The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci (89 page)

Tu mi mandasti
. The address
tu
to a personage so high in office
is singular and suggests personal intimacy; Leonardo seems to have
been a favourite with the Diodario. Compare lines 54 and 55.

I have endeavoured to show, and I believe that I am also in a
position to prove with regard to these texts, that they are draughts
of letters actually written by Leonardo; at the same time I must not
omit to mention that shortly after I had discovered

these texts in the Codex Atlanticus and published a paper on the
subject in the
Zeitschrift fur bildende Kunst (Vol. XVI)
, Prof.
Govi put forward this hypothesis to account for their origin:

"Quanto alle notizie sul monte Tauro, sull'Armenia e sull' Asia
minore che si contengono negli altri frammenti, esse vennero prese
da qualche geografro o viaggiatore contemporaneo. Dall'indice
imperfetto che accompagna quei frammenti, si potrebbe dedurre che
Leonardo volesse farne un libro, che poi non venne compiuto. A ogni
modo, non e possibile di trovare in questi brani nessun indizio di
un viaggio di Leonardo in oriente, ne della sua conversione alla
religione di Maometto, come qualcuno pretenderebbe. Leonardo amava
con passione gli studi geografici, e nel suoi scritti s'incontran
spesso itinerart, indicazioni, o descrizioni di luoghi, schizzi di
carte e abbozzi topografici di varie regioni, non e quindi strano
che egli, abile narratore com'era, si fosse proposto di scrivere una
specie di Romanzo in forma epistolare svolgendone Pintreccio
nell'Asia Minore, intorno alla quale i libri d'allora, e forse
qualche viaggiatore amico suo, gli avevano somministrato alcuni
elementi piu o meno
fantastici. (See Transunti della Reale
Accademia dei Lincei Voi. V Ser. 3).

It is hardly necessary to point out that Prof. Govi omits to name
the sources from which Leonardo could be supposed to have drawn his
information, and I may leave it to the reader to pronounce judgment
on the anomaly which is involved in the hypothesis that we have here
a fragment of a Romance, cast in the form of a correspondence. At
the same time, I cannot but admit that the solution of the
difficulties proposed by Prof. Govi is, under the circumstances,
certainly the easiest way of dealing with the question. But we
should then be equally justified in supposing some more of
Leonardo's letters to be fragments of such romances; particularly
those of which the addresses can no longer be named. Still, as
regards these drafts of letters to the Diodario, if we accept the
Romance theory, as pro- posed by Prof. Govi, we are also compelled
to assume that Leonardo purposed from the first to illustrate his
tale; for it needs only a glance at the sketches on PI. CXVI to CXIX
to perceive that they are connected with the texts; and of course
the rest of Leonardo's numerous notes on matters pertaining to the
East, the greater part of which are here published for the first
time, may also be somehow connected with this strange romance.

7.
Citta de Calindra (Chalindra)
. The position of this city is so
exactly determined, between the valley of the Euphrates and the
Taurus range that it ought to be possible to identify it. But it can
hardly be the same as the sea port of Cilicia with a somewhat
similar name Celenderis, Kelandria, Celendria, Kilindria, now the
Turkish Gulnar. In two Catalonian Portulans in the Bibliotheque
Natio- nale in Paris-one dating from the XV'h century, by Wilhelm
von Soler, the other by Olivez de Majorca, in l584-I find this place
called Calandra. But Leonardo's Calindra must certainly have lain
more to the North West, probably somewhere in Kurdistan. The fact
that the geographical position is so care- fully determined by
Leonardo seems to prove that it was a place of no great importance
and little known. It is singular that the words first written in 1.
8 were divisa dal lago (Lake Van?), altered afterwards to
dall'Eitfrates.

Nostri confini, and in 1. 6 proposito nostro. These refer to the
frontier and to the affairs of the Mamelook Sultan, Lines 65 and 66
throw some light on the purpose of Leonardo's mission.

8.
I
corni del gra mote Tauro. Compare the sketches PI.
CXVI-CXVIII. So long as it is im- possible to identify the situation
of Calindra it is most difficult to decide with any certainty which
peak of the Taurus is here meant; and I greatly regret that I had no
foreknowledge of this puzzling topographical question when, in 1876,
I was pursuing archaeological enquiries in the Provinces of Aleppo
and Cilicia, and had to travel for some time in view of the imposing
snow-peaks of Bulghar Dagh and Ala Tepessi.

9-10. The opinion here expressed as to the height of the mountain
would be unmeaning, unless it had been written before Leonardo moved
to Milan, where Monte Rosa is so conspicuous an object in the
landscape. 4
ore inanzi
seems to mean, four hours before the sun's
rays penetrate to the bottom of the valleys.]

to carry into effect with due love and care the task for which you
sent me [Footnote: ][6]; and to make a beginning in a place which
seemed to me to be most to our purpose, I entered into the city of
Calindrafy[7], near to our frontiers. This city is situated at the
base of that part of the Taurus mountains which is divided from the
Euphrates and looks towards the peaks of the great Mount Taurus [8]
to the West [9]. These peaks are of such a height that they seem to
touch the sky, and in all the world there is no part of the earth,
higher than its summit[10], and the rays of the sun always fall upon
it on its East side, four hours before day-time, and being of the
whitest stone [Footnote 11:
Pietra bianchissima
. The Taurus
Mountains consist in great part of limestone.] it shines
resplendently and fulfils the function to these Armenians which a
bright moon-light would in the midst of the darkness; and by its
great height it outreaches the utmost level of the clouds by a space
of four miles in a straight line. This peak is seen in many places
towards the West, illuminated by the sun after its setting the third
part of the night. This it is, which with you [Footnote 14:
Appresso di voi
. Leonardo had at first written
noi
as though his
meaning had,been: This peak appeared to us to be a comet when you
and I observed it in North Syria (at Aleppo? at Aintas?). The
description of the curious reflection in the evening, resembling the
"Alpine-glow" is certainly not an invented fiction, for in the next
lines an explanation of the phenomenon is offered, or at least
attempted.] we formerly in calm weather had supposed to be a comet,
and appears to us in the darkness of night, to change its form,
being sometimes divided in two or three parts, and sometimes long
and sometimes short. And this is caused by the clouds on the horizon
of the sky which interpose between part of this mountain and the
sun, and by cutting off some of the solar rays the light on the
mountain is intercepted by various intervals of clouds, and
therefore varies in the form of its brightness.

THE DIVISIONS OF THE BOOK [Footnote 19: The next 33 lines are
evidently the contents of a connected Report or Book, but not of one
which he had at hand; more probably, indeed, of one he purposed
writing.].

The praise and confession of the faith [Footnote 20:
Persuasione di
fede
, of the Christian or the Mohammedan faith? We must suppose the
latter, at the beginning of a document addressed to so high a
Mohammedan official.
Predica
probably stands as an abbreviation
for
predicazione
(lat.
praedicatio
) in the sense of praise or
glorification; very probably it may mean some such initial doxology
as we find in Mohammedan works. (Comp. 1. 40.)].

The sudden inundation, to its end.

[23] The destruction of the city.

[24]The death of the people and their despair.

The preacher's search, his release and benevolence [Footnote 28: The
phraseology of this is too general for any conjecture as to its
meaning to be worth hazarding.]

Description of the cause of this fall of the mountain [Footnote 30:
Ruina del monte
. Of course by an earthquake. In a catalogue of
earthquakes, entitled
kechf aussalssaleb an auasf ezzel-zeleh
, and
written by Djelal eddin].

The mischief it did.

[32] Fall of snow.

The finding of the prophet [33].

His prophesy.

[35] The inundation of the lower portion of Eastern Armenia, the
draining of which was effected by the cutting through the Taurus
Mountains.

How the new prophet showed [Footnote 40:
Nova profeta, 1. 33,
profeta
. Mohammed. Leonardo here refers to the Koran:

In the name of the most merciful God.—When the earth shall be
shaken by an earthquake; and the earth shall cast forth her burdens;
and a man shall say, what aileth her? On that day the earth shall
declare her tidings, for that thy Lord will inspire her. On that day
men shall go forward in distinct classes, that they may behold their
works. And whoever shall have wrought good of the weight of an ant,
shall behold the same. And whoever shall have wrought evil of the
weight of an ant, shall behold the same. (The Koran, translated by
G. Sale, Chapter XCIX, p. 452).] that this destruction would happen
as he had foretold.

Description of the Taurus Mountains [43] and the river Euphrates.

Why the mountain shines at the top, from half to a third of the
night, and looks like a comet to the inhabitants of the West after
the sunset, and before day to those of the East.

Why this comet appears of variable forms, so that it is now round
and now long, and now again divided into two or three parts, and now
in one piece, and when it is to be seen again.

OF THE SHAPE OF THE TAURUS MOUNTAINS [Footnote 53-94: The facsimile
of this passage is given on Pl. CXVII.].

I am not to be accused, Oh Devatdar, of idleness, as your chidings
seem to hint; but your excessive love for me, which gave rise to the
benefits you have conferred on me [Footnote 55] is that which has
also compelled me to the utmost painstaking in seeking out and
diligently investigating 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
requisite that I should explain to you the form of the place, and
then I will proceed to the effect, by which I believe you will be
amply satisfied.

[Footnote 36:
Tagliata di Monte Tauro
. The Euphrates flows through
the Taurus range near the influx of the Kura Shai; it rushes through
a rift in the wildest cliffs from 2000 to 3000 feet high and runs on
for 90 miles in 300 falls or rapids till it reaches Telek, near
which at a spot called Gleikash, or the Hart's leap, it measures
only 35 paces across. Compare the map on Pl. CXIX and the
explanation for it on p. 391.]

[Footnote 54: The foregoing sketch of a letter, lines 5. 18, appears
to have remained a fragment when Leonardo received pressing orders
which caused him to write immediately and fully on the subject
mentioned in line 43.]

[Footnote 59: This passage was evidently intended as an improvement
on that immediately preceding it. The purport of both is essentially
the same, but the first is pitched in a key of ill-disguised
annoyance which is absent from the second. I do not see how these
two versions can be reconciled with the romance-theory held by Prof.
Govi.] Do not be aggrieved, O Devatdar, by my delay in responding to
your pressing request, for those things which you require of me are
of such a nature that they cannot be well expressed without some
lapse of time; particularly because, in order to explain the cause
of so great an effect, it is necessary to describe with accuracy the
nature of the place; and by this means I can afterwards easily
satisfy your above-mentioned request. [Footnote 62: This passage was
evidently intended as an improvement on that immediately preceding
it. The purport of both is essentially the same, but the first is
pitched in a key of ill-disguised annoyance which is absent from the
second. I do not see how these two versions can be reconciled with
the romance-theory held by Prof. Govi.]

I will pass over any description of the form of Asia Minor, or as to
what seas or lands form the limits of its outline and extent,
because I know that by your own diligence and carefulness in your
studies you have not remained in ignorance of these matters [65];
and I will go on to describe the true form of the Taurus Mountain
which is the cause of this stupendous and harmful marvel, and which
will serve to advance us in our purpose [66]. This Taurus is that
mountain which, with many others is said to be the ridge of Mount
Caucasus; but wishing to be very clear about it, I desired to speak
to some of the inhabitants of the shores of the Caspian sea, who
give evidence that this must be the true Caucasus, and that though
their mountains bear the same name, yet these are higher; and to
confirm this in the Scythian tongue Caucasus means a very high
[Footnote 68: Caucasus; Herodot Kaoxaais; Armen. Kaukaz.] peak, and
in fact we have no information of there being, in the East or in the
West, any mountain so high. And the proof of this is that the
inhabitants of the countries to the West see the rays of the sun
illuminating a great part of its summit for as much as a quarter of
the longest night. And in the same way, in those countries which lie
to the East.

[Footnote 73: The statements are of course founded on those of the
'inhabitants' spoken of in 1. 67.] 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, its shadow extends as far as the borders of
Sarmatia, twelve days off; and in the middle of December it extends
as far as the Hyperborean mountains, which are at a month's journey
to the North [75]. And the side which faces the wind is always free
from clouds and mists, because the wind which is parted in beating
on the rock, closes again on the further side of that rock, and in
its motion carries with it the clouds from all quarters and leaves
them where it strikes. And it is always full of thunderbolts from
the great quantity of clouds which accumulate there, whence the rock
is all riven and full of huge debris [Footnote 77: Sudden storms are
equally common on the heights of Ararat. It is hardly necessary to
observe that Ararat cannot be meant here. Its summit is formed like
the crater of Vesuvius. The peaks sketched on Pl. CXVI-CXVIII are
probably views of the same mountain, taken from different sides.
Near the solitary peak, Pl. CXVIII these three names are written
goba, arnigasar, caruda
, names most likely of different peaks. Pl.
CXVI and CXVII are in the original on a single sheet folded down the
middle, 30 centimetres high and 43 1/2 wide. On the reverse of one
half of the sheet are notes on
peso
and
bilancia
(weight and
balance), on the other are the 'prophecies' printed under Nos. 1293
and 1294. It is evident from the arrangement that these were written
subsequently, on the space which had been left blank. These pages
are facsimiled on Pl. CXVIII. In Pl. CXVI-CXVIII the size is smaller
than in the original; the map of Armenia, Pl. CXVIII, is on Pl. CXIX
slightly enlarged. On this map we find the following names,
beginning from the right hand at the top:
pariardes mo
(for
Paryadres Mons, Arm. Parchar, now Barchal or Kolai Dagh; Trebizond
is on its slope).