1301

@ Fables on plants.

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.)

Taken from The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci edited by Jean Paul Richter, 1880.

Notebooks of Leonoardo da Vinci
XX: Humorous Writings.
. . .
1281,
1282,
1283,
1284,
1285,
1286,
1287,
1288,
1289,
1290,
1291,
1292,
1293,
1294,
1295,
1296,
1297,
1298,
1299,
1300,
1301,
1302,
1303,
1304,
1305,
1306,
1307,
1308,
1309,
1310,
1311,
1312,
1313
Schemes for fables, etc..
1314,
1315,
1316,
1317,
1318,
1319,
1320,
1321
. . .