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by Leopardi, Giacomo


  Money. 1170,1.

  Monks. Nuns. Monastic life. 2381,1. 2387,1. 4103,6.

  Monosyllables. In origin, languages were composed only of these. Latin, etc., monosyllables. 1128,1. 2879,1. 2972,1. 3006,2. 3246,1. 3541,3. 3547,1.2. 3621,1. 3684,4. 3722,3. 3830,1. 3849,2. 3881,2.3. 3896,3. 3902,3. 3938,4. 4139,8.

  Monotony. 345,1. 368,1. 1588,1. 1655,1. 1736,1. 3676,1. See Variety.

  Montesquieu. Comments on his work concerning the grandeur and decline of the Romans. 113,1. 113,3. 114,1. 116,4. 117,1.2. 120,1.2. 121,1.2. 122,1. 123,2. 124,1. 299,1. 222,3. 358,2. 457,1. 883. 915ff. 1601. 1606,1.

  Monti (Vincenzo). 13,3. 36,1. 701. 725. 3418. 3477,4.

  Moors in Spain. 3579,1.

  Moral. See Physical and Moral.

  Moral etiquette. 38,1. 97,1. 126,2. 139,2. 197,1. 206,1.2. 230,1. 233,2. 255,2. 271,2. 302,1. 313,1. 324,4. 453,2. 536,3. 661,3. 669,1. 712,1. 926,1. 931,1. 1291,1. 1583,2. 1660,1. 1669,2. 1675,1. 1740,1. 1932,2. 3360,1. 3684,1. 4037,6. 4140,2. 4188,8. 4195 f. 4261,2. 4268,1. 4274,2. 4275,1. 4285,5. 4294,5.

  Moral intermittency. 4231,2.

  Moral reaction. 47,2.

  Morality, practical, greater among the ancients to the same extent that theoretical Morality is greater among the Christians. 2492,2. 3134,1. See Duties, moral.

  Morning. 151,3.

  Mortality and Vitality in ancient states and in modern. 625,3. 1330,1. 4062,5.

  Mortification, total, of feeling, imagination, every ability, caused in men, particularly the sensitive, by habitual unhappiness, and by the resigned privation of all hope. 4105,2.

  Muddleheads. 1752,1.

  Multiplicity and complexity of causes in all natural things, and of accidents that vary their effects, etc. The sciences, both moral and physical, cannot do without suppositions and hypotheses. 3977,1.

  Municipal, provincial, etc. (spirit). 2628,1.

  Murder. 3928,5.

  Music. 79,1. 130,2. 155,1. 156,1. 157,2. 159,1. 1369. 1663,1.2. 1747,1. 1759,1. 1780,1. 1871,1. 1927,2. 1934,1. 1940,2. 2017,1. 2336,1. 2337,1. 3020,1. 3208,1. 3310,1. 3313,1. 3364,1. 3421,1. Rhetoric or Poetics of Music, there is none, only Grammar, but there could be one. 3217, margin.

  Musicians, ancient and modern. 3224–29. 3424–25.

  Musicians, were in ancient times the poets themselves. 3228–29.

  Mythologies. Symbols, etc. Their origin and reason, etc. 2940–1. 3430,2. 3638,3. 3644. 3811,4. 3878,1. 4001,1. 4070,1. 4238,4. Difference between ancient and modern mythologies. 4238,4.

  Mythology, Greek. 52,1. 68,2. 285,2. 1831. 3430,2. 3461,1. 3638,3. 3644. 3771. 4001,1. 3878,1. 4048,3. 4238,4.

  N

  Names of good men and bad, in different languages. 64,3. 2316,1. 2486,1. 4013,1. 4227,6. 4229,3. 4268,6.

  Names of ordinal and cardinal numbers. 1073,1.

  Names. Why men let themselves be governed by names. 2487,1.

  Napoleon (his Government). 229,2. 251,1.

  Nations. Their common origin. 1263,2.

  Natural history. Unreasonableness of this name, and of the idea which follows from it. Which, however, it would not be possible to change. 4214,4.

  Naturalness. 658,1. 650,1. 705. 1329,3. 1365,1. 1404,1. 1411,1. 1915,1. 2037,2. 2498,1. 2545,1. 2682,1. 3047,1. 3050,1. 3490,1. See Simplicity.

  Naturalness and Clarity in writing. 119,1. Cannot be achieved except through art. 3047,1. 3050,1.

  Nature. Passage from Cicero about it which could serve as an epigraph to my books. 599,1. another one. 601,1. another one from Xenophon. 2204,1. another one from St. Athanasius. 2645,1. System of Nature. There is in effect a lot that is poetic about it. 1833,2. 3237,1. See Artifice. Contradictions and monstrosities. Simplicity. Multiplicity, etc.

  Nature, wild and cultivated. 1558,2. 2250,1.

  Nature and Fortune, providence and art. 542,2. 1022,1. 1329,3. 1558,2.

  Necessity. Consolation that springs from the thought of it. 65,1. 188,2. 503,1. 2419,2. 2674,2. See Fate.

  Needs of man in civil life. 401–2. 2256,1. 2237,2.[2337,2.] 2454,2. 2686,1. 4198,1.

  Negligence. Inactivity. Diligence. Activity (Habit of). 1075,2. 1584,2. 1588,1. 4254,4. Those who do more, have more time and will to do, those who do less, less. Application to men of letters, businessmen, the ancients. Important observations. 4254,4. 4281,3.

  Nihil. Its etymology. 2306,1. 3897,1. 3979,3.

  Nineteenth century. 1077,1. 4120,20. 4167,9. 4172,8.9. 4189,1. 4056,4. 4192,1. 4206,4. 4269,2.

  Nn changed to gn. 928,1. 4068,7. 4085,3. 4104,1. 4234,2.

  Nonsense poems. See Burchiello.

  Northern and southern (life, imagination, spirit), ancient and modern. Modern superiority of the Northerners, accident of civilization. 3676,1. 4062,5. 4256,1. Ancient civilization was southern, morally and geographically, modern is northern. 4256,1. See Character, Southern and Northern. Eastern.

  Nothingness or littleness of things. Things are not really nothing or little in themselves, but are so for us. 2936,1. 2938,1. 2941,1. 3956,3.

  Novels. The sentimental. 64,2. 650,1. 724,3. 1436,1. 1448,1. 1691,2. 1903,1. 2229. 2738,1. 3158,1.

  Novelty, pleasurable in itself. 1866,1. Continual novelty becomes monotony. 1655,1. See Monotony. Variety.

  Novelty in languages. 735,1. 784,1. 785,1. 1046,2. 1056,1. 1070,1. 1213,1. 1237,1. 1238,2. 1292,1. 1304,1. 1316,1. 1332,1. 1422,2. 1424,1. 1490,1. 1499,1. 1768,1. 2227,1. 2335,2. 2386,3. 2390,2. 2397,2. 2400,2. 2443,1. 2500,2. 2611,2. 2632. 2648,1. 2663,1. 2664,2. 2715,2. 2721,1–4. 2722,1. 2723,1. 2756. 3192,1. 3235,2. 3389,1. 3764,1. 3829,1. 3855,1. 3863,2. See Freedom in languages.

  Novelty in the Italian language: Latinisms, Grecisms, Hispanisms, etc. Rules and ways of using them. 3404,1. 3866,1.

  Numbers. See Names of numbers. Quantity. Numerals.

  Numerals. 1398,2.

  O

  O, U, letters. Often interchangeable, in Latin, Italian, etc. 2195,1. 2325,1. 2779. 3574–5. 3701, margin. 3816,2. 3872,1. 3992,1.

  Obstinacy. 1970,2.

  Offense. 829,1.

  Old age. 277,1. 280,2. 633,1. 636,2. 1584,2. 1724,1. 1860,1. 2033. 2110. 2208,2. 2755. 3265,1. 3291,1. 3520,1. 3922. 3938,2. 4284,1. 4287,1. 4141,3.

  Old people, why they love life so much. 294,1. 1420,2. 2643,1. 2987,3. 3029,2. 4116,1.

  Opinions (variety of). 364,1. 668,1. Their influence on actions, tastes, feelings, etc. 1733,1. 1749,1. 1801,1. 1865,1. 2596,1. 3151–2. 3909,2. 3914,1. Love man has for opinions. 1816,2. 2624,3.

  Originality. 128,2. 143,1. 307,2. 470,2. 724,3. 2184,1.

  Orthography. 12,2. 44,2. 975,2. 977,1. 1278. 1283,1. 1338,3. 1342. 1346,3. 1659,1. 1970,1. 2376,1. 2654,1. 2657,1. 2740,1. 2869,1. 2884,1. 3055,1. 3630,1. 3683,1. 3920,1. 3937,3. 3959,1. 3964,2. 3980,4. 4018,6. 4023,2. 4050,6. 4051,2. 4090,6. 4124,9. 4273,2. 4280,4. 4284,2. 4290,2. 4293,1.

  Ossian. Bards. 204,2. 484,1. 931,2. 986,2. 994–5. 1218. 1399,1. 3401. See Celtic (language).

  Ovid. 12,1. 21,2. 152,2. 727. 141, margin. 2041,1. 2523,1. 2599–600. 3063. 3479,1.

  P

  Pain. See Pleasure and Pain. Pain, ancient. 76,4. 88,1. 105,1.2. 2434,2. 2753–5. 4156,8. Natural pain of country people, laborers, etc. 1677,1. Outpourings of pain used by the ancients, by savages, country folk, etc.; how helpful, how thoughtfully wished by nature, stupidly forbidden by civilization and philosophy. 4243,8. Pain of misfortune, etc., is greater in more vigorous bodies. 2753–5. 3922. Pain of separation from the corpses of our loved ones. 3430,2. Pains of the mind. 512,1. 715. 931,1. 2479,1. Pains of the body. 2479,1. Many face up to the perils of death; an assured bodily pain, for no reason, very few. 3432,1. The pain one feels in leaving a person, a place, etc., forever. 644,1. 2242,1. 4278,2.

  Pallavicino (Sforza). 4028.

  Paradoxes. 1329,2. 1347,1. 1507,1. 2157,1. 2666,1. 262,3. 2803,1. 3349, margin. 3956,3. 4043,2. 4096,2. 4174,2. 4182,9. 4199,1. 4204,1. See Customs, ancient.

  Parents. Paternal home. Domestic life. 4226,4. 4229,4.

  Parents. Their first task, to console their children, and encourage them to liv
e. 2607,1.

  Parini. 701. 2363,2. 3418.

  Participles, etc. See separate slips, with the title Participles used as adjectives. Participles in US of active and neuter verbs.

  Passions, ancient, not all more vehement than modern. 2434,2.

  Patents in ancient times. 4255,2.

  Patience. 112,3. 302,4. 3602. 3608. 3612. 4164,2. Its usefulness in periods of pain, boredom, etc. 4239,5.

  Pederasty. 1840,1. 1841,1. 4047,1.

  Perfectibility or perfection, human. See separate slips, with the title Perfectibility or perfection, human.

  Perfection. See Greatness and Perfection. Precision and Perfection.

  Perfection, absolute. The most perfect being. God. 1339,1. 1341,1. 1355,1. 1461,1. 1469,1. 1613,1–1619,1. 1625,1. 1627,1.2. 1637,1. 1645,1. 1710,1. 1712,1. 1790,1. 1791,2. 1907,2. 2073,1. 2178,1. 2232,2. 2263,2. 2395,1. 3760,1. 4142,1. 4204,1. 4248,9. 4257,11. 4274,3. See Infinite.

  Persians. Their language, etc. etc. 954. 2479,2.

  Petrarch. 23,5. 24,1. 70,1. 112,4. 700–2. 727. 1525,1. 1579,3. 1809. 1810. 2516, margin. 2533,1. 2540. 2715,2. 2724. 2838–9. 3128. 3176. 3415. 3561–2. 3884,1. 3979,1. 4246,1. 4249,1.

  Phaedrus. 3062,3. 3626ff.

  Philology. Passages from authors explained, corrected, etc. etc. 465,1. 466,2. 467,1. 470,1. 472,1. 473,1.2. 477,3. 489,2. 494,2. 495,1. 502,2. 509,1. 510,1.2. 511,2. 523,2. 525,1. 592,2.3. 597,1. 601,2. 683,2. 684,1. 702,1.2. 703,1. 708,1.2. 717,1.2. 722,2.3. 1165,3. 1421,1. 1533,1. 2470,1. 2565,2. 2663,4. 2664,1.3. 2775,1. 2865,1. 2890,2. 2786,1. 2918,1. 3262,3. 3430,1. 4009,3. 4154,2. 4162,9. 4122,17. 4163,5. 4223,1.

  Philosopher, can be as original as a poet. 1766,1.

  Philosopher, truly great, how difficult for one to emerge. 1838,3. 1858,2.

  Philosopher in theory, is usually by nature the most antiphilosophical in practice. 4160,10.

  Philosophers, ancient and modern. 1018,1.

  Philosophies, ancient practical. Bringing their teachings and maxims together into mine, and concordance of those that are discordant. 4190,3.

  Philosophy, ancient, and modern Philosophy. 231,1. 249,1. 264,1. 520,1. 1347,1. 1359–60. 1465,1. 1467,1.2. 1468,1. 2292,1. 2705,3. 2712,1. 4096,3. 4206,4.

  Philosophy, perfect, and half Philosophy. 520,1. 1077,1. 1252,2. 1715,1. 1792,1. 2245,1. 2292,1. 2668,1. 2672,3. 2683,3.

  Physical and Moral. Impropriety of this expression. 3745,2.[3747.]

  Physiognomy. Eyes. 1510,1. 1576,1. 1594,1. 1610,1. 1634,1. 1666,1. 1667,1. 1684,1. 1688,1. 1770,2. 1827,3.[1828,3.] 1881,1. 1904,2. 1930,2. 1932,1. 2102,1. 2546,1. 3090,1. 3201. 4085,1. 4284,1.

  Physique of several ancient peoples. 1601.

  Plato. 1712,1. 2150,1. 2709. 2717,1. 2728. 3420,2. 3629.

  Plautus. 10,1.

  Pleasing everyone, impossible. 4188,8.

  Pleasure (Theory of). See separate slips, with the title Pleasure, Theory of pleasure. In time of pleasure, boredom is keener than ever. Definition of pleasure, as it really is. 3876,1. 4074,1. Wherever pleasure alone is sought, it is never found; for that reason the young never find it, etc.; necessary to seek some other goal. 4266,1.

  Pleasure and Pain. Human faculties limited in regard to these; greater however in regard to pain. 3823.

  Pleasure and Usefulness. The useful and the delightful. 986,1. 987,1. 1165,1. 1507,1. 2157,1.

  Pleasure of the ancient. 1429. 2263,1.

  Pleasure of despair. 1628,1. 2217,1.

  Pleasure of dwelling on unpleasant thoughts or sensations. 88,2.

  Pleasure of elegance. 1434,2. 1579,3.

  Pleasure of inaction and rest. 4180,4.

  Pleasure of languor of the body or mind, of not caring, etc. 1580,1. 1584,2. 1628,1. 1779,1. 1792,1. 3842,2. 3846,2. 3905,1. 4074,1.

  Pleasure of observing faults in the people one respects and loves. 661,3.

  Pleasure of the purity of the language. 1435,1. See Pleasure of elegance.

  Pleasure of reading about great and virtuous actions. 124,1. 3480,1.

  Pleasure of reading poetry. 259,1. 1574,1. 3158,1.

  Pleasure of surprise. 188,4. 2239,1.

  Pleasures, small, how important they are. 2451,1.

  Pleasures that arise simultaneously from multiple causes, even contrary ones. 1967,1.

  Pleasures that we make for ourselves, and through habituation, etc. 191,3. 1319,1. 1434,2. 1435,1. 1456,2. 1758,1.2. 1883,1. 1927,1. 1940,1. 1773,1. 3229,1. 3313,1. 3909,2. 3914,1. 4266,1. 4273,5. 4271,2.

  Plutarch. 2410, 3475.

  Poet must not allow himself to be thought ugly. 220,3. Nor make his protagonists out to be ugly. 1691,2.

  Poets, write well in prose too, not so prose writers in verse. Passage from D. Laertius. 527,2. Cannot write poetry at the height of enthusiasm. 714,1.

  Poetry. See Verse. Romanticism, etc. Divided into three genres: lyric, epic, and dramatic. 4234,5. Keeper of the antiquity and purity of the language. 2640,1. 3008,1.[3009,1.] 3417–9. There can be no contemporary poetry. 2944,1. It has little effect on children. 1799,1. Even when melancholic, needs happy moments. 136,1. The corruption and decay of each genre of poetry usually begins immediately after the first work of that genre. 3290.

  Poetry, descriptive. 164,2. 2041,1. 2361,1. 2599,1. 3479,1. 3548,2.

  Poetry, Italian. 700,1.

  Poetry, modern, always melancholic, not so ancient poetry. 3976,1.

  Poetry and philosophy. Their mutual relationships. The disciplines most despised today; not so in antiquity. 3382,2.

  Poetry of imagination, and poetry of feeling. 1448,1. 1860,1. 2159,1. 3119ff. 3154,1. 3158,1.

  Politics. 309,4. 574–5. 925,2. 1826,1. 3773,1. 4041,7. Cultivated and fashionable among private citizens in Italy in the sixteenth century, as elsewhere today. 3129, margin. Political science of writers and private citizens, ancient and modern, compared. 3469,1. See Psychology.

  Portraits. 1302,1. 1303,1.

  Possibility. 1619,1. 1625,1. 1637,1. 1645,1. 1710,1. 1790,1. 2073,1. 2263,2. 4189,1.

  Posterity. 826,1. 2263,1. Desire to be famous in posterity, is not natural. 3027,2.

  Praeverbia. 1067,1.

  Praise. 196,1. 724,2. One easily becomes insensible to the pleasure of praise; but not to the displeasure of criticism. 4167,12.

  Praise of oneself. 926,1. 1740,1. 1932,2. Necessary. 2429,1.

  Precision and Clarity and Propriety in words. 950,3. 1226,1. 1234,1. 1237,1. 1245,1. 1488–9. 1701,1. 1918. 2012,2. 2468.

  Precision and perfection, mathematical, is real imperfection in nature. 582–6.

  Prejudice. Its force in opinions, tastes, feelings, etc. etc. 1801,1. 1832,1. 1865,1. 2596,1. See Opinions.

  Pride. 669,1. 926,1. In what respect it can be good, according to an ancient writer. 324,2.

  Pride, national. 119,1. 923,1. 1420,1. 1728,1. Observations on this quality considered in practical terms in the French and the English. 4261,2.

  Priesthood among the ancients. Not separate from civil, etc. 2367,3. 2635,2. 2670,1. 3881,1.

  Prince. 549ff. 1534,2. 1563,1. 1586,1. 1879,2. 2292,1. 3768. 4096,3. See Rights of Princes.

  Princes (Congresses of). Application of a witticism reported by Cicero. 4167,9. For a long time now princes have had no country. 4179,4.

  Printing. 939.

  Progress of the human spirit. 1347,1. 1424,2. 1583,1. 1720,1. 1729,1. 1767,1.2. 1922,1. 1923,1. 1975,1. 2705,3. 2712,1. 2948,1. 4108,4. 4135,5. 4189,1. 4192,1. 4206,4. See Truth.

  Proportion. 1243,1. 1259,1. 1306,1. 1437,1. 1589,2. 1793,1. 1921,1. 2257,2. 2546,1.

  Propriety of words. 1482,1. 1822,1. 1917,2. 3747,1. See Precision and Clarity.

  Prosody (Greek). 307,2. 1158,1.

  Proverbs. 4249,1.

  Provincial (spirit). 2628,1.

  Psyche (story of). 637,1.

  Psychology. 53,1. 181,1. 1833,2. Never applied to Politics. 1826.1.

  Punishment. In Europe it is not the crime, but being or having been punished for it, that is shameful. Not so in the United States of America, and rightly. 4044,8.
r />   Purism. Purist sect among the Latins. 2180,1. 2514–5. 2715,2. Among the Greeks. 4147,6.

  Purity of the language. 1435,1. 1579,3. 1936,1. 2012,1. 2061–2. 2357. 2449,1. 2455,2. 2500,2. 2640,1. 3398–9.

  Q

  Qualities, human, believed to be bad. 655,1. Believed to be innate, which really derive from habit. 2472,1. 2489,1. 2596,1. 2862,1. 3027,2. 3301,1. 3374,1. 3466,1. 3518,1. 3525,1. 3804,1. 3824,1. 4254,4. See Habit.

  Quantity, determinate, cannot be conceived without the help of language. 360,3. 2588,3. 2658,2. 4024,2. Tenfold division of such quantity, extremely helpful to thought. 1394,1. Numerical figures. 1398,2. See Names of numbers.

  Quietness of life. 298–9. 536,3. Cannot be achieved, especially by people of imagination, except by external activity; the quieter life is materially, the more unquiet it is morally. 4259,5. 4266,1.

  R

  Rapidity of style. 2041,1. 2336,1. 2337,1.

  Reading. 222,2. 1574,1. 2228,1. 4266,1.

  Reason. Its powerlessness with respect to our actions. 1651,1. 1727,2. 1816,2. 3518,1. 3613,1. Is an acquired faculty, not an innate one. 1680,1. Is not powerless in itself, but makes man powerless, little, etc. 2941,1. Harmful and contrary to the social state. 3896,4.

  Reason and Imagination. Systems founded on reasoning are never universally accepted; many of those that are founded on feeling and imagination are and were universal. 3243–4.

  Rectitude. See Virtue and Rectitude.

  Reflection (Habit of). 1714,1.

  Reflection. Lack of reflection. 1163,1. 1421,2. 1998,1. 2451,1. 2610,1. 3040,1. 3518,1. 3908,1. 4010,3. 4079,1. 4272,2. See Reflective people. Passage from Tasso in the Aminta. 2391,1.

  Reflection, lack of. See Reflection. Reflective people.

  Reflective people. 1998,1.

  Regret. 188,2. 65,1. 466,1. 476,1. 1400,1.

  Regret and Repentance for faults among the ancients. 2354,1.

  Relations. Observation of relations in philosophy. 1650,1. 1836,1. 1854. 1922,1. 3269,1. 3881,4.

  Religion. Worship. 364,3. 1059,2. 1637,1. 1710,1. 2208,1. 2387,1. 2401,2. 2574,1. 3430,2. 3433,1. 3638,3. 3894,2. 4001,1. 4126,6. 4206,4. 4229,4. 4238,4.

  Repose and Action in painting and sculpture. 4021,7.

  Republic. Free state. Sure sign of corruption in the given society in which it is found. 3411,1. See Monarchy.

 

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