Fame rises, infamy falls; and which water strikes harder
Allegory of Fame and Infamy with a red-chalk note and channel diagram on the force of moving water
The inverted leaf joins an allegorical note to a small channel diagram, both in red chalk. Leonardo writes that Fame flies and rises to heaven because virtuous things are friends of God, while Infamy should be drawn upside down since its works oppose God and point toward hell; he adds that a straight motion which turns into another without a rebound loses its power. A lettered sloping-channel scheme then asks which of two streams, a b or a f, delivers the greater blow, answering that the natural motion keeping its straight begun course strikes hardest.
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Fame flies to heaven, Infamy is drawn upside down
Fame flies and rises to heaven, for virtuous things are friends of God; Infamy must be figured upside down, because all its operations are contrary to God and turn toward the nether regions. The pair belongs to the allegory of Fame and Infamy.
Which stream gives the greater blow, a b or a f?
The channel scheme, lettered a, f, b, asks which water gives the greater percussion, the water a b or the water a f. That natural motion gives the greater blow which keeps its begun course along a straight line.
Straight motion that turns aside loses its power
That straight motion which transmutes into another without a rebound loses its power. The maxim closes the allegorical note and links it to the water study below.