you, O cities of Africa your children will be seen quartered in
their own houses by most cruel and rapacious beasts of your own
country.

( Of Asses that are beaten.)

[Footnote 48: Compare No. 845.] O Nature! Wherefore art thou so
partial; being to some of thy children a tender and benign mother,
and to others a most cruel and pitiless stepmother? I see children
of thine given up to slavery to others, without any sort of
advantage, and instead of remuneration for the good they do, they
are paid with the severest suffering, and spend their whole life in
benefitting those who ill treat them.

[Of Men who sleep on boards of Trees.]

Men shall sleep, and eat, and dwell among trees, in the forests and
open country.

[Of Dreaming.]

Men will seem to see new destructions in the sky. The flames that
fall from it will seem to rise in it and to fly from it with terror.
They will hear every kind of animals speak in human language. They
will instantaneously run in person in various parts of the world,
without motion. They will see the greatest splendour in the midst of
darkness. O! marvel of the human race! What madness has led you
thus! You will speak with animals of every species and they with you
in human speech. You will see yourself fall from great heights
without any harm and torrents will accompany you, and will mingle
with their rapid course.

[Of Christians.]

Many who hold the faith of the Son only build temples in the name of
the Mother.

[Of Food which has been alive.]

[84] A great portion of bodies that have been alive will pass into
the bodies of other animals; which is as much as to say, that the
deserted tenements will pass piecemeal into the inhabited ones,
furnishing them with good things, and carrying with them their
evils. That is to say the life of man is formed from things eaten,
and these carry with them that part of man which dies . . .

1294.

[Of Funeral Rites, and Processions, and Lights, and Bells, and
Followers.]

The greatest honours will be paid to men, and much pomp, without
their knowledge.

[Footnote: A facsimile of this text is on PI. CXVI below on the
right, but the writing is larger than the other notes on the same
sheet and of a somewhat different style. The ink is also of a
different hue, as may be seen on the original sheet at Milan.]

***84 and following; compare No. 846.

1295.

(Of the Avaricious.)

There will be many who will eagerly and with great care and
solicitude follow up a thing, which, if they only knew its
malignity, would always terrify them.

(Of those men, who, the older they grow, the more avaricious they
become, whereas, having but little time to stay, they should become
more liberal.)

We see those who are regarded as being most experienced and
judicious, when they least need a thing, seek and cherish it with
most avidity.

*Of the Ditch.*

Many will be busied in taking away from a thing, which will grow in
proportion as it is diminished.

*Of a Weight placed on a Feather-pillow.*

And it will be seen in many bodies that by raising the head they
swell visibly; and by laying the raised head down again, their size
will immediately be diminished.

*Of catching Lice.*

And many will be hunters of animals, which, the fewer there are the
more will be taken; and conversely, the more there are, the fewer
will be taken.

*Of Drawing Water in two Buckets with a single Rope.*

And many will be busily occupied, though the more of the thing they
draw up, the more will escape at the other end.

*Of the Tongues of Pigs and Calves in Sausage-skins.*

Oh! how foul a thing, that we should see the tongue of one animal in
the guts of another.

*Of Sieves made of the Hair of Animals.*

We shall see the food of animals pass through their skin everyway
excepting through their mouths, and penetrate from the outside
downwards to the ground.

*( Of Lanterns. )*

[Footnote 35: Lanterns were in Italy formerly made of horn.] The
cruel horns of powerful bulls will screen the lights of night
against the wild fury of the winds.

*( Of Feather-beds. )*

Flying creatures will give their very feathers to support men.

*( Of Animals which walk on Trees--wearing wooden Shoes. )*

The mire will be so great that men will walk on the trees of their
country.

*( Of the Soles of Shoes, which are made from the Ox. )*

And in many parts of the country men will be seen walking on the
skins of large beasts.

*( Of Sailing in Ships. )*

There will be great winds by reason of which things of the East will
become things of the West; and those of the South, being involved in
the course of the winds, will follow them to distant lands.

*( Of Worshipping the Pictures of Saints. )*

Men will speak to men who hear not; having their eyes open, they
will not see; they will speak to these, and they will not be
answered. They will implore favours of those who have ears and hear
not; they will make light for the blind.

*( Of Sawyers. )*

There will be many men who will move one against another, holding in
their hands a cutting tool. But these will not do each other any
injury beyond tiring each other; for, when one pushes forward the
other will draw back. But woe to him who comes between them! For he
will end by being cut in pieces.

*( Of Silk-spinning. )*

Dismal cries will be heard loud, shrieking with anguish, and the
hoarse and smothered tones of those who will be despoiled, and at
last left naked and motionless; and this by reason of the mover,
which makes every thing turn round.

*( Of putting Bread into the Mouth of the Oven and taking it out
again. )*

In every city, land, castle and house, men shall be seen, who for
want of food will take it out of the mouths of others, who will not
be able to resist in any way.

*( Of tilled Land. )*

The Earth will be seen turned up side down and facing the opposite
hemispheres, uncovering the lurking holes of the fiercest animals.

*( Of Sowing Seed. )*

Then many of the men who will remain alive, will throw the victuals
they have preserved out of their houses, a free prey to the birds
and beasts of the earth, without taking any care of them at all.

*( Of the Rains, which, by making the Rivers muddy, wash away the
Land. )*

[Footnote 81: Compare No. 945.] Something will fall from the sky
which will transport a large part of Africa which lies under that
sky towards Europe, and that of Europe towards Africa, and that of
the Scythian countries will meet with tremendous revolutions
[Footnote 84: Compare No. 945.].

*( Of Wood that burns. )*

The trees and shrubs in the great forests will be converted into
cinder.

*( Of Kilns for Bricks and Lime. )*

Finally the earth will turn red from a conflagration of many days
and the stones will be turned to cinders.

*( Of boiled Fish. )*

The natives of the waters will die in the boiling flood.

*( Of the Olives which fall from the Olive trees, shedding oil which
makes light. )*

And things will fall with great force from above, which will give us
nourishment and light.

*[Of Owls and screech owls and what will happen to certain birds.]*

Many will perish of dashing their heads in pieces, and the eyes of
many will jump out of their heads by reason of fearful creatures
come out of the darkness.

*[Of flax which works the cure of men.]*

That which was at first bound, cast out and rent by many and various
beaters will be respected and honoured, and its precepts will be
listened to with reverence and love.

*[Of Books which teach Precepts.]*

Bodies without souls will, by their contents give us precepts by
which to die well.

*[Of Flagellants.]*

Men will hide themselves under the bark of trees, and, screaming,
they will make themselves martyrs, by striking their own limbs.

*[Of the Handles of Knives made of the Horns of Sheep.]*

We shall see the horns of certain beasts fitted to iron tools, which
will take the lives of many of their kind.

*[Of Night when no Colour can be discerned.]*

There will come a time when no difference can be discerned between
colours, on the contrary, everything will be black alike.

*[Of Swords and Spears which by themselves never hurt any one.]*

One who by himself is mild enough and void of all offence will
become terrible and fierce by being in bad company, and will most
cruelly take the life of many men, and would kill many more if they
were not hindered by bodies having no soul, that have come out of
caverns--that is, breastplates of iron.

*[Of Snares and Traps.]*

Many dead things will move furiously, and will take and bind the
living, and will ensnare them for the enemies who seek their death
and destruction.

*( Of Metals. )*

That shall be brought forth out of dark and obscure caves, which
will put the whole human race in great anxiety, peril and death. To
many that seek them, after many sorrows they will give delight, and
to those who are not in their company, death with want and
misfortune. This will lead to the commission of endless crimes; this
will increase and persuade bad men to assassinations, robberies and
treachery, and by reason of it each will be suspicious of his
partner. This will deprive free cities of their happy condition;
this will take away the lives of many; this will make men torment
each other with many artifices deceptions and treasons. O monstrous
creature! How much better would it be for men that every thing
should return to Hell! For this the vast forests will be devastated
of their trees; for this endless animals will lose their lives.

*( Of Fire. )*

One shall be born from small beginnings which will rapidly become
vast. This will respect no created thing, rather will it, by its
power, transform almost every thing from its own nature into
another.

*( Of Ships which sink. )*

Huge bodies will be seen, devoid of life, carrying, in fierce haste,
a multitude of men to the destruction of their lives.

*( Of Oxen, which are eaten. )*

The masters of estates will eat their own labourers.

*( Of beating Beds to renew them. )*

Men will be seen so deeply ungrateful that they will turn upon that
which has harboured them, for nothing at all; they will so load it
with blows that a great part of its inside will come out of its
place, and will be turned over and over in its body.

*( Of Things which are eaten and which first are killed. )*

Those who nourish them will be killed by them and afflicted by
merciless deaths.

*(Of the Reflection of Walls of Cities in the Water of their
Ditches.)*

The high walls of great cities will be seen up side down in their
ditches.

*(Of Water, which flows turbid and mixed with Soil and Dust; and of
Mist, which is mixed with the Air; and of Fire which is mixed with
its own, and each with each.)*

All the elements will be seen mixed together in a great whirling
mass, now borne towards the centre of the world, now towards the
sky; and now furiously rushing from the South towards the frozen
North, and sometimes from the East towards the West, and then again
from this hemisphere to the other.

*(The World may be divided into two Hemispheres at any Point.)*

All men will suddenly be transferred into opposite hemispheres.

*(The division of the East from the West may be made at any point.)*

All living creatures will be moved from the East to the West; and in
the same way from North to South, and vice versa.

*(Of the Motion of Water which carries wood, which is dead.)*

Bodies devoid of life will move by themselves and carry with them
endless generations of the dead, taking the wealth from the
bystanders.

*(Of Eggs which being eaten cannot form Chickens.)*

Oh! how many will they be that never come to the birth!

*(Of Fishes which are eaten unborn.)*

Endless generations will be lost by the death of the pregnant.

*(Of the Lamentation on Good Friday.)*

Throughout Europe there will be a lamentation of great nations over
the death of one man who died in the East.

*(Of Dreaming.)*

Men will walk and not stir, they will talk to those who are not
present, and hear those who do not speak.

*(Of a Man's Shadow which moves with him.)*

Shapes and figures of men and animals will be seen following these
animals and men wherever they flee. And exactly as the one moves the
other moves; but what seems so wonderful is the variety of height
they assume.

*(Of our Shadow cast by the Sun, and our Reflection in the Water at
one and the same time.)*

Many a time will one man be seen as three and all three move
together, and often the most real one quits him.

*(Of wooden Chests which contain great Treasures.)*

Within walnuts and trees and other plants vast treasures will be
found, which lie hidden there and well guarded.

*(Of putting out the Light when going to Bed.)*

Many persons puffing out a breath with too much haste, will thereby
lose their sight, and soon after all consciousness.

*(Of the Bells of Mules, which are close to their Ears.)*

In many parts of Europe instruments of various sizes will be heard
making divers harmonies, with great labour to those who hear them
most closely.

*(Of Asses.)*

The severest labour will be repaid with hunger and thirst, and
discomfort, and blows, and goadings, and curses, and great abuse.

*(Of Soldiers on horseback.)*

Many men will be seen carried by large animals, swift of pace, to
the loss of their lives and immediate death.

In the air and on earth animals will be seen of divers colours
furiously carrying men to the destruction of their lives.

*(Of the Stars of Spurs.)*

By the aid of the stars men will be seen who will be as swift as any
swift animal.

*(Of a Stick, which is dead.)*

The motions of a dead thing will make many living ones flee with
pain and lamentation and cries.

*(Of Tinder.)*

With a stone and with iron things will be made visible which before
were not seen.

1296.

*(Of going in Ships.)*

We shall see the trees of the great forests of Taurus and of Sinai
and of the Appenines and others, rush by means of the air, from East
to West and from North to South; and carry, by means of the air,
great multitudes of men. Oh! how many vows! Oh! how many deaths! Oh!
how many partings of friends and relations! Oh! how many will those
be who will never again see their own country nor their native land,
and who will die unburied, with their bones strewn in various parts
of the world!

*(Of moving on All Saints' Day.)*

Many will forsake their own dwellings and carry with them all their
belongings and will go to live in other parts.

*(Of All Souls' Day.)*

How many will they be who will bewail their deceased forefathers,
carrying lights to them.

*(Of Friars, who spending nothing but words, receive great gifts and
bestow Paradise.)*

Invisible money will procure the triumph of many who will spend it.

*(Of Bows made of the Horns of Oxen.)*

Many will there be who will die a painful death by means of the
horns of cattle.

*(Of writing Letters from one Country to another.)*

Men will speak with each other from the most remote countries, and
reply.

*(Of Hemispheres, which are infinite; and which are divided by an
infinite number of Lines, so that every Man always has one of these
Lines between his Feet.)*

Men standing in opposite hemispheres will converse and deride each
other and embrace each other, and understand each other's language.

*(Of Priests who say Mass.)*

There will be many men who, when they go to their labour will put on
the richest clothes, and these will be made after the fashion of
aprons [petticoats].

*(Of Friars who are Confessors.)*

And unhappy women will, of their own free will, reveal to men all
their sins and shameful and most secret deeds.

*(Of Churches and the Habitations of Friars.)*

Many will there be who will give up work and labour and poverty of
life and goods, and will go to live among wealth in splendid
buildings, declaring that this is the way to make themselves
acceptable to God.

*(Of Selling Paradise.)*

An infinite number of men will sell publicly and unhindered things
of the very highest price, without leave from the Master of it;
while it never was theirs nor in their power; and human justice will
not prevent it.

*(Of the Dead which are carried to be buried.)*

The simple folks will carry vast quantities of lights to light up
the road for those who have entirely lost the power of sight.

*(Of Dowries for Maidens.)*

And whereas, at first, maidens could not be protected against the
violence of Men, neither by the watchfulness of parents nor by
strong walls, the time will come when the fathers and parents of
those girls will pay a large price to a man who wants to marry them,
even if they are rich, noble and most handsome. Certainly this seems
as though nature wished to eradicate the human race as being useless
to the world, and as spoiling all created things.

*(Of the Cruelty of Man.)*

Animals will be seen on the earth who will always be fighting
against each other with the greatest loss and frequent deaths on
each side. And there will be no end to their malignity; by their
strong limbs we shall see a great portion of the trees of the vast
forests laid low throughout the universe; and, when they are filled
with food the satisfaction of their desires will be to deal death
and grief and labour and wars and fury to every living thing; and
from their immoderate pride they will desire to rise towards heaven,
but the too great weight of their limbs will keep them down. Nothing
will remain on earth, or under the earth or in the waters which will
not be persecuted, disturbed and spoiled, and those of one country
removed into another. And their bodies will become the sepulture and
means of transit of all they have killed.

O Earth! why dost thou not open and engulf them in the fissures of
thy vast abyss and caverns, and no longer display in the sight of
heaven such a cruel and horrible monster.

1297.

PROPHECIES.

There will be many which will increase in their destruction.

*(The Ball of Snow rolling over Snow.)*

There will be many who, forgetting their existence and their name,
will lie as dead on the spoils of other dead creatures.

*(Sleeping on the Feathers of Birds.)*

The East will be seen to rush to the West and the South to the North
in confusion round and about the universe, with great noise and
trembling or fury.

*(In the East wind which rushes to the West.)*

The solar rays will kindle fire on the earth, by which a thing that
is under the sky will be set on fire, and, being reflected by some
obstacle, it will bend downwards.