The Surveyor in Foure Bookes

...of which definition (being the most absolute) I will leave to speak to those who can write better. Yet I will aver thus much: that no man shall obtain the absolute perfection thereof if he is entirely ignorant of the rules, rudiments, and principles of mathematical discipline, as the due consideration of that sacred and mystical Unity and Trinity may well prove.

And how useful and important they are for attaining that knowledge of human things original: "humanarum rerum scientiam", in peace or war, is worthily witnessed by Plato, Vegetius, Livy, and other authors. They testify of Lycurgus and that famous Syracusan, Archimedes; by the one, what excellent laws and ordinances were established and administered in the time of peace, and by the other, what more than wonderful devices and stratagems were wrought against the invincible forces of Marcellus in the time of war, which they worthily attribute to this their mathematical knowledge original: "scientiæ mathematicarum".

But should my weakness here undertake to illustrate the excellence of that worth which all worthy men admire—and that to your Highness, whose judgment is best able to discern—it would only be to debase both the subject and myself, resulting in my own reproach. Therefore, assuring myself of your Highness's love and affection for these Arts, and your respect for the professors of them, together with your power and ability of defense against the malignant courses of malicious detractors, I presume in all humility to entreat your patronage of these my labors. I prostrate them in all duty at your Highness's feet, with continual invocation to the Prince of Princes ever to preserve your Princely dignity.