Prophecies: Suckling Babies and Sea-Cast Shellfish
Two riddling 'prophecies' on infants at the breast and the dead rotting at home
This page carries two of Leonardo's playful 'prophecies'—riddles whose mundane solutions are dressed up as dire predictions. The first, headed 'Of babies that suckle,' foretells that many children will eat what others have lately eaten and will remain many months before they can speak. The second, 'Of shells and snails cast up by the sea to rot in their shells,' turns into a grim prophecy of how many people, once dead, will rot in their own houses and fill the surrounding air with fetid stench. The writing is inverted relative to the rest of the notebook.
On this page
Two prophecy-riddles: suckling infants and rotting shellfish
Under the heading 'Of babies that suckle,' Leonardo writes that many a Francesco, Domenico, or Benedetta will eat what others have lately eaten, and will remain many months before they can speak. A second riddle, 'Of shells and snails thrown up by the sea to rot within their shells,' resolves into the prediction that many, once dead, will rot in their own houses, filling the surrounding parts with fetid stench.