Letter to Benedetto Dei: The Giant of the Libyan Desert
A prophetic fable of a giant, alongside a copied cathedral account ledger
The sheet is filled with dense mirror-writing in two very different registers. The upper text is a mock letter addressed to Benedetto Dei recounting the appearance of a giant risen from the Libyan desert: when he falls the country shakes like an earthquake, crowds swarm over his limbs like ants on a felled oak, and he shakes the clinging men off his hair like wind-driven hail. A shorter passage adds that the giant was born on Mount Atlas, was black, warred with Egyptians, Arabs, Medes and Persians, and lived in the sea on whales. In two columns Leonardo has also copied entries from a cathedral (Duomo) account register, recording credits to named persons in lire, shillings and pence dated June and July, ending with the total 7282.
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The fall of the giant and the swarming crowd
The letter tells Benedetto Dei that in June a giant appeared from the Libyan desert. When he crashes to the bloodied, muddy ground it is as if a mountain fell; the people, thinking him slain, swarm over his limbs like ants over a fallen oak, wounding him. Roused and stung, he bellows like thunder and shakes the men from his hair so they fly through the air like hail.
Mars in flight; the giant of Mount Atlas
A companion passage likens the terrified men to ants raging over a felled oak, and says Mars, fearing for his life, fled beneath Jupiter's bed. The giant, it adds, was born on Mount Atlas and was black; he warred against Artaxerxes with the Egyptians, Arabs, Medes and Persians, and lived in the sea on whales, great sperm-whales and ships.
Copied cathedral account entries (left column)
Drawn from a register of the Duomo, the left column lists successive credits entered to named parties, each keyed to a folio and a date in June or July, in pounds, shillings and pence. Names include Donato de Comite, Giovanni de Purixelis of Gallarate, Filippo Borromeo and Bartolomeo Aliprando, closing on the total 7282.
Copied account entries (right column)
A short right-hand column continues the ledger with a credit on folio 319 in June for Aluysio Missinono and a debit to the same on folio 349 dated 30 July, repeating the running total 7282.