Invective against men who only fill privies
A moral aphorism on those who put no virtue into the world
A moral aphorism, written upside down, scorns idle men as nothing but a passage for food and fillers of privies. It says that through them nothing appears in the world and no virtue is ever put into practice, so that of them nothing remains but full latrines. A brief note reading '13 weeks' follows the passage.
On this page
Men who are mere fillers of privies
The passage argues that some people deserve to be called nothing but a passage for food, augmenters of dung and fillers of privies. Through them nothing else appears in the world and no virtue is put into practice, for of them nothing remains but full latrines. It is one of Leonardo's moralizing invectives on the wasted life.