Love of Virtue and the Caladrius Bird
A bestiary allegory: the healing bird whose gaze foretells life or death
A page of Leonardo's moral bestiary, written in mirror script, on the theme of the love of virtue. The caladrius (calendrino) is described as a bird that, brought before a sick man, turns its head away if he is to die but never leaves him with its gaze if he is to recover, indeed curing him. Leonardo draws the moral that love of virtue likewise never looks on base things, dwells in the gentle heart, and shines brightest in adversity, like a light in a dark place.
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Amore di virtu: the caladrius as emblem of virtuous love
The caladrius bird brought before an invalid turns its head away if the patient must die and never looks at him; but if he is to recover it keeps him always in sight and is the cause of curing him. So too the love of virtue never regards anything base or wretched, but abides in honest things and nests in the gentle heart like birds on flowering boughs. It shows itself more in adversity than in prosperity, like a light that shines brightest where it finds the darkest place.