Notebooks (44 page)
Authors: Leonardo da Vinci,Irma Anne Richter,Thereza Wells
Tags: #History, #Fiction, #General, #European, #Art, #Renaissance, #Leonardo;, #Leonardo, #da Vinci;, #1452-1519, #Individual artists, #Art Monographs, #Drawing By Individual Artists, #Notebooks; sketchbooks; etc, #Individual Artist, #History - Renaissance, #Renaissance art, #Individual Painters - Renaissance, #Drawing & drawings, #Drawing, #Techniques - Drawing, #Individual Artists - General, #Individual artists; art monographs, #Art & Art Instruction, #Techniques
The finding of the prophet.
His prophecy.
The inundation of the lower parts of Western Armenia, the draining of which was effected by the cutting of Mount Taurus. How the new prophet showed that this destruction occurred as he had foretold.
Description of the Taurus Mountain and of the river Euphrates.
Why the mountain shines at its summit half or a third of the night and looks like a comet after sunset to those who dwell in the West, and before day to those who dwell in the East.
Why this comet appears of variable forms, so that at one time it is round, at another long, at another divided into two or three parts, at another united, and sometimes invisible and sometimes becoming visible again.
To the Defterdar of Syria, lieutenant of the sacred Sultan of Babylon.* The recent disaster which has occurred in these our northern parts which I am certain will strike terror not only into you but into the whole world shall be related to you in due order showing first the effect and then the cause.
Finding myself in this part of Armenia in order to discharge with devotion and care the duties of that office to which you sent me; and making a beginning in those parts which seemed to me to be most suitable for our purpose, I entered into the city of Calindra near to our frontiers. This city is situated at the base of that part of the Taurus Mountains which is separated from the Euphrates and looks westward towards the peaks of the great Mount Taurus. These peaks are of such a height that they seem to touch the sky and in the whole world there is no part of the earth higher than this summit, and they are always struck by the rays of the sun in the East four hours before day; and being of the whitest stone it shines resplendently and performs the same office for these Armenians as the beautiful light of the moon would in the midst of the darkness; and by reason of its great height it outstretches the highest level of the clouds for a space of four miles in a straight line. This peak is visible from a great part of the west, illuminated by the sun after its setting until the third part of the night. And it is this which among you in calm weather was formerly supposed to be a comet and which appears to us in the darkness of night to change into various shapes, sometimes dividing into two or three parts, sometimes long and sometimes short; and this is caused by the clouds on the horizon that come between part of this mountain and the sun, and by their cutting these solar rays the light on the mountain is intercepted by various spaces of clouds and therefore its brightness varies in shape.
Of the shape of Mount Taurus
I am not to be accused of idleness, O Defterdar, as your chidings seem to intimate; but your unbounded affection which caused these benefits to be conferred upon me has constrained me to seek out with the utmost care and to investigate diligently the cause of so great and stupendous an effect. And this could not be done without time; now, in order to satisfy you fully as to the cause of so great an effect it is necessary that I shall describe the form of the place, and then I will proceed to the effect by which process I believe you will be satisfied. . . .
Do not be aggrieved, O Defterdar, by my delay in replying to your urgent request, for those matters which you require of me are of such a nature as cannot well be expressed without a lapse of time; and especially because in wishing to explain the cause of so great an effect, it is necessary to describe with accuracy the nature of the place; and by means of this you will afterwards easily be able to satisfy yourself as to the above-mentioned request.
I will pass over any description of the shape of Asia Minor, and what seas or lands form the limits of its outline and extent, because I know that you have not remained in ignorance of these matters through your diligence and care in your studies; and I pass on to describe the true form of Mount Taurus which is the cause of this so stupendous and destructive a marvel, for this will serve to advance our purpose. It is this Mount Taurus which, according to many, is said to be the ridge of the Caucasus Mountains; but wishing to be quite clear about this, I wanted to speak to some of the inhabitants of the shores of the Caspian Sea, who inform me that although their mountains bear the same name, these are of greater height, and they confirm that this must be the true Caucasus, for Caucasus in the Scythian tongue means ‘supreme height’. And in fact we have no information that either the east or the west has any mountain of so great a height; and the proof of this is that the inhabitants of the countries which are to the west see the sun’s rays illuminating a great part of the summit for as much as a fourth part of the longest night; and similarly with the countries which are to the east.
Of the structure and size of Mount Taurus
The shadow of this ridge of the Taurus is of such a height that when in the middle of June, the sun is at its meridian, it reaches to the borders of Samartia, which are twelve days’ journey, and in mid-December it extends as far as the Hyperborean Mountains, which are a month’s journey to the north. And the side that faces the way the wind blows is always full of clouds and mists because the wind which is cleft as it strikes against the rock closes up again on the further side of the rock, and in this way carries with it the clouds from all parts, and leaves them where it strikes. And it is always full of thunderbolts through the great number of clouds which accumulate there whence the rock is all fissured and filled with huge debris.
This mountain at its base is inhabited by very rich people and abounds in most beautiful springs and rivers; it is fertile and abounds in everything that is good and especially in those parts which face south. But after an ascent of about three miles we come to where begin the forests of great firs and pines and beeches and other similar trees. Beyond for a space of another three miles there are meadows and vast pastures; and all the rest, as far as the beginning of the peak of the Taurus, is eternal snow which never disappears at any time, and extends to a height of about fourteen miles in all. From this beginning of the Taurus up to the height of a mile the clouds never pass; thus we have fifteen miles, that is, a height of about five miles in a straight line. And as much or about that are the peaks of the Taurus, and here halfway up we begin to find the air grow warm and there is no breath of wind; but nothing can live there long. Nothing is brought forth here save a few birds of prey which breed in the high fissures of Taurus and descend below the clouds to seek their prey on the wooded hills; here all is bare rock, from above where the clouds are, and the rock is the purest white; and it is not possible to go to the lofty summit on account of its rough and perilous ascent.
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Having many times rejoiced with you in my letters over your prosperous fortunes, I know now that you as a friend will share my sorrow at the miserable state in which I find myself; for the fact is that in the last few days I have been in so many anxieties, fears, dangers, and losses together with the wretched peasants here that we have come to envy the dead; and certainly I do not believe that since first the elements by their separation made order out of chaos, they should ever have reunited in their force and fury to do so much damage to mankind, as has now been seen and experienced by us here; so that I cannot imagine what could further increase so great a misfortune as we have experienced in a space of ten hours. First we were assailed and buffeted by the violence and fury of the winds; and then followed the avalanches from the great mountains of snow which filled up all these valleys and destroyed a great part of our city. And, not content with this, the tempest with a sudden deluge of water has submerged all the lower part of this city; added to this there came a sudden rain, or rather a ruinous storm full of water, sand, mud, and stones all mingled together with roots, stems, and branches of various trees; and every kind of thing came hurtling through the air and descended upon us; finally a great fire—not brought by the wind but carried, it would seem, by thirty thousand devils—completely burnt up and destroyed the country—and has not yet ceased. And those few of us who remain are left in such dismay and terror that as if stunned we hardly have courage to speak one with another. Having left all our business, we stay here together in the ruins of some churches, men and women, small and great, all mingled together like herds of goats. The neighbours out of pity have helped us with provisions, and they had previously been our enemies. And but for certain people who helped us with provisions we should all have died of hunger. Now, you see the state we are in. And all these evils are as nothing compared with those which threaten us shortly. I know that you as a friend will grieve for my misfortunes, as I, in former letters have shown my joy at your prosperity.
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3. THE GIANT53
Leonardo ridicules man’s feeling of self-importance by contrasting his puny efforts with the forces of nature which are here personified by a giant. Perhaps Leonardo had the giant Antaeus in his mind of whom the ancient Roman poet Lucan (
Pharsalia
, 4. 617) relates that he renewed his strength whenever he fell by coming in contact with mother earth. Benedetto Dei, to whom this account is addressed, is the author of the diary of a journey made through France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland in 1476 in the interests of the Florentine merchants Portinari.
Pharsalia
, 4. 617) relates that he renewed his strength whenever he fell by coming in contact with mother earth. Benedetto Dei, to whom this account is addressed, is the author of the diary of a journey made through France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland in 1476 in the interests of the Florentine merchants Portinari.
Dear Benedetto Dei, To give you news of things here from the East you should know that in the month of June there appeared a giant who comes from the Libyan desert. This giant was born on Mount Atlas; and was black, and he fought against Artaxerxes with the Egyptians and Arabs, Medes and Persians; he lived in the sea on whales, grampuses, and ships.
The black face at first sight is very horrible and terrifying to look at, and especially the swollen and red eyes set beneath the awful, dark eyebrows which might cause the sky to be overcast and the earth to tremble. And, believe me, there is no man so brave but that when the fiery eyes were turned upon him he would not willingly have put on wings in order to flee, for infernal Lucifer’s face would seem angelic when compared with this. The nose was turned up with wide nostrils from which issued many large bristles; beneath these was the arched mouth with thick lips, and with whiskers at the ends like a cat’s, and the teeth were yellow. He towered above the heads of men on horseback from the top of his feet upward. When the proud giant fell because of the gory and miry ground it seemed as though a mountain had fallen; whereat the country shook as with an earthquake, with terror to Pluto in hell; and Mars fearing for his life took refuge under the bed of Jove.
And from the violence of the shock the giant lay somewhat stunned on the ground; then suddenly the people, believing that he had been killed by a thunderbolt began to turn his hair and, like ants that scurry hither and thither over an oak struck down by the axe of a strong peasant, rushed over his huge limbs and pierced them with many wounds.
Then the giant being roused and aware that he was covered by the multitude suddenly felt the smarting from their stabs and uttered a roar which sounded like a terrific thunderclap; and placing his hands on the ground he lifted his terrifying face; and raising one hand to his head he found it covered with men sticking to the hair like the minute creatures which are sometimes found harboured there. Then shaking his head he sent the men flying through the air after the manner of hail when driven by the fury of the winds; and many of these men who had been treading on him were killed. Then he stood erect and stamped with his feet. And they clung to the hairs and strove to hide among it behaving like sailors in a storm who mount the rigging in order to lower the sails and lessen the force of the wind.
And as his cramped position had been irksome, and in order to rid himself of the importunity of the throng, his rage turned to fury, and he began with his feet to enter among the crowd, giving vent to the frenzy which possessed his legs, and with kicks he threw men through the air, so that they fell on the others, as though there had been a storm of hail; and many were those who in dying brought death; and this cruelty continued until the dust stirred up by his big feet rising into the air, compelled his infernal fury to draw back, while we continued our flight.
Alas, how many attacks were made upon this raging fiend to whom every onslaught was as nothing! O miserable people, for you there avail not the impregnable fortresses, nor the high walls of the city, nor your great numbers, nor your houses or palaces! There remained not any place unless it were the small holes and subterranean caves like those of crabs or crickets and such animals. There you might find safety and a means of escape.
Oh, how many unhappy mothers and fathers were deprived of their sons! how many wretched women were deprived of their companions. In truth, my dear Benedetto, I do not believe that ever since the world was created there has been seen a lamentation, and a wailing of people, caused by so great terror. In truth, in this case the human species must envy every other creature; for though the eagle has strength to defeat the other birds, they at least remain unconquered through the rapidity of their flight, and so swallows through their speed escape from the prey of the falcon; dolphins by their swift flight escape from the prey of the whales and grampuses; but for us wretched beings there avails not any flight, since this monster, advancing with slow step, far exceeds the speed of the swiftest courser.
I do not know what to say or do and everywhere I seem to find myself swimming with bent head through the mighty throat, and remaining buried within a huge belly, confused with death.
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