CONTENTS
| PAGE | |
| BOOK I | |
| THE WHITE SHE-DEVIL—1494 | [3] |
| BOOK II | |
| ECCE DEUS—ECCE HOMO—1494 | [36] |
| BOOK III | |
| THE POISONED FRUITS—1494 | [57] |
| BOOK IV | |
| THE WITCHES' SABBATH—1494 | [82] |
| BOOK V | |
| THY WILL BE DONE—1494 | [104] |
| BOOK VI | |
| THE DIARY OF GIOVANNI BOLTRAFFIO—1494-1495 | [129] |
| BOOK VII | |
| THE BONFIRE OF VANITIES—1496 | [151] |
| BOOK VIII | |
| THE AGE OF GOLD—1496-1497 | [172] |
| BOOK IX | |
| THE SIMILITUDES—1498-1499 | [210] |
| BOOK X | |
| CALM WATERS—1499-1500 | [260] |
| BOOK XI | |
| THERE SHALL BE WINGS—1500 | [300] |
| BOOK XII | |
| 'AUT CÆSAR AUT NIHIL'—1500-1503 | [320] |
| BOOK XIII | |
| THE PURPLE BEAST—1503 | [361] |
| BOOK XIV | |
| MONNA LISA GIOCONDA—1503-1506 | [385] |
| BOOK XV | |
| THE HOLY INQUISITION—1506-1513 | [411] |
| BOOK XVI | |
| LEONARDO, MICHELANGELO, AND RAPHAEL—1513-1515 | [425] |
| BOOK XVII | |
| DEATH—THE WINGED PRECURSOR—1516-1519 | [437] |
| EPILOGUE | [459] |
LEONARDO DA VINCI
'Sentio rediit ab inferis Julianus.'
(I feel that Julian has risen again.)—Petrarch.'We see the encounter of vast contraries: Man-god against God-man—Apollo Belvedere against Christ.'—Dostoievsky.
BOOK I
THE WHITE SHE-DEVIL—1494
'At Siena was discovered another statue of Venus, to the huge joy of the inhabitants. A great concourse, with much feasting and honour, set it up over the fountain called "Il Fonte Gaja," as an adornment....
'But great tribulation having come upon the land by reason of the Florentines, there arose one of the council, a citizen, and spake in this wise: "Fellow-citizens, since the finding of this figure we have had much evil hap, and if we consider how strictly idolatry is prohibited by our faith, what shall we think but that God hath sent us this adversity by reason of sin? I advise that we remove this image from the public square of the city, deface it, break it in pieces, and send it to be buried in the territory of the Florentines."
'All agreeing with this opinion, they confirmed it by a decree; and the thing was put into execution, and the statue was buried within our confines.' (Notes of the Florentine sculptor, Lorenzo Ghiberti, XVth. century.)