Palace with a loggia, and a verse on the rule of health
An arcaded building amid dense notes, with a health-regimen verse and a Latin line naming Theodoric
At the centre of this densely written sheet Leonardo drew a long, multi-storey building with an arcaded ground-floor loggia. Below, turned when the page was inverted, stands the well-known didactic health-regimen verse beginning "If you would stay healthy, observe this rule", counselling moderation in food, wine, sleep and exercise. Across the top, in another hand, is a Latin royal titulature naming Theodoric ("Teodoricus R... Semper Augustus"). The rest of the sheet is covered with much further writing not included in the transcription.
On this page
Building with an arcaded loggia
At the centre of the sheet is a pen drawing of a long building of several storeys, its ground floor opened by a row of arches carried on columns, in the manner of a palace loggia. A wall or enclosure extends to the right of the block.
Verse on the rule of health
A didactic health-regimen poem: eat only with appetite and sup lightly, chew well, take food well cooked and simple; avoid anger and heavy air, keep wine tempered, flee lust and keep to your diet. Leonardo has copied out the full set of rules.
Latin inscription naming Theodoric
Across the top of the sheet, in a hand other than Leonardo's, is a Latin royal formula: "Theodoric, King. Ever, ever Augustus, for the good of the republic."
