Bestiary: Dragon, Viper and Scorpion
Animal emblems closing on a moral of abstinence
This mirror-script page continues the bestiary with three creatures. The dragon binds the elephant's legs and dies crushed beneath it, taking its revenge in death; the viper kills its mate while mating and is then torn open by its own young. The scorpion, killed by saliva spat while fasting, becomes an emblem of the abstinence of the gullet that drives out disease and opens the road to virtue.
On this page
Dragon and elephant
The dragon binds the legs of the elephant, which falls upon it, so that both die together. In dying, the dragon takes its revenge.
Viper
In mating the viper opens its mouth and at the end clenches its teeth and kills its mate. The offspring, grown within the body, then tear open the belly and slay their mother.
Scorpion and the moral of abstinence
Saliva spat while fasting upon a scorpion kills it. Leonardo likens this to the abstinence of the gullet, which takes away and kills the maladies that depend on it and opens the road to the virtues.