Two aphorisms: gravity and the pupil who surpasses his master
Heavy bodies seek the earth's centre; 'wretched is the pupil who does not surpass his master'
This leaf carries two of Leonardo's aphorisms in faint mirror-script. The first states a physical principle: every heavy body 'desires' that its own centre coincide with the centre of the earth. The second is a well-known maxim on learning: wretched is the pupil who does not surpass his master. No drawing accompanies the text.
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Every heavy body seeks the earth's centre
Leonardo frames gravity as a desire proper to weight: the aim of every heavy body is that its own centre should become the centre of the earth. It compresses the idea of a universal downward tendency toward a single central point into a single line.
'Wretched is the pupil who does not surpass his master'
The second sentence is a moral maxim on teaching and learning. It holds that a pupil who fails to advance beyond his master is to be pitied. It stands as an independent aphorism jotted below the note on gravity.