The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci — Complete
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.
*(The Concave Mirror kindles a Fire, with which we heat the oven,
and this has its foundation beneath its roof.)*
A great part of the sea will fly towards heaven and for a long time
will not return. *(That is, in Clouds.)*
There remains the motion which divides the mover from the thing
moved.
Those who give light for divine service will be destroyed.*(The Bees
which make the Wax for Candles)*
Dead things will come from underground and by their fierce movements
will send numberless human beings out of the world. *(Iron, which
comes from under ground is dead but the Weapons are made of it which
kill so many Men.)*
The greatest mountains, even those which are remote from the sea
shore, will drive the sea from its place.
*(This is by Rivers which carry the Earth they wash away from the
Mountains and bear it to the Sea-shore; and where the Earth comes
the sea must retire.)*
The water dropped from the clouds still in motion on the flanks of
mountains will lie still for a long period of time without any
motion whatever; and this will happen in many and divers lands.
*(Snow, which falls in flakes and is Water.)*
The great rocks of the mountains will throw out fire; so that they
will burn the timber of many vast forests, and many beasts both wild
and tame.
*(The Flint in the Tinder-box which makes a Fire that consumes all
the loads of Wood of which the Forests are despoiled and with this
the flesh of Beasts is cooked.)*
Oh! how many great buildings will be ruined by reason of Fire.
*(The Fire of great Guns.)*
Oxen will be to a great extent the cause of the destruction of
cities, and in the same way horses and buffaloes.
*(By drawing Guns.)*
1298.
The Lion tribe will be seen tearing open the earth with their clawed
paws and in the caves thus made, burying themselves together with
the other animals that are beneath them.
Animals will come forth from the earth in gloomy vesture, which will
attack the human species with astonishing assaults, and which by
their ferocious bites will make confusion of blood among those they
devour.
Again the air will be filled with a mischievous winged race which
will assail men and beasts and feed upon them with much noise--
filling themselves with scarlet blood.
1299.
Blood will be seen issuing from the torn flesh of men, and trickling
down the surface.
Men will have such cruel maladies that they will tear their flesh
with their own nails. *(The Itch.)*
Plants will be seen left without leaves, and the rivers standing
still in their channels.
The waters of the sea will rise above the high peaks of the
mountains towards heaven and fall again on to the dwellings of men.
*(That is, in Clouds.)*
The largest trees of the forest will be seen carried by the fury of
the winds from East to West. *(That is across the Sea.)*
Men will cast away their own victuals. *(That is, in Sowing.)*
I.2 26a]
1300.
Human beings will be seen who will not understand each other's
speech; that is, a German with a Turk.
Fathers will be seen giving their daughters into the power of man
and giving up all their former care in guarding them. *(When Girls
are married.)*
Men will come out their graves turned into flying creatures; and
they will attack other men, taking their food from their very hand
or table. *(As Flies.)*
Many will there be who, flaying their mother, will tear the skin
from her back. (Husbandmen tilling the Earth.)
Happy will they be who lend ear to the words of the Dead. (Who read
good works and obey them.)
1031.
Feathers will raise men, as they do birds, towards heaven (that is,
by the letters which are written with quills.)
The works of men's hands will occasion their death. (Swords and
Spears.)
Men out of fear will cling to the thing they most fear. (That is
they will be miserable lest they should fall into misery.)
Things that are separate shall be united and acquire such virtue
that they will restore to man his lost memory; that is papyrus
[sheets] which are made of separate strips and have preserved the
memory of the things and acts of men.
The bones of the Dead will be seen to govern the fortunes of him who
moves them. (By Dice.)
Cattle with their horns protect the Flame from its death. (In a
Lantern [Footnote 13: See note page 357.].)
The Forests will bring forth young which will be the cause of their
death. (The handle of the hatchet.)
1302.
Men will deal bitter blows to that which is the cause of their life.
(In thrashing Grain.)
The skins of animals will rouse men from their silence with great
outcries and curses. (Balls for playing Games.)
Very often a thing that is itself broken is the occasion of much
union. (That is the Comb made of split Cane which unites the threads
of Silk.)
The wind passing through the skins of animals will make men dance.
(That is the Bag-pipe, which makes people dance.)
1303.
*( Of Walnut trees, that are beaten. )*
Those which have done best will be most beaten, and their offspring
taken and flayed or peeled, and their bones broken or crushed.
*( Of Sculpture. )*
Alas! what do I see? The Saviour cru- cified anew.
*( Of the Mouth of Man, which is a Sepulchre. )*
Great noise will issue from the sepulchres of those who died evil
and violent deaths.
*( Of the Skins of Animals which have the sense of feeling what is
in the things written. )*
The more you converse with skins covered with sentiments, the more
wisdom will* you acquire.
*( Of Priests who bear the Host in their body. )*
Then almost all the tabernacles in which dwells the Corpus Domini,
will be plainly seen walking about of themselves on the various
roads of the world.
1304.
And those who feed on grass will turn night into day *( Tallow. )*
And many creatures of land and water will go up among the stars *(
that is Planets.)*
The dead will be seen carrying the living *( in Carts and Ships in
various places. )*
Food shall be taken out of the mouth of many *( the oven's mouth. )*
And those which will have their food in their mouth will be deprived
of it by the hands of others *( the oven. )*
1305.
*( Of Crucifixes which are sold. )*
I see Christ sold and crucified afresh, and his Saints suffering
Martyrdom.
*( Of Physicians, who live by sickness. )*
Men will come into so wretched a plight that they will be glad that
others will derive profit from their sufferings or from the loss of
their real wealth, that is health.
*( Of the Religion of Friars, who live by the Saints who have been
dead a great while. )*
Those who are dead will, after a thou- sand years be those who will
give a livelihood to many who are living.
*( Of Stones converted into Lime, with which prison walls are made.
)*
Many things that have been before that time destroyed by fire will
deprive many men of liberty.
I.2 19a]
1306.
*( Of Children who are suckled. )*
Many Franciscans, Dominicans and Benedictines will eat that which at
other times was eaten by others, who for some months to come will
not be able to speak.
*( Of Cockles and Sea Snails which are thrown up by the sea and
which rot inside their shells. )*
How many will there be who, after they are dead, will putrefy inside
their own houses, filling all the surrounding air with a fetid
smell.
1307.
*( Of Mules which have on them rich burdens of silver and gold. )*
Much treasure and great riches will be laid upon four-footed beasts,
which will convey them to divers places.
1308.
*( Of the Shadow cast by a man at night with a light. )*
Huge figures will appear in human shape, and the nearer you get to
them, the more will their immense size diminish.
[Footnote page 1307: It seems to me probable that this note, which
occurs in the note book used in 1502, when Leonardo, in the service
of Cesare Borgia, visited Urbino, was suggested by the famous
pillage of the riches of the palace of Guidobaldo, whose treasures
Cesare Borgia at once had carried to Cesena (see GREGOROVIUS,
_Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter_. XIII, 5, 4). ]
1309.
*(Of Snakes, carried by Storks.)*
Serpents of great length will be seen at a great height in the air,
fighting with birds.
*(Of great guns, which come out of a pit and a mould.)*
Creatures will come from underground which with their terrific noise
will stun all who are near; and with their breath will kill men and
destroy cities and castles.
1310.
*(Of Grain and other Seeds.)*
Men will fling out of their houses those victuals which were
intended to sustain their life.
*(Of Trees, which nourish grafted shoots.)*
Fathers and mothers will be seen to take much more delight in their
step-children then in their own children.
*(Of the Censer.)*
Some will go about in white garments with arrogant gestures
threatening others with metal and fire which will do no harm at all
to them.
1311.
*(Of drying Fodder.)*
Innumerable lives will be destroyed and innumerable vacant spaces
will be made on the earth.
*(Of the Life of Men, who every year change their bodily
substance.)*
Men, when dead, will pass through their own bowels.
1312.
*(Shoemakers.)*
Men will take pleasure in seeing their own work destroyed and
injured.
1313.
*(Of Kids.)*