The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci

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Page 684 of 1565.
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Truth the sun.
falsehood a mask.
innocence,
malignity.

Fire destroys falsehood,
that is sophistry, and
restores truth, driving out
darkness.

Fire may be represented as the destroy of
all sophistry, and as the
image and demonstration of truth;
because it is light and drives
out darkness which conceals
all essences [or subtle things].

[Footnote: See PI. LXIII. L. 1-8 are in the middle of the page; 1.
9-14 to the right below; 1. 15-22 below in the middle column. The
rest of the text is below the sketches on the left. There are some
other passages on this page relating to geometry.]

TRUTH.

Fire destroys all sophistry, that is deceit;
and maintains truth alone, that is gold.

Truth at last cannot be hidden.
Dissimulation is of no avail. Dissimulation is
to no purpose before
so great a judge.
Falsehood puts on a mask.
Nothing is hidden under the sun.

Fire is to represent truth because it
destroys all sophistry and lies; and the
mask is for lying and falsehood
which conceal truth.

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