« Dell’imitazione »
L’imitazione delle cose antiche è più lodevole che quella delle moderne.
“On Imitation”
The [practice] of imitation of ancient things is more praiseworthy than the imitation of that which is modern.
Translation Notes:
-If Leonardo’s literacy is evident of that which was most commonly accepted in late 15th century Tuscan, spelling conventions have not yet adopted of the letter [z] instead of the final [t] used in descendents of Latin 3rd declension <-tio, -tionis> nouns. Hence, in the original, his spelling of <imitazione> is rendered <imitatione> (the Latin original being <imitatio, imitationis>).
-He uses, for the adjective “praiseworthy”, the Latin form of the word (in its neuter form in the nominative and the accusative, which is the form that Italian later appropriated for ALL 3rd declension adjectives): <laudabile>.
The modern equivalent is <lodevole>, indicating a phonological shift from the Latin /au/ to the Italian /o/, and the shift from the bilabial plosive [b] to the labiodental fricative [v].
In the Latin <laudabile>, the stress is on the antepult syllable (the [da]), and perhaps there’s some phonological rule that accounts for the shift from the short /i/ (also written [ĭ]) in the Latin to the /o/ in the Italian when this is the case. I’m not sure, although the other phonological shifts seem quite widespread.
Personal Notes:
As a proponent of Classicism, I agree strongly with Leonardo’s views here. So did Michelangelo, who, in his young adulthood, passed off sculptures of his own as those of Antiquity. Apparently, he was present at the unveiling of the famous Laocoön of Athenodorus, Polydorus, and Hagesander of Rhodes on the site of Nero’s Domus Aurea, and all indications are that he saw this sculpture as the greatest ever created. The influence of this sculpture is incredibly strong in many of his later works, particularly in the slaves originally intended for Pope Julius II’s tomb.
Helpful Links for Readers:
The Laocoön, a background of its sculptors and its history
The slaves of the tomb of Pope Julius II can be seen lower on the page here
