The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (86 page)

(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.

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.)

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.)