A doubt on Noah's Flood, and a description of the Deluge
Whether the Flood could have drained away, and lightning glittering on the waves
Two paper fragments (folios 418a and 418b recto) carry prose. The first, headed 'A doubt,' questions whether Noah's Flood was truly universal: since a universal rain would clothe the spherical earth in an equally deep sphere of water, and water cannot move unless it descends, Leonardo asks how such a flood could ever have drained away, concluding that one must invoke either a miracle or evaporation by the sun's heat. The second fragment is a vivid picture of the Deluge, with people hurriedly loading provisions onto makeshift boats, and observes how the flashes of lightning multiply as shimmering images across the waves, growing more numerous the farther the beholder's eye, just as the sun and moon glitter on the sea.
On this page
A doubt: could a universal Flood ever have drained away?
Leonardo raises a doubt as to whether Noah's Flood was universal. A universal rain would have clothed the spherical earth in a sphere of water everywhere equidistant from the center; but water on such a surface cannot move, since water moves only when it descends. He asks how the floodwater could then have withdrawn, concluding that one must call on a miracle, or say the water was evaporated by the heat of the sun.
The Deluge: makeshift boats and hurried provisions
People are seen with great anxiety loading provisions onto various kinds of boats made in great haste out of necessity. Where the dark rains and their clouds hung, the glints of the waves did not show.
Lightning flashes multiplied as images on the waves
Where the flashes generated by the celestial thunderbolts were reflected, one saw as many glints, made by the images of the flashes, as there were waves able to reflect them to the eyes of bystanders. The number of these reflected images grew with the distance of the beholder's eye and diminished as it drew nearer, as is proved in the account of the splendor of the moon and of the reflection of the sun on the sea.