The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci Part 124

The Duke has lost the state, property and liberty and none of his entreprises was carried out by him.

[Footnote: l. 4-10 This pa.s.sage evidently refers to events in Milan at the time of the overthrow of Ludovico il Moro. Amoretti published it in the 'Memorie Storiche' and added copious notes.]

1415.

Ambrosio Petri, St. Mark, 4 boards for the window, 2 ..., 3 the saints of chapels, 5 the Genoese at home.

1416.

Piece of tapestry,-pair of compa.s.ses,- Tommaso's book,-the book of Giovanni Benci,-the box in the custom-house,-to cut the cloth,-the sword-belt,-to sole the boots, -a light hat,-the cane from the ruined houses,-the debt for the table linen, -swimming-belt,-a book of white paper for drawing,-charcoal.-How much is a florin ...., a leather bodice.

1417.

Borges shall get for you the Archimedes from the bishop of Padua, and Vitellozzo the one from Borgo a San Sepolcro [Footnote 3: Borgo a San Sepolcro, where Luca Paciolo, Leonardo's friend, was born.]

[Footnote: Borges. A Spanish name.]

1418.

Marzocco's tablet.

1419.

Marcello lives in the house of Giacomo da Mengardino.

1420.

Where is Valentino?-boots,-boxes in the custom-house,...,-[Footnote 5: Carmine. A church and monastery at Florence.] the monk at the Carmine,-squares,-[Footnotes 7 and 8: Martelli, Borgherini; names of Florentine families. See No. 4.]

Piero Martelli,-[8] Salvi Borgherini,-send back the bags,-a support for the spectacles,-[Footnote 11: San Gallo; possibly Giuliano da San Gallo, the Florentine architect.] the nude study of San Gallo,-the cloak. Porphyry,-groups,-square,-[Footnote 16: Pandolfini, see No. 1544 note.] Pandolfino. [Footnote: Valentino.

Cesare Borgia is probably meant. After being made Archbishop of Valence by Alexander VI he was commonly called Valentinus or Valentino. With reference to Leonardo's engagements by him see pp.

224 and 243, note.]

1421.

Concave mirrors; philosophy of Aristotle;[Footnote 2: Avicenna (Leonardo here writes it Avinega) the Arab philosopher, 980-1037, for centuries the unimpeachable authority on all medical questions. Leonardo possibly points here to a printed edition: Avicennae canonum libri V, latine 1476 Patavis. Other editions are, Padua 1479, and Venice 1490.] the books of Avicenna Italian and Latin vocabulary; Messer Ottaviano Palavicino or his Vitruvius [Footnote 3: Vitruvius. See Vol. I, No. 343 note.]. bohemian knives; Vitruvius[Footnote 6: Vitruvius. See Vol. I, No. 343 note.]; go every Sat.u.r.day to the hot bath where you will see naked men;

'Meteora' [Footnote 7: Meteora. See No. 1448, 25.],

Archimedes, on the centre of gravity; [Footnote 9: The works of Archimedes were not printed during Leonardo's life-time.] anatomy [Footnote 10: Compare No. 1494.] Alessandro Benedetto; The Dante of Niccolo della Croce; Inflate the lungs of a pig and observe whether they increase in width and in length, or in width diminishing in length.

[Footnote 14: Johannes Marliani sua etate philosophorum et medicorum principis et ducalis phisic. primi de proportione motuum velocitate questio subtilissima incipit ex ejusdem Marliani originali feliciter extracta, M(ilano) 1482.

Another work by him has the t.i.tle: Marlia.n.u.s mediolanensis. Questio de caliditate corporum humanorum tempore hiemis ed estatis et de antiparistasi ad celebrem philosophorum et medicorum universitatem ticinensem. 1474.] Marliano, on Calculation, to Bertuccio. Albertus, on heaven and earth [Footnote 15: See No. 1469, 1. 7.], [from the monk Bernardino]. Horace has written on the movements of the heavens.

[Footnote: Filosofia d'Aristotele see No. 1481 note.]

1422.

Of the three regular bodies as opposed to some commentators who disparage the Ancients, who were the originators of grammar and the sciences and ...

1423.

The room in the tower of Vaneri.

[Footnote: This note is written inside the sketch of a plan of a house. On the same page is the date 1513 (see No. 1376).]

1424.

The figures you will have to reserve for the last book on shadows that they may appear in the study of Gerardo the illuminator at San Marco at Florence.

[Go to see Melzo, and the Amba.s.sador, and Maestro Bernardo].

[Footnote: L. 1-3 are in the original written between lines 3 and 4 of No. 292. But the sense is not clear in this connection. It is scarcely possible to devine the meaning of the following sentence.

2. 3. Gherardo Miniatore, a famous illuminator, 1445-1497, to whom Vasari dedicated a section of his Lives (Vol. II pp. 237-243, ed. Sansoni 1879).

5. Bernardo, possibly the painter Bernardo Zenale.]

1425.

Hermes the philosopher.

1426.

Suisset, viz. calculator,-Tisber, -Angelo Fossobron,-Alberto.

1427.

The structure of the drawbridge shown me by Donnino, and why c and d thrust downwards.

[Footnote: The sketch on the same page as this text represents two poles one across the other. At the ends of the longest are the letter c and d. The sense of the pa.s.sage is not rendered any clearer.]

1428.

The great bird will take its first flight;- on the back of his great swan,-filling the universe with wonders; filling all writings with his fame and bringing eternal glory to his birthplace.

[Footnote: This seems to be a speculation about the flying machine (compare p. 271).]

1429.

This stratagem was used by the Gauls against the Romans, and so great a mortality ensued that all Rome was dressed in mourning.

[Footnote: Leonardo perhaps alludes to the Gauls under Brennus, who laid his sword in the scale when the tribute was weighed.]

1430.

Alberto da Imola;-Algebra, that is, the demonstration of the equality of one thing to another.

1431.