A moral maxim beside a set of concentric circles
Speaking well of a bad man equals speaking ill of a good one
The upper half of the leaf carries a series of concentric circles drawn in red chalk, and the lower half a short moral maxim. The saying holds that to speak well of a wicked man is as much a wrong as to speak ill of a good one. Faint further marks appear between the two elements.
On this page
Maxim on praising the wicked and blaming the good
The written note is a moral aphorism: to speak well of a wicked man is as bad as to speak ill of a good man. It stands as a self-contained sentence of the kind Leonardo scattered through his notebooks. It carries no calculation or diagram of its own.
Series of concentric circles
The upper sheet is filled by several circles drawn one within another about a common centre. The figure is a plain geometric series of concentric rings. No text is attached to it.