benefices; then the works; then ingratitude, indignity and lamentations.
H.3 47b]
1389.
Chiliarch–captain of 1000.
Prefects–captains.
A legion, six thousand and sixty three men.
H.2 14b]
1390.
A nun lives at La Colomba at Cremona; she works good straw plait, and a friar of Saint Francis.[Footnote: La Colomba is to this day the name of a small house at Cremona, decorated with frescoes.]
H.2 46a]
1391.
Needle,–Niccolao,–thread,–Ferrando, -lacopo Andrea,–canvas,–stone,–colours, -brushes,-pallet,-sponge,-the panel
of the Duke.
S.K.M.II.2 7a]
1392.
Messer Gian Domenico Mezzabarba and
Messer Giovanni Franceso Mezzabarba. By the side of Messer Piero d’Anghiera.
S.K.M. II.2 7b]
1393.
Conte Francesco Torello.
S.K.M. II.2 12a]
1394.
Giuliano Trombetta,–Antonio di Ferrara, –Oil of ….
[Footnote: Near this text is the sketch of a head drawn in red chalk.]
S.K.M. II.2 20a]
1395.
Paul was snatched up to heaven.
[Footnote: See the facsimile of this note on Pl.XXIII No. 2.]
S.K.M. II.2 22a]
1396.
Giuliano da Maria, physician, has a steward without hands.
S.K.M. II.2 27a]
1397.
Have some ears of corn of large size sent from Florence.
S.K.M.II.2 52a]
1398.
See the bedstead at Santa Maria.
Secret.
S.K.M.II.2 53a]
1399.
Arrigo is to have 11 gold Ducats.
Arrigo is to have 4 gold ducats in the middle of August.
S.K.M.II.2 63a]
1400.
Give your master the instance of a
captain who does not himself win the victory, but the soldiers do by his counsels; and so he still deserves the reward.
S.K.M.II.2 68a]
1401.
Messer Pier Antonio.
S.K.M.II.2 69a]
1402.
Oil,–yellow,–Ambrosio,–the mouth,
–the farmhouse.
S.K.M.II.2 78b]
1403.
My dear Alessandro from Parma, by the hand of …
S.K.M.II.2 78b]
1404.
Giovannina, has a fantastic face,–is at Santa Caterina, at the Hospital.[Footnote: Compare the text on the same page: No. 667.]
I.2 IIa]
1405.
24 tavole make 1 perch.
4 trabochi make 1 tavola.
4 braccia and a half make a trabocco. A perch contains 1936 square braccia,
or 1944.
I.2 70b]
1406.
The road of Messer Mariolo is 13 1/4 braccia wide; the House of Evangelista is 75.
It enters 7’/2 braccia in the house of Mariolo. [Footnote: On this page and that which faces it, MS.I2 7la, are two diagrams with numerous reference numbers, evidently relating to the measurements of a street.]
I.2 72b]
1407.
I ask at what part of its curved motion the moving cause will leave the thing
moved and moveable.
Speak to Pietro Monti of these methods of throwing spears.
I.2 87a]
1408.
Antonio de’ Risi is at the council of Justice.
I.1 28a]
1409.
Paolo said that no machine that moves another …[Footnote: The passage, of which, the beginning is here given, deals with questions in mechanics. The instances in which Leonardo quotes the opinions of his contemporaries on scientific matters are so rare as to be worth noticing. Compare No. 901. ]
W.P.7.]
1410.
Caravaggio.[Footnote:Caravaggio, a village not far from the Adda between Milan and Brescia, where Polidoro and Michelangelo da Caravaggio were born. This note is given in facsimile on Pl. XIII, No. I (above, to the left). On Pl. XIII, No. 2 above to the right we read cerovazo.]
W.A.II.5b]
1411.
Pulleys,–nails,–rope,–mercury,–cloth, Monday.
W.A.II.202b]
1412.
MEMORANDUM.
Maghino, Speculus of Master Giovanni
the Frenchman; Galenus on utility.
W.X.]
1413.
Near to Cordusio is Pier Antonio da
Tossano and his brother Serafino.
[Footnote: This note is written between lines 23 and 24 of the text No. 710. Corduso, Cordusio (curia ducis) = Cordus in the Milanese dialect, is the name of a Piazza between the Via del Broletto and the Piazza de’ Mercanti at Milan.. In the time of il Moro it was the centre of the town. The persons here named were members of the noble Milanese family de’Fossani; Ambrogio da Possano, the con- temporary painter, had no connection with them.]
1414.
L. o’]
Memoranda
after 1500
(1414–1434)
1414.
Paul of Vannochio at Siena …
The upper chamber for the apostles.
[4] Buildings by Bramante.
The governor of the castle made a
prisoner.
[Footnote 6: Visconti. Chi fosse quel Visconte non sapremmo indovinare fra tanti di questo nome. Arluno narra che allora atterrate furono le case de’ Viconti, de’ Castiglioni, de’ Sanseverini, e de’ Botta e non e improbabile che ne fossero insultati e morti i padroni. Molti Visconti annovera lo stesso Cronista che per essersi rallegrati del ritorno del duca in Milano furono da Francesi arrestati, e strascinati in–Francia come prigionieri di stato; e fra questi Messer Francesco Visconti, e suo figliuolo Battista. (AMORETTI, Mem. Stor. XIX.). Visconti carried away and his son killed.
Giovanni della Rosa deprived of his money.
[Footnote 8: Borgonzio o Brugonzio Botta fu regolatore delle ducali entrate sotto il Moro, alla cui fuga la casa sua fu pur messa a sacco da’ partitanti francesi. (AMORETTI, 1. c.)] Borgonzio began …; and moreover his fortunes fled.
The Duke has lost the state, property and liberty and none of his entreprises was carried out by him.
[Footnote 1: 4–10 This passage 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.]
L. Ia]
1415.
Ambrosio Petri, St. Mark, 4 boards for the window, 2 …, 3 the saints of
chapels, 5 the Genoese at home.
L. Ib]
1416.
Piece of tapestry,-pair of compasses,– 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.
L.2a]
1417.
Borges [Footnote: Borges. A Spanish name.] shall get for you the Archimedes from the bishop of Padua, and Vitellozzo the one from Borgo a San Sepolcro [Footnote: Borgo a San Sepolcro, where Luca Paciolo, Leonardo’s friend, was born.] L. 30b]
1418.
Marzocco’s tablet.
L. o”]
1419.
Marcello lives in the house of Giacomo da Mengardino.
Br. M. 202b]
1420.
Where is Valentino? [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.]–boots,–boxes in the custom-house …,– [Footnote: Carmine. A church and monastery at Florence.] the monk at the Carmine,–squares,–[Footnotes 7 an 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.
1421.
Concave mirrors; philosophy of Aristotle;[Footnote:Filosofia d’Aristotele see No. 1481 note.][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 Saturday to the hot bath where you will see naked men;
Meteora’ [Footnote 7: 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 ducala phisic. primi de proportione motuum velocitate questio subtilissima incipit ex ejusdem Marliani originali feliciter extracta, M(ilano) 1482.
Another work by him has the title: Marlianus 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.
F. 27b]
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 …
W. An. III 217a (G)]
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 Ambassador, 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 passage 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.
Johannes Rubicissa e Robbia.
1432.
Ask the wife of Biagio Crivelli how the capon nurtures and hatches the eggs of
the hen,–he being drunk.
1433.
The book on Water to Messer Marco
Antonio.
[Footnote: Possibly Marc-Antonio della Torre, see p. 97.]
1434.
Have Avicenna’s work on useful inventions translated; spectacles with the case, steel and fork and…., charcoal, boards, and
paper, and chalk and white, and wax;…. …. for glass, a saw for bones with fine teeth, a chisel, inkstand …….. three herbs, and Agnolo Benedetto. Get a skull, nut,–mustard.
Boots,–gloves, socks, combs, papers, towels, shirts,…. shoe-tapes,–…..
shoes, penknife, pens. A skin for the chest.
[Footnote: 4. Lapis. Compare Condivi, _Vita di Michelagnolo Buonarotti_, Chap. XVIII.: _Ma egli_ (Michelangelo) _non avendo che mostrare, prese una penna (percioche in quel tempo il lapis non era in uso) e con tal leggiadria gli dipinse una mano ecc._ The incident is of the year l496.–Lapis means pencil, and chalk (_matita_). Between lines 7 and 8 are the texts given as Nos. 819 and No. 7.]
Undated memoranda
(1435-1457).
1435.
The book of Piero Crescenze,–studies from the nude by Giovanni Ambrosio,–compasses, –the book of Giovanni Giacomo.
1436.
MEMORARDUM.
To make some provisions for my garden, –Giordano, _De Ponderibus_[Footnote 3: _Giordano_. Jordanus Nemorarius, a mathematician
of the beginning of the XIIIth century. No particulars of his life are known. The title of his principal work is: _Arithmetica decem libris demonstrata_, first published at Paris 1496. In 1523 appeared at Nuremberg: _Liber *Jordani Nemorarii de ponderibus, propositiones XIII et earundem demonstrationes, multarumque rerum rationes sane pulcherrimas complectens, nunc in lucem editus._],–the peacemaker, the flow and ebb of the sea,–have two
baggage trunks made, look to Beltraffio’s [Footnote 6: _Beltraffio_, see No. 465, note 2.
There are sketches by the side of lines 8 and 10.] lathe
and have taken the stone,–out leave the books belonging to Messer Andrea the German,– make scales of a long reed and weigh the substance when hot and again when cold.
The mirror of Master Luigi; _A b_ the flow and ebb of the water is shown at the mill of Vaprio,–a cap.
1437.
Giovanni Fabre,–Lazaro del Volpe,–
the common,–Ser Piero.
[Footnote: These names are inserted on a plan of plots of land adjoining the Arno.]
1438.
[Lactantius], [the book of Benozzo],
groups, to bind the book,–a lantern,–Ser Pecantino,–Pandolfino.–[Rosso]–a square, –small knives,–carriages,–curry combs– cup.
1439.
Quadrant of Carlo Marmocchi,–Messer
Francesco Araldo,–Ser Benedetto d’Accie perello,–Benedetto on arithmetic,–Maestro Paulo, physician,–Domenico di Michelino,– …… of the Alberti,–Messer Giovanni
Argimboldi.
1440.
Colours, formula,–Archimedes,–Marcantonio.
Tinned iron,–pierced iron.
1441.
See the shop that was formerly Bartolommeo’s, the stationer.
[Footnote: 6. _Marc Antonio_, see No. 1433.]
1442.
The first book is by Michele di Francesco Nabini; it treats on science.
1443.
Messer Francesco, physician of Lucca, with the Cardinal Farnese.
[Footnote: _Alessandro Farnese_, afterwards Pope Paul III was created in 1493 Cardinal di San Cosimo e San Damiano, by Alexander VI.]
1444.
Pandolfino’s book [Footnote 1: _Pandolfino, Agnolo_, of Florence. It is to this day doubtful whether he or L. B. Alberti was the author of the famous work ‘_Del Governo della Famiglia_’. It is the more probable that Leonardo should have meant this work by the words _il libro_, because no other book is known to have been written by Pandolfino. This being the case this allusion of Leonardo’s is an important evidence in favour of Pandolfino’s authorship (compare No. 1454, line 3).],–knives,–a pen
for ruling,–to have the vest dyed,–The library at St.-Mark’s,–The library at Santo Spirito,–Lactantius of the Daldi [Footnote 7: The works of Lactantius were published very often in Italy during Leonardo’s lifetime. The first edition published in 1465 “_in monastero sublacensi_” was also the first book printed in Italy.],–Antonio
Covoni,–A book by Maestro Paolo Infermieri, –Boots, shoes and hose,–(Shell)lac,
–An apprentice to do the models for me. Grammar, by Lorenzo de Medici,–Giovanni del Sodo,–Sansovino, [Footnote 15: _Sansovino_, Andrea–the _sculptor_; 1460-1529.]–a ruler,–a very sharp knife,–Spectacles,–fractions…., –repair………,–Tomaso’s book,–
Michelagnolo’s little chain; Learn the multiplication of roots from Maestro Luca;–my
map of the world which Giovanni Benci has [Footnote 25: Leonardo here probably alludes to the map, not executed by him (See p. 224), which is with the collection of his MSS. at Windsor, and was published in the _Archaeologia_ Vol. XI (see p. 224).];-Socks,–clothes from the customhouse –officier,–Red Cordova leather,–The
map of the world, of Giovanni Benci,–a print, the districts about Milan–Market book. 1445.
In that at Pavia the movement is more to be admired than any thing else.
The imitation of antique work is better than that of the modern things.
Beauty and utility cannot exist together, as seen in fortresses and in men.
The trot is almost the nature of the free horse.
Where natural vivacity is lacking it must be supplied by art.
[Footnote: Quel di Pavia_. _Pavia_ is possibly a clerical error for _Padua_, and if so the meaning of the passage is easily arrived at: _Quel di Padua_ would be the bronze equestrian statue of Gattamelata, on the Piazza del Santo at Padua executed by Donatelle in 1443 (see pp. 2 and 3).]
1446.
Salvadore, the matress maker, lives on the Piazza di Sant’ Andrea, you enter by the furrier’s.
1447.
Monsignore de’ Pazzi,–Ser Antonio Pacini.
1448.
An algebra, which the Marliani have,
written by their father, [Footnote 1: _Marliani_, an old Milanese family, now
extinct.]–
On the bone, by the Marliani,–
On the bone which penetrates, Gian Giacomo of Bellinzona, to draw out the nail with facility,–
The measurement of Boccalino,–
The measurement of Milan and the suburbs, [Footnote 5: *21. See Pl. CIX and No. 1016.]–
A book, treating of Milan and its churches which is to be had at the last stationer’s on the way to Corduso [Footnote 6: _Corduso_, see No. 1413, note.],–
The measurement of the Corte Vecchia,–
The measurement of the Castle,–
Get the master of arithmetic to show you how to square a….,–
Get Messer Fazio to show you [the book] on proportion,–
Get the Friar di Brera to show you [the book] ‘_de Ponderibus_’ [*11],–
Of the measurement of San Lorenzo,–
I lent certain groups to Fra Filippo de Brera, [*13]–
Memorandum: to ask Maestro Giovannino as to the mode in which the tower of
Ferrara is walled without loopholes,–
Ask Maestro Antonio how mortars are
placed on bastions by day or by night,–
Ask Benedetto Portinari how the people go on the ice in Flanders,–
On proportions by Alchino, with notes by Marliano, from Messer Fazio,–
The measurement of the sun, promised me by Maestro Giovanni, the Frenchman,–
The cross bow of Maestro Gianetto,–
The book by Giovanni Taverna that
Messer Fazio,–
You will draw Milan [21],–
The measurement of the canal, locks and supports, and large boats; and the expense,–
Plan of Milan [Footnote 23: _Fondamento_ is commonly used by Leonardo to mean ground-plan. See for instance p. 53.],–
Groups by Bramante [Footnote 24: _Gruppi_. See Vol. I p. 355, No. 600, note 9.],–
The book on celestial phenomena by
Aristoteles, in Italian [Footnote 25: _Meteora_. By this Leonardo means no doubt the four books *. He must refer
here to a MS. translation, as no Italian translation is known to have been published (see No. 1477 note).],–
Try to get Vitolone, which is in the
library at Pavia [Footnote 26: _Vitolone_ see No. 1506, note.
_Libreria di Pavia_. One of the most famous of Italian libraries. After the victory of Novara in April 1500, Louis XII had it conveyed to France, ‘_come trofeo di vittoria_’!] and which treats of Mathematics,–He had a master [learned] in waterworks and get him to explain the repairs and the costs, and a lock and a canal and a mill in the Lombard fashion.
A grandson of Gian Angelo’s, the painter has a book on water which was his fathers.
Paolino Scarpellino, called Assiolo has great knowledge of water works.
1449.
Francesco d’Antonio at Florence.
11. 13. [Footnote: _Brera_, now _Palazzo delle Scienze ed Arti. Until 1571 it was the monastery of the order of the Umiliati and afterwards of the Jesuits.
_De ponderibus_, compare No. 1436, 3.]
12. [Footnote: _Sco Lorenzo_. A church at Milan, see pp. 39, 40 and 50.]
*13. 24. [Footnote: _Gruppi_. See Vol. I p. 355, No. 600, note 9.]
*16. [Footnote: The _Portinari_ were one of the great merchant- families of Florence.]
1450.
Giuliano Condi[*1],–Tomaso Ridolf1,– Tomaso Paganelli,–Nicolo delNero,–Simone Zasti,–Nasi,–the heir of Lionardo Manelli, –Guglielmo di Ser Martino,–Bartolomeo
del Tovaglia,–Andrea Arrigucci,–
Nicolo Capponi,–Giovanni Portinari.
[Footnote: I. _Guiliano Gondi_. Ser Piero da Vinci, Leonardo’s father, lived till 1480, in a house belonging to Giuliano Gondi. In 1498 this was pulled down to make room for the fine Palazzo built on the Piazza San Firenze by Giuliano di San Gallo, which still exists. In the _Riassunto del Catasto di Ser Piero da Vinci_, 1480, Leonardo is not mentioned; it is evident therefore that he was living elsewhere. It may be noticed incidentally that in the _Catasto di Giuliano Gondi_ of the same year the following mention is made of his four eldest sons:
_Lionardo mio figliuolo d’eta d’anni 29, non fa nulla, Giovambatista d’eta d’anni 28 in Ghostantinopoli, Billichozo d’eta d’anni 24 a Napoli,
Simone d’eta d’anni 23 in Ungheria.
He himself was a merchant of gold filigree (_facciamo lavorare una bottegha d’arte di seta … facciamo un pocho di trafico a Napoli_}, As he was 59 years old in 1480, he certainly would not have been alive at the time of Leonardo’s death. But Leonardo must have been on intimate terms with the family till the end of his life, for in a letter dated June 1. 1519, in which Fr. Melzi, writing from Amboise, announces Leonardo’s death to Giuliano da Vinci at Florence (see p. 284), he says at the end “_Datemene risposta per i Gondi_” (see UZIELLI, _Ricerche_, passim).
Most of the other names on the list are those of well-known Florentine families.]
1451.
Pandolfino.
1452.
Vespuccio will give me a book of Geometry.
[Footnote: See No. 844, note, p. 130.]
1453.
Marcantonio Colonna at Santi Apostoli.
[Footnote: In July 1506 Pope Julius II gave Donna Lucrezia della Rovere, the daughter of his sister Lucchina, in marriage to the youthful Marcantonio Colonna, who, like his brothers Prospero and Fabrizio, became one of the most famous Captains of his family. He gave to him Frascati
and made him a present of the palazzo he had built, when Cardinal, near the church of Santi Apostoli which is now known as the Palazzo Colonna (see GREGOROVIUS, _Gesch. der Stadt Rom._ Vol. VIII, book XIV I, 3. And COPPI, _Mem. Colonnesi p. 251).]
1454.
A box, a cage,–
A square, to make the bird [Footnote 2: Vasari states that Leonardo invented mechanical birds which moved through the air. Compare No. 703.],–
Pandolfino’s book, mortar [?],–
Small knives, Venieri for the
*1454. [Footnote: Much of No. 1444 is repeated in this memorandum.] *Pen for ruling, stone,–star,–
To have the vest dyed, Alfieri’s tazza,–
The Libraries, the book on celestial
phenomena,–
Lactantius of the go to the house of
Daldi,– the Pazzi,
Book from Maestro small box,–
Paolo Infermieri,–
Boots, shoes and small gimlet,–
hose,
Lac, …….,–
An apprentice for …..,–
models,
Grammar of Lo-the amount of the
renzo de’ Medici,…
Giovanni del Sodo …..
for…,–the broken
Sansovino, the….
Piero di Cosino [Footnote 16: _Pier di Cosimo_ the well known Florentine painter 1462-1521. See VASARI, _Vite_ (Vol. IV, p. 134 ed. Sansoni 1880) about Leonardo’s influence on Piero di Cosimo’s style of painting.], the wings,–
Filippo and Lorenzo [Footnote 17: _Filippo e Lorenzo_; probably the painters Filippino
Lippi and Lorenzo di Credi. L. di Credi’s pictures and Vasari’s history of that painter bear ample evidence to his intimate relations with Leonardo.],–A ruler-,– Spectacles,–to do the….. again,–To-
maso’s book,–Michelagnolo’s chain,–The multiplication of roots,–Of the bow and strinch,–The map of the world from Benci,– Socks,–The clothes from the custom-house officier,–Cordova leather,–Market books,
–waters of Cronaca,–waters of Tanaglino…,
–the caps,–Rosso’s mirror; to see him make it,–1/3 of which I have 5/6,–on the celestial phenomena, by Aristotle [Footnote 36: _Meteora_. See No. 1448, 25.],–boxes of Lorenzo di Pier Francesco [Footnote 37: _Lorenzo di Pier Francesco_ and his brother _Giovanni_ were a lateral branch of the _Medici_ family and changed their name for that of Popolani.],–Maestro Piero of the Borgo,–To have my book
bound,–Show the book to Serigatto,– and get the rule of the clock [Footnote 41: Possibly this refers to the clock on the tower of the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence. In February 1512 it had been repaired, and so arranged as to indicate the hours after the French manner (twelve hours a. m. and as many p. m.).],–
ring,–nutmeg,–gum,–the square,–Giovan’ Batista at the piazza, de’ Mozzi,–Giovanni Benci has my book and jaspers,–brass for the spectacles.
1455.
Search in Florence for……
*7. 36. _Meteora_. See No. 1448, 25.
1456.
Bernardo da Ponte … Val di Lugano
… many veins for anatomical demonstration.
[Footnote: This fragmentary note is written on the margin of a drawing of two legs.]
1457.
Paolo of Tavechia, to see the marks in the German stones.
[Footnote: This note occurs on a pen and ink drawing made by Leonardo as a sketch for the celebrated large cartoon in the possession of the Royal Academy of Arts, in London. This cartoon is commonly supposed to be identical with that described and lauded by Vasari, which was exhibited in Florence at the time and which now seems to be lost. Mr. Alfred Marks, of Long Ditton, in his valuable paper (read before the Royal Soc. of Literature, June 28, 1882) “On the St. Anne of Leonardo da Vinci”, has adduced proof that the cartoon now in the Royal Academy was executed earlier at Milan. The note here given, which is written on the sheet containing the study for the said cartoon, has evidently no reference to the drawing on which it is written but is obviously of the same date. Though I have not any opening here for discussing this question of the cartoon, it seemed to me important to point out that the character of the writing in this note does not confirm the opinion hitherto held that the Royal Academy cartoon was the one described by Vasari, but, on the contrary, supports the hypothesis put forward by Mr. Marks.]
Notes on
pupils
(1458-1468.)
1458.
Giacomo came to live with me on St.-Mary Magdalen’s[*1] day, 1490, aged 10 years. The second day I had two shirts cut out for him, a pair of hose, and a jerkin, and when I put aside some money to pay for these things he stole 4 _lire_
the money out of the purse; and I could never make him confess, though I was quite certain of the fact.–Thief, liar, obstinate, glutton.
The day after, I went to sup with Giacomo Andrea, and the said Giacomo supped
for two and did mischief for four; for he brake 3 cruets, spilled the wine, and after this came to sup where I….
Item: on the 7th day of September he
stole a silver point of the value of 22 soldi from Marco [Footnote 6: _Marco_, probably Leonardo’s pupil Marco d’Oggionno; 1470 is supposed to be the date of his
birth and 1540 of his death.
_Che stava con meco._ We may infer from this that he left the master shortly after this, his term of study having perhaps expired.] who was living with me, 4 _lire_ this being of silver; and he took it from his studio, and when the said Marco had searched for it a long while he found it hidden
in the said Giacomo’s box 4 _lire_.
[Footnote: _Il di della Maddalena._ July 22.] Item: on the 26th January following,
I, being in the house of Messer Galeazzo da San Severino [Footnote 9: Galeazza. See No. 718 note.], was arranging the festival for his jousting, and certain footmen having undressed to try on some costumes of wild men for the said festival, Giacomo went to the purse of one of them which lay on the bed with other clothes, 2 lire 4 S, and took out such money as was in it.
Item: when I was in the same house,
Maestro Agostino da Pavia gave to me a Turkish hide to have 2 lire.
a pair of short boots made of it; this Giacomo stole it of me within a month and sold it to a cobbler for 20 soldi, with
which money, by his own confession, he bought anise comfits.
Item: again, on the 2nd April, Giovan Antonio [Footnote 16:Giovan Antonio, probably Beltraffio, 1467 to 1516.] having left a silver point on a drawing of his, Giacomo stole it, and this was of the value of 24 soldi 1 lira 4 S.
The first year-
A cloak, 2 lire,
6 shirts, 4 lire,
3 jerkins, 6 lire,
4 pairs of hose, 7 lire 8 soldi,
1 lined doublet, 5 lire,
24 pairs of shoes, 6 lire 5 soldi,
A cap, l lira,
laces, 1 lira.
[Footnote: Leonardo here gives a detailed account not only of the loss he and others incurred through Giacomo but of the wild tricks of the youth, and we may therefore assume that the note was not made merely as a record for his own use, but as a report to be forwarded to the lad’s father or other responsible guardian.]
S.K.M. III. Ia]
1459.
On the last day but one of September;
Thursday the 27th day of September
Maestro Tommaso came back and worked for himself until the last day but one of February. On the 18th day of March, 1493, Giulio, a German, came to live with me,–Lucia, Piero, Leonardo.
On the 6th day of October.
1460.
1493.
On the 1st day of November we settled accounts. Giulio had to pay 4 months;
and Maestro Tommaso 9 months; Maestro Tommaso afterwards made 6 candlesticks,
10 days’ work; Giulio some fire-tongs 15 days work. Then he worked for himself till the 27th May, and worked for me at a lever till the 18th July; then for himself till the 7th of August, and for one day, on the fifteenth, for a lady. Then again for me at 2 locks until the 20th of August.
1461.
On the 23rd day of August, 12 lire from Pulisona. On the 14th of March 1494, Galeazzo came to live with me, agreeing to
pay 5 lire a month for his cost paying on the l4th day of each month.
His father gave me 2 Rhenish florins.
On the l4th of July, I had from Galeazze 2 Rhenish florins.
1462.
On the l5th day of September Giulio began the lock of my studio 1494.
1463.
Saturday morning the 3rd of August 1504 Jacopo the German came to live with me
in the house, and agreed with me that I should charge him a carlino a day.
1464.
1511.
On the 26th of September Antonio broke his leg; he must rest 40 days.
[Footnote: This note refers possibly to Beltraffio.] 1465.
I left Milan for Rome on the 24th day of September, 1513, with Giovanni [*2], Francesco di Melzi [*3], Salai, Lorenzo and il Fanfoia.
1466.
On the 3rd day of January.
Benedetto carne on the 17th of October; he stayed with me two months and 13 days of last year [*4], in which time he earned 38 lire, 18 soldi and 8 dinari; he had of this 26 lire and 8 soldi, and there remains to be paid for the past year 12 lire 10 soldi.
Giodatti (?) came on the 8th day of September, at 4 soldi a month, and stayed with
me 3 months and 24 days, and earned 59 lire 14 soldi and 8 dinari; he has had 43 lire, 4 soldi, there remains to pay 16 lire, 10 soldi and 8 dinari.
Benedetto, 24 grossoni.
1467.
Gian Maria 4,
Benedetto 4,
Gian Pietro [*5] 3,
Salai 3,
Bartolomeo 3,
Gherardo 4.
*1465. 2. _Giovan;_ it is not likely that Leonardo should have called Giovan’ Antonio Beltraffio at one time Giovanni, as in this note and another time Antonio, as in No. 1464 while in No. 1458 l. 16 we find _Giovan’Antonio_, and in No. 1436, l.6 _Beltraffio_. Possibly the Giovanni here spoken of is Leonardo’s less known pupil Giovan Pietrino (see No. 1467, 5).
2. 3. _Francesco de’ Melzi_ is often mentioned, see Nos. 1350.
3. _Salai_. See No. 1519 note.
4. _Lorenzo_. See No. 1351, l. 10 (p. 408). Amoretti gives the following note in _Mem. Stor. XXIII:_ 1505. _Martedi-sera a di 14 d’aprile. Venne Lorenzo a stare con mecho: disse essere d’eta d’anni 17 .. a di 15 del detto aprile ebbi scudi 25 d’oro dal chamerlingo di Santa Maria nuova._ This, he asserts is derived from a MS. marked S, in quarto. This MS. seems to have vanished and left no trace behind; Amoretti himself had not seen it, but copied from a selection of extracts made by Oltrocchi before the Leonardo MSS. were conveyed to Paris on the responsibility of the first French Republic. Lorenzo, by this, must have been born in 1487. The sculptor Lorenzetto was born in 1490. Amoretti has been led by the above passage to make the following absurd observations:
_Cotesto Lorenzo, che poi gli fu sempre compagno, almeno sin che stette in Italia, sarebb’ egli Lorenzo Lotto bergamasco? Sappiamo essere stato questo valente dipintore uno de’ bravi scolari del Vinci_ (?).
_Il Fafoia_, perhaps a nickname. Cesare da Sesto, Leonardo’s pupil, seems to have been in Rome in these years, as we learn from a drawing by him in the Louvre.
1466. This seems to be an account for two assistants. The name of the second is scarcely legible. The year is not given. The note is nevertheless of chronological value. The first line tells us the date when the note was registered, January 3d, and the* C.A.F. 279a; 855a]
1468.
Salai, 20 lire,
Bonifacio, 2 lire,
Bartolomeo, 4 lire,
Arrigo [Harry], 15 lire.
C.A. 207a; 609a]
Quotations
and notes on
books and
authors
(1469–1508).
1469.
Book on Arithmetic [Footnote 1: “La nobel opera de arithmethica ne la qual se tracta tute cosse amercantia pertinente facta & compilata per Piero borgi da Veniesia”, in-40. In fine: “Nela inclita cita di Venetia a corni. 2 augusto. 1484. fu imposto fine ala presente opera.” Segn. a–p. quaderni. V’ha pero
un’ altra opera simile di Filippo Calandro, 1491. E da consultarsi su quest’ ultimo, Federici: Memorie Trevigiane, Fiore di virtu: pag. 73. “Libricciuolo composto di bello stile verso il 1320 e piu volte impresso nel secolo XV (ristampato poi anche piu tardi). Gli accademici della Crusca lo ammettono nella serie dei testi di lingua. Vedasi Gamba, Razzolini, Panzer, Brunet, Lechi, ecc. (G. D’A.)] ‘Flowers of Virtue’,
Pliny, [Footnote 2: “Historia naturale di C. Plinio Secondo, tradocta di lingua latina in fiorentina per Christophoro Laudino & Opus Nicolai Jansonis gallici imp. anno salutis M. CCCC.LXXVI.Venetiis” in-fol.-Diogene Laertio. Incomincia: “El libro de la vita de philosophi etc.: Impressum Venetiis” per Bernardinum Celerium de Luere, 1480″, in-40(G. D’A.).] ‘Lives of the Philosophers’,
The Bible, [Footnote 3:”La Bibia volgare historiata (per Nicolo di Mallermi) Venecia … M.CCCC.LXXI in kalende di Augusto (per Vindelino de Spira)” 2 vol. in-fol. a 2 col. di 50 lin,; od altra ediz. della stessa versione del Mallermi, Venetia 1471, e sempre: “Venecia per Gabriel de Piero 1477,” in-fol.; 2 vol.; Ottavio Scotto da Modoetia 1481,” “Venetia 1487 per Joan Rosso Vercellese,” “1490 Giovanni Ragazo di Monteferato a instantia di Luchanthonio di Giunta, ecc.”–Lapidario Teofrasto? Mandebille: “Le grand lapidaire,” versioneitaliana ms.?… Giorgio Agricola non puo essere, perche nato nel 1494, forse Alberto Magno: de mineralibus. * Potrebbe essere una traduzione del poema latino (Liber lapidum seu de gemmis) di Marbordio Veterio di Rennes (morto nel II23 da lui stesso tradotto in francese dal greco di Evao re d’Arabia celebre medico che l’aveva composto per l’imperatore Tiberio. Marbodio scrisse il suo prima per Filippo Augusto re di Francia. Vi sono anche traduzioni in prosa. “Il lapidario o la forza e la virtu delle pietre preziose, delle Erbe e degli Animali.” (G. D’A.)] ‘Lapidary’,
‘On warfare’ [Footnote 4:Il Vegezio?… Il Frontino?,.. Il Cornazzano?… Noi crediamo piuttosto il Valturio. Questo libro doveva essere uno de’favoriti di Leonardo poiche libro di scienza e d’arte nel tempo stesso.]’Epistles of Filelfo’,
[Footnote: The late Marchese Girolamo d’Adda published a highly valuable and interesting disquisition on this passage under the title: Leonardo da Vinci e la sua Libreria, note di un bibliofilo (Milano 1873. Ed. di soli 75 esemplari; privately printed). In the autumn of 1880 the Marchese d’Adda showed me a considerable mass of additional notes prepared for a second edition. This, as he then intended, was to come out after the publication of this work of mine. After the much regretted death of the elder Marchese, his son, the Marchese Gioachino d’Adda was so liberal as to place these MS. materials at my disposal for the present work, through the kind intervention of Signor Gustavo Frizzoni. The following passages, with the initials G. d’A. are prints from the valuable notes in that publication, the MS. additions I have marked*. I did not however think myself justified in reproducing here the acute and interesting observations on the contents of most of the rare books here enumerated.]
****below must belong to previous page’s footnotes*** observations that follow refer to events of the previous month ‘of last year’ (dell’ anno passato). Leonardo cannot therefore have written thus in Florence where the year was, at that period, calculated as beginning in the month of March (see Vol. I, No. 4, note 2). He must then have been in Milan. What is more important is that we thus learn how to date the beginning of the year in all the notes written at Milan. This clears up Uzielli’s doubts: A Milano facevasi cominciar l’anno ab incarnatione, cioe il 25 Marzo e a nativitate, cioe il 25 Decembre. Ci sembra probabile che Leonardo dovesse prescegliere lo stile che era in uso a Firenze. (Ricerche, p. 84, note.)
1467. 5. See No. 1465, 2.
****Above must belong to previous page’s footnotes***
The first decade, [5] ‘On the preservation of health’, The third decade, [6] Ciecho d’Ascoli,
The fourth decade, [7] Albertus Magnus, Guido, [8] New treatise on rhetorics,
Piero Crescentio, [9] Cibaldone,
‘Quadriregio’, [10] AEsop,
*** IGNORE FOOTNOTES FOR THIS PAGE – Project Manager *** Donato, [Footnote 11: “_Donatus latine & italice: Impressum Venetiis impensis Johannis Baptistae de Sessa anno_ 1499, _in_-4°*”.– “El Psalterio de David in lingua volgare (da Malermi Venetia nel M.CCCC.LXXVI,” in-fol. s. n._ (G. D’A.)] Psalms,
Justinus, [Footnote 12:
Compare No. 1210, 48.–_La versione di Girolamo Squarzafico: “Il libro di Justino posto diligentemente in materna lingua. Venetia ale spesse (sic) di Johane de Colonia & Johane Gheretze_ … l477,” _in-fol._–“_Marsilii Ficini, Theologia platonica, sive de animarum immortalitate, Florentine, per Ant. Misconimum_ 1482,” _in-fol., ovvero qualche versione italiana di questo stesso libro, ms._ (G. D’A.)] ‘On the immortality of
the soul,
Guido [Footnote 13:
_Forse “la Historia Trojana Guidonis” od il “manipulus” di “Guido da Monterocherii” ma piu probabilmente “Guido d’Arezzo” il di cui libro: “Micrologus, seu disciplina artis musicae” poteva da Leonardo aversi ms.; di questi ne esistono in molto biblioteche, e fu poi impresso nel 1784 dal Gerbert._
_Molte sono le edizione dei sonetti di Burchiello Fiorentino, impresse nel secolo XV. La prima e piu rara e recercata: “Incominciano li sonetti, ecc. (per Christoforo Arnaldo)”, in_-4°* _senza numeri, richiami o segnature, del_ 1475, _e fors’ anche del_ 1472, _secondo Morelli e Dibdin, ecc._ (G. D’A.)]
Burchiello,
‘Doctrinale’ [Footnote 14:
_Versione italiana det “Doctrinal de Sapience” di Guy de Roy, e foris’anche l’originale in lingua francese.–_
_Di Pulci Luigi, benche nell’ edizione:_ “_Florentiae_ 1479” _in_-4°* si dica: “Il Driadeo composto in rima octava per Lucio Pulcro” Altre ediz, del secolo XV, “Florentie Miscomini_ 1481, _in_-40*, _Firenze, apud S. Jacob, de Ripoli,_ 1483,” _in_-4°* _e “Antoni de Francesco,_ 1487,” _in_-4°* _e Francesco di Jacopo_ 1489,_in_-4°* _ed altre ancora di Venezia e senza alcuna nota ecc._ (G. D’A.)]
Driadeo,
Morgante [Footnote 15:
_Una delle edizioni del Morgante impresse nel secolo XV, ecc.–_
_Quale delle opere di Francesco Petrarca, sarebbe malagevole l’indovinare, ma probabilmente il Canzoniere._ (G. D’A.)]
Petrarch.
John de Mandeville [Footnote 16:
_Sono i viaggi del cavaliere_ “_Mandeville_” _gentiluomo inglese. Scrisse il suo libro in lingua francese. Fu stampato replicatamente nel secolo XV in francese, in inglese ed in italiano * ed in tedesco; del secolo XV ne annoverano forse piu di 27 edizioni, di cui ne conosciamo_ 8 _in francese, quattro in latino, sei in tedesco e molte altre in volgare._ (G. D’A.)]
‘On honest recreation’ [Footnote 17:
_Il Platina (Bartolomeo Sacchi) la versione italiana_ “_de la honesta voluptate, & valetudine (& de li obsonnii) Venetia (senza nome di tipografo)_ 1487,” _piccolo in_-4°* _gotico._ (G. D’A.)–Compare No. 844, 21.]
Manganello, [Footnote 18:
_Il Manganello: Satira eccessivamente vivace contro le donne ad imitazione della Sesta di Giovenale. Manganello non e soltanto il titolo del libricino, sua ben anche il nome dell’autore ch’era un_ “_milanese_”. _Di questo libercolo rarissimo, che sembra impresso a Venezia dallo Zoppino (Nicolo d’Aristotile detto il), senza data, ma dei primissimi anni del secolo XVI, e forse piu antico, come vedremo in appresso, non se ne conoscono fra biblioteche pubbliche e private che due soli esemplari in Europa._ (G. D’A.)]
The Chronicle of Isidoro, [Footnote 19: “_Cronica desidero_”, _sembra si deggia leggere piuttosto_ “_cronico disidoro_”_; ed in questo caso s’intenderebbe la_ “_cronica d’Isidoro_” _tanto in voga a quel tempo_ “_Comenza la Cronica di Sancto Isidoro menore con alchune additione cavate del testo & istorie de la Bibia & del libro di Paulo Oroso …. Impresso in Ascoli in casa del reverendo misser Pascale ….. per mano di Guglielmo de Linis de Alamania M.CCCC.LXXVII_” _in_-40* _di_ 157 _ff. E il primo libro impresso ad Ascoli e l’edizione principe di questa cronica in oggi assai rara. Non lo e meno l’edizione di Cividal del Friuli_, 1480, _e quella ben anche di Aquila_, 1482, _sempre in-_40. _Vedasi Panzer, Hain, Brunet e P. Dechamps._ (G. D’A.)]
The Epistles of Ovid, [Footnote 20:
“_Le pistole di Ovidio tradotte in prosa. Napoli Sixt. Riessinger_”, _in_-40*, _oppure:_ “_Epistole volgarizzate_ 1489,” _in_-40* _a due col._ “_impresse ne la cita (sic) di Bressa per pre: Baptista de Farfengo,_” _(in ottave) o:_ “_El libro dele Epistole di Ovidio in rima volgare per messere Dominico de Monticelli toschano. Brescia Farfengo_,” _in_-4°* _got. (in rima volgare)_, 1491, _ed anche la versione di Luca Pulci. Firenze, Mischomini_, 1481, _in_-4°*. (G. D’A.) ]
Epistles of Filelfo, [Footnote 21: See l. 4.]
Sphere, [Footnote 22: “_Jo: de Sacrobusto_,” _o_ “_Goro Dati_,” _o_ “_Tolosano da
Colle_” _di cui molteplici edizioni del secolo XV._ (G. D’A.)]
*_nello da Streno,_ 1497, _in_-4°*, _ecc., o piu probabilmente: “Aesopi” vita & fabula’ latine cum versione italica & allegoriis Fr. Tuppi impressae, Napoli,_ 1483,” _in-fol., rara edizione ornata di belle vignette incise in legno. Questo Esopo e anche libro di novelle. Nel Catalogo Cicognara abbiamo una minuta descrizione di questo rarissimo volume._ (G. D’A.) The Jests of Poggio [Footnote 23:
_Tre edizioni delle facezie del Poggio abbiamo in lingua italiana della fine del secolo XV, tutte senza data._ “_Facetie de Poggio fiorentino traducte de latino in vulgare ornatissimo,_” _in_-4°*, _segn. a–e in caratteri romani; l’altra: “_Facetie traducte de latino in vulgare,_” _in_-4°*, _caratteri gotici, ecc._ (G. D’A.)
]
Chiromancy, [Footnote 24:
*”_Die Kunst Cyromantia etc, in tedesco._ 26 _ff. di testo e figure il tutte eseguito su tavole di legno verso la fine del secolo XV da Giorgio Schapff_”. _Dibdin, Heinecken, Sotheby e Chatto ne diedero una lunga descrizione; i primi tre accompagnati da fac-simili. La data_ 1448 _che si legge alla fine del titolo si riferisce al periodo della composizione del testo, non a quello della stampa del volume benche tabellario. Altri molti libri di Chiromanzia si conoscono di quel tempo e sarebbe opera vana il citarli tutti._ (G. D’A.)]
Formulary of letters, [Footnote 25:
_Miniatore Bartolomeo._ “_Formulario de epistole vulgare missive e responsive, & altri fiori de ornali parlamenti al principe Hercule d’Esti ecc. composto ecc. Bologna per Ugo di Rugerii,_” _in_-4°*, _del secolo XV, Altra edizione di “Venetia Bernardino di Novara_, 1487″ _e _”_Milano per Joanne Angelo Scinzenzeler_ 1500,” _in_-4°*. (G. D’A.)
Five books out of this list are noted by Leonardo in another MS. (Tr. 3): _donato,–lapidario,–plinio, –abacho,–morgante._
]
1470.
Nonius Marcellus, Festus Pompeius, Marcus Varro.
[Footnote: Nonius Marcellus and Sextus Pompeius Festus were Roman grammarians of about the fourth century A. D. Early publications of the works of Marcellus are: _De proprietate sermonis, Romae_ (about 1470), and 1471 (place of publication unknown). _Compendiosa doctrina, ad filium, de proprietate sermonum._ Venice, 1476. BRUNET, _Manuel du libraire_ (IV, p. 97) notes: _Le texte de cet ancien grammairien a ete reimprime plusieurs fois a la fin du XVe siecle, avec ceux de Pomponius Festus et de Terentius Varro. La plus ancienne edition qui reunisse ces trois auteurs est celle de Parme_, 1480 … _Celles de Venise_, 1483, 1490, 1498, _et de Milan_, 1500, _toutes in-fol,, ont peli de valeur._]
1471.
Map of Elephanta in India which Antonello Merciaio has from maestro Maffeo;–there for seven years the earth rises and for seven years it sinks;–Enquire at the stationers about Vitruvius.
1472.
See ‘On Ships’ Messer Battista, and Frontinus ‘On Acqueducts’ [Footnote 2: 2. _Vitruvius de Arch., et Frontinus de Aquedoctibus._ Florence, l5l3.–This is the earliest edition of Frontinus.–The note referring to this author thus suggests a solution of the problem of the date of the Leicester Manuscript.].
[Footnote: Compare No. 1113, 25.]
1473.
Anaxagoras: Every thing proceeds from every thing, and every thing becomes every thing, and every thing can be turned into every thing else, because that which exists in the elements is composed of those elements. **Wrong text!
1474-
The Archimedes belonging to the Bishop of Padua.
1475-
Archimedes gave the quadrature of a poly- gonal figure, but not of the circle. Hence Archimedes never squared any figure with curved sides. He squared the circle minus the smallest portion that the intellect can conceive, that is the smallest point visible.
1476.
If any man could have discovered the
utmost powers of the cannon, in all its various forms and have given such a secret to the Romans, with what rapidity would
they have conquered every country and have vanquished every army, and what reward could have been great enough for such a service! Archimedes indeed, although he had greatly damaged the Romans in the siege of Syra- cuse, nevertheless did not fail of being offered great rewards from these very Romans; and when Syracuse was taken, diligent search was made for Archimedes; and he being found
dead greater lamentation was made for him by the Senate and people of Rome than if they had lost all their army; and they
did not fail to honour him with burial and with a statue. At their head was Marcus
Marcellus. And after the second destruction of Syracuse, the sepulchre of Archimedes was found again by Cato[25], in the ruins of a temple. So Cato had the temple restored and the sepulchre he so highly honoured….
Whence it is written that Cato said that he was not so proud of any thing he had done as of having paid such honour to Archimedes.
1474. See No. 1421, 1. 3, 6 and Vol. I, No. 343.
1475. Compare No. 1504.
1476. Where Leonardo found the statement that Cato had found and restored the tomb of Archi- medes, I do not know. It is a merit that Cicero claims as his own (Tusc. V, 23) and certainly with a full right to it. None of Archimedes’ biographers -not even the diligent Mazzucchelli, mentions any version in which Cato is named. It is evidently a
slip of the memory on Leonardo’s part. Besides, according to the passage in Cicero, the grave was not found ‘nelle mine ffun tempio’-which is highly improbable as relating to a Greek-but in an open spot (H. MULLER-STROBING).–See too, as to Archi- medes, No. 1417.
Leonardo says somewhere in MS. C.A.: Archi-
tronito e una macchina di fino rame, invenzlon d* Archi- mede (see ‘Saggiol, p. 20).
I.2 82b]
1477.
Aristotle, Book 3 of the Physics, and Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas and
the others on the rebound of bodies, in the 7th on Physics, on heaven and earth.
M. 62a]
1478.
Aristotle says that if a force can move a body a given distance in a given time, the same force will move half the same body
twice as far in the same time.
C. A. 284b; 865b]
1479.
Aristotle in Book 3 of the Ethics: Man merits praise or blame solely in such mat- ters as lie within his option to do or not to do.
C.A. 121a; 375a]
1480.
Aristotle says that every body tends to maintain its nature.
K.2 3b]
1481.
On the increase of the Nile, a small book by Aristotle.
[Footnote: _De inundatione Nili_, is quoted here and by others as a work of Aristotle. The Greek original is lost, but a Latin version of the beginning exists (Arist. Opp. IV p. 213 ed. Did. Par.).
In his quotations from Aristotle Leonardo possibly refers to one of the following editions: _Aristotelis libri IV de coelo et mundo; de anima libri III; libri VIII physi- corum; libri de generatione et corruptione; de sensu et sensato… omnia latine, interprete Averroe, Venetiis 1483_ (first Latin edition). There is also a separate edition of _Liber de coelo et mundo_, dated 1473.]
W.A. IV.151b]
1482.
Avicenna will have it that soul gives birth to soul as body to body, and each member to itself.
[Footnote: Avicenna, see too No. 1421, 1. 2.]
F. o”]
1483.
Avicenna on liquids.
Br.M. 71b]
1484.
Roger Bacon, done in print.
[Footnote:The earliest printed edition known to Brunet of the works of Roger Bacon, is a French translation, which appeared about fourty years after Leonardo’s death.]
C.A. 139b; 419b]
1485.
Cleomedes the philosopher.
[Footnote: Cleomede. A Greek mathematician of the IVth century B. C. We have a Cyclic theory of Meteorica by him. His works were not published before Leonardo’s death.]
Tr. 4]
1486.
CORNELIUS CELSUS.
The highest good is wisdom, the chief evil is suffering in the body. Because, as we are composed of two things, that is soul and body, of which the first is the better, the body is the inferior; wisdom belongs to the better part, and the chief evil belongs to the worse part and is the worst of all. As the best thing of all in the soul is
wisdom, so the worst in the body is suf- fering. Therefore just as bodily pain is the chief evil, wisdom is the chief good of the soul, that is with the wise man; and nothing else can be compared with it.
[Footnote: Aulus Cornelius Celsus, a Roman physician, known as the Roman Hippocrates, probably contemporary with Augustus. Only his eight Books ‘De Medicina”, are preserved. The earliest editions are: Cornelius Celsus, de medicina libr. VIII., Milan 1481 Venice 1493 and 1497.]
Tr. 57]
1487.
Demetrius was wont to say that there was no difference between the speech and words of the foolish and ignorant, and the noises and rumblings of the wind in an inflated stomach. Nor did he say so without reason, for he saw no difference between the parts whence the noise issued; whether their lower parts or their mouth, since one and the
other were of equal use and importance. [Footnote: Compare Vol. I, No. 10.]
S.K.M. III.93a]
1488.
Maestro Stefano Caponi, a physician, lives at the piscina, and has Euclid De Ponderibus.
K.2 2a]
1489.
5th Book of Euclid. First definition: a part is a quantity of less magnitude than the greater magnitude when the less is
contained a certain number of times in the greater.
A part properly speaking is that which may be multiplied, that is when, being
multiplied by a certain number, it forms exactly the whole. A common aggregate part …
Second definition. A greater magnitude is said to be a multiple of a less, when the greater is measured by the less.
By the first we define the lesser [magnitude] and by the second the greater is defined. A part is spoken
K.2 2b]
1490.
of in relation to the whole; and all their relations lie between these two extremes, and are called multiples.
S.K.M.III. 16b]
1491.
Hippocrates says that the origin of men’s sperm derives from the brain, and from the lungs and testicles of our parents, where the final decocture is made, and all the other limbs transmit their substance to this sperm by means of expiration, because there are no channels through which they might come to the sperm.
[Footnote: The works of Hippocrates were printed first after Leonardo’s death.] Ash.II. IIb]
1492.
Lucretius in his third [book] ‘De Rerum Natura’. The hands, nails and teeth were (165) the weapons of ancient man.
They also use for a standard a bunch of grass tied to a pole (167).
[Footnote: Lucretius, de rerum natura libri VI were printed first about 1473, at Verona in 1486, at Brescia in 1495, at Venice in 1500 and in 1515, and at Florence in 1515. The numbers 165 and 167 noted by Leonardo at the end of the two passages seem to indicate pages, but if so, none of the editions just mentioned can here be meant, nor do these numbers refer to the verses in the poems of Lucretius.]
Tr. 2]
1493.
Ammianus Marcellinus asserts that seven hundred thousand volumes of books were
burnt in the siege of Alexandria in the time of Julius Cesar.
[Footnote: Ammiani Marcellini historiarum libri qui extant XIII, published at Rome in 1474.]
Tr. 2]
W. XXIII.]
1494.
Mondino says that the muscles which
raise the toes are in the outward side of the thigh, and he adds that there are no muscles in the back [upper side] of the feet, because nature desired to make them light, so as to move with ease; and if they had been fleshy they would be heavier; and here
experience shows …
[Footnote: “Mundini anatomia. Mundinus, Anothomia (sic). Mundini praestantissimorum doctorum almi studit ticiensis (sic) cura diligentissime emendata. Impressa Papiae per magistrum Antonium de Carfano 1478,” in-fol.; ristampata: “Bononiae Johan. de Noerdlingen, 1482,” in-fol.; “Padova
per Mattheum Cerdonis de Vuindischgretz, 1484,” in-40; “Lipsia, 1493,” in-40; “Venezia, 1494,” in-40 e ivi “1498,”
con fig. Queste figure per altro non sono, come si e preteso, le prime che fossero introdotte in un trattato di Notamia. Nel ‘fasciculus Medicinae’ di Giovanni Ketham, che riproduce F’Anatomia’ del Mundinus, impresso pure a Venezia da J. e G. de Gregoriis, 1491, in-fol., contengosi intagli in legno (si vogliono disegnati non gia incisi da Andrea Mantegna) di grande dimensione, e che furono piu volte riprodotti negli anni successivi. Quest’ edizione del “fasciculus” del 1491, sta fra nostri libri e potrebbe benissimo essere il volume d’Anatomia notato da Leonardo. (G. D’A.)]
G. 8a]
1495.
Of the error of those who practice without knowledge;–[Footnote 3:**where is it?**] See first the ‘Ars poetica’ of Horace [Footnote 5: **where is it?**].
[Footnote: A 3–5 are written on the margin at the side of the title line of the text given, entire as No. 19 1496.
The heirs of Maestro Giovanni Ghiringallo have the works of Pelacano.
1497.
The catapult, as we are told by Nonius and Pliny, is a machine devised by those &c. [Footnote: _Plinius_, see No. 946.]
1498.
I have found in a history of the Spaniards that in their wars with the English Archimedes of Syracuse who at that time was living
at the court of Ecliderides, King of the Cirodastri. And in maritime warfare he ordered that the ships should have tall masts, and that on their tops there should be a spar fixed [Footnote 6: Compare No. 1115.] of 40 feet long and one third of a foot thick. At one end of this was a small grappling iron and at the other a counterpoise; and there was also attached 12 feet of chain; and, at the end of this chain, as much rope as would reach from the chain to the base of the top, where it was fixed with a small rope; from this base it ran down to the bottom of the mast where a
very strong spar was attached and to this was fastened the end of the rope. But to go on to the use of his machine; I say that below this grappling iron was a fire [Footnote 14: Compare No. 1128.] which, with tremendous noise, threw down its rays and a shower of burning pitch; which, pouring down on the [enemy’s] top, compelled the men who were in it to abandon the top
to which the grappling-iron had clung. This was hooked on to the edges of the top
and then suddenly the cord attached at the base of the top to support the cord which went from the grappling iron, was cut, giving way and drawing in the enemy’s ship; and if the anchor–was cast …
[Footnote: Archimedes never visited Spain, and the names here mentioned cannot be explained. Leonardo seems to quote here from a book, perhaps by some questionable mediaeval writer. Prof. C. Justi writes to me from Madrid, that Spanish savants have no knowledge of the sources from which this story may have been derived.]
Leic. 14b
1499.
Theophrastus on the ebb and flow of the tide, and of eddies, and on water.
[Footnote: The Greek philosophers had no opportunity to study the phenomenon of the ebb and flow of the tide and none of them wrote about it. The movement of the waters in the Euripus however was to a few of them a puzzling problem.]
Ash. II. IIb]
1500.
Tryphon of Alexandria, who spent his life at Apollonia, a city of Albania (163).
[Footnote: Tryphon of Alexandria, a Greek Grammarian of the time of Augustus. His treatise *TtaOY Aeijecu* appeared first at Milan in 1476, in Constantin Laskaris’s Greek Grammar.]
K.3 29b]
1501.
Messer Vincenzio Aliprando, who lives near the Inn of the Bear, has Giacomo
Andrea’s Vitruvius.
L. 53b]
1502.
Vitruvius says that small models are of no avail for ascertaining the effects of large ones; and I here propose to prove that
this conclusion is a false one. And chiefly by bringing forward the very same argument which led him to this conclusion; that is, by an experiment with an auger. For he proves that if a man, by a certain exertion of
strength, makes a hole of a given diameter, and afterwards another hole of double the diameter, this cannot be made with only
double the exertion of the man’s strength, but needs much more. To this it may very well be answered that an auger
L. 53a]
1503.
of double the diameter cannot be
moved by double the exertion, be-
cause the superficies of a body of
the same form but twice as large has four times the extent of the superficies of the smaller, as is shown in the two
figures a and n.
Section title: Notes on books and authors * There are characters present in the original footnotes that have accents – I have placed an asterisk next to them.
1504.
OF SQUARING THE CIRCLE, AND WHO IT WAS THAT FIRST DISCOVERED IT BY ACCIDENT.
Vitruvius, measuring miles by means of the repeated revolutions of the wheels which move vehicles, extended over many Stadia the lines of the circumferences of the circles of these wheels. He became aware of them by the animals that moved the vehicles. But he did not discern that this was a means of finding a square equal to a circle. This was first done by Archimedes of Syracuse, who by multiplying the second diameter of a circle by half its circumference produced a rectangular quadrilateral equal figure to the circle. [Footnote: Vitruvius, see also Nos. 1113 and 343. 10. Compare No. 1475.]
1505.
Virgil says that a blank shield is devoid of merit because among the people of Athens the true recognition confirmed by testimonies … [Footnote: The end of the text cannot be deciphered.]
1506.
In Vitolone there are 805 conclusions [problems] in perspective.
[Footnote: _(Witelo, Vitellion, Vitellon) Vitellione. *E da vedersi su questo ottico prospettico del secolo XIII Luca Pacioli, Paolo Lomazzo, Leonardo da Vinci, ecc. e fra i moderni il Graesse, il Libri, il Brunet, e le Memorie pubblicate dal principe Boncompagni, e ‘Sur l’ orthographe du nom et sur la patrie de Witelo (Vitellion) note de Maximilien Curtze, professeur *a Thorn’, ove sono descritti i molti codici esistenti nelle biblioteche d’ Europa. Bernardino Baldi nelle sue ‘Vite de’matematici’, manoscritto presso il principe Boncompagni, ha una biografia del Vitellione. Questo scritto del Baldi reca la data 25 agosto 1588. Discorsero poi di lui Federigo Risnerio e Giovanni di Monteregio nella prefazione dell’ Alfagrano, Giovanni Boteone, Girolamo Cardano, ‘De subtilitate’, che nota gli errori di Vitellione. Visse, secondo il Baldi, intorno all’ anno 1269, ma secondo il Reinoldo fioriva nel 1299, avendo dedicata la sua opera ad un frate Guglielmo di Monteca, che visse di que’ tempi.
Intorno ad un manoscritto dell’ ottica di Vitellione, citato da Luca Pacioli v’ ha un secondo esemplare del Kurlz, con aggiunte del principe Boncompagni, e le illustrazioni del cav. Enrico Narducci. Nel ‘Catalogo di manoscritti’ posseduti da D. Baldassare de’ principi Boncompagni, compilato da esso Narducci, Roma, 1862, sotto al n. 358, troviamo citato: Vitellio, ‘Perspectiva’, manoscritto del secolo XIV. La ‘Prospettiva di Vitelleone’ (sic) Thuringo-poloni *e citata due volte da Paolo Lomazzo nel Trattato dell’ arte della pittura. Vitellio o Vitello o Witelo. Il suo libro fu impresso in foglio a Norimberga nel 1535; la secondo edizione *e del 1551, sempre di Norimberga, ed una terza di Basilea, 1572._ (See _Indagini Storiche … sulla Libreria–Visconteo–Sforzesca del Castello di Pavia … per cura di G. D’A., Milano 1879. P. I. Appendice p. 113. 114).]
1507.
Vitolone, at Saint Mark’s.
[Footnote: _Altro codice di cotesta ‘Prospettiva’ del Vitolone troviamo notato nel ‘Canone bibliographico di Nicol*o V’, conservato alla, Magliabecchiana, in copia dell’ originale verosimilmente inviato dal Parentucelli a Cosimo de’ Medici (Magliab. cod. segn. 1 VII, 30 carte da 193 a 198). Proviene dal Convento di San Marco e lo aveva trascritto frate Leonardo Scruberti fiorentino, dell’ ordine dei predicatori che fu anche bibliotecario della Medicea pubblica in San Marco_ (See _Indagini Storiche … per cura di G. D’A. Parte I, p. 97).]
K.2 12b}
1508.
How this proposition of Xenophon is false. If you take away unequal quantities from unequal quantities, but in the same
proportion, &c.
[Footnote: Xenophon’s works were published several times during Leonardo’s lifetime.]
B. 4a]
Inventories
and accounts
(1509-1545).
1509.
On the 28th day of April I received from the Marchesino 103 lire and 12 dinari.
[Footnote: Instead of the indication of the year there is a blank space after d’aprile.–Marchesino Stange was one of Lodovico il Moro’s officials.–Campare No. 1388.]
Ash. I. Ia]
1510.
On the ioth day of July 1492 in 135
Rhenish florins 1. 445
in dinari of 6 soldi 1. 112 S 16
in dinari of 5 1/2 soldi 1. 29 S 13 9 in gold and 3 scudi _l.__53________
1. 8II in all
S.K.M.III. 47a]
1511.
On the first day of February, lire 1200.
S.K.M.III. 47a]