Institutes of Oratory

is an argument of industry: but the weight of the matter is a sign of talent and learning. I do not say this because I think I have achieved both, but because it has everywhere been my care not to fill pages with empty words. In this large work, covering such a varied subject, I preferred to be brief rather than long. The final concern is usually for the style of speech. If everything does not seem to be of the same color to those who are overly particular Latin: "curiosulis". Vossius refers to critics who might find his writing style inconsistent., one must consider how many different times I wrote these pieces. Some are old, dating back to my youth. Others, which I provide now, are entirely new and are, as it were, still blushing from their mother Vossius uses a metaphor for newborn children to describe his fresh, unpolished revisions.. But I do not labor much over words as long as I satisfy the matter itself. For this reason alone, I wished to imitate farmers who, to make a field bear more fruit, are not content to plow it once, but cross-plow it again. Likewise, painters,
a who first outline bodies with shadows, and later, having added a second and third hand, express them more accurately and finish them with their colors.

who first outline bodies with shadows, and with a second and third hand bring them to perfection and finish them with colors original Greek: "οἱ πρῶτον ταῖς σκιαῖς τὰ σώματα περιχαράττοντες, δευτέρᾳ καὶ τρίτῃ χειρὶ ταύτας ἀπακριβοῦσι, καὶ τελειοῦσι τοῖς χρώμασι.", as Nazianzen Gregory of Nazianzus, a prominent 4th-century theologian and orator. says in another context.
b Epistle 114, to Theodosius or Theodulus. c Epistle 153.

But enough about our purpose. Next, God willing, I shall turn my attention again to Universal History, and especially to that of the early Church, which I have interrupted longer than was right. Indeed, I do not deny that it is a beautiful thing (to use the words of Synesius Synesius of Cyrene was a 5th-century philosopher and bishop. again)
d for the tongue to be cleansed, and the judgment to be made sweeter.

for the tongue to be cleansed and the mind to become sweeter original Greek: "τὴν γλῶτταν καθάρεσθαι, καὶ τὴν γνώμην ἡδίω γενέσθαι."; but it is certainly much more beautiful
e to be occupied with the consideration of divine matters.

to work upon divine matters original Greek: "ἐπεργάζεσθαι εἰς τὰ δαιμόνια πράγματα.". God, I hope, will supply me with strength for this noble undertaking. In this prayer I conclude; and to you, kind Reader, I bid a fond farewell. Leiden, in the year 1630, on the third day before the Kalends of April March 30, 1630. "Lugduni Batavorum" is the Latin name for Leiden..