TRANSLATION.
A MORAL SONNET.
The man who cannot what he would attain,
Within his pow’r his wishes should restrain:
The wish of Folly o’er that bound aspires,
The wise man by it limits his desires.
Since all our joys so close on sorrows run,
We know not what to choose or what to shun;
Let all our wishes still our duty meet,
Nor banish Reason from her awful seat.
Nor is it always best for man to will
Ev’n what his pow’rs can reach; some latent ill
Beneath a fair appearance may delude
And make him rue what earnest he pursued.
Then, Reader, as you scan this simple page,
Let this one care your ev’ry thought engage,
(With self-esteem and gen’ral love ’t is fraught,)
Wish only pow’r to do just what you ought.
The course of study which Leonardo had thus undertaken, would, in its most limited extent by any one who should attempt it at this time, be found perhaps almost more than could be successfully accomplished; but yet his curiosity and unbounded thirst for information, induced him rather to enlarge than contract his plan. Accordingly we find, that to the study of geometry, sculpture, anatomy, he added those of
