M. Vitruvius per Iocundum solito castigatior factus cum figuris et tabula ut iam legi et intelligi possit

...are written in such a way that I am still hesitant, in which I neither trust myself, nor do I know whether the words and their texture are sound or corrupt. Nevertheless, I have done enough, and indeed enough in another's work, which has not yet been sufficiently recognized by anyone of our age (as far as I know). But while it is praiseworthy to have labored on the same, I think it is more commendable, Most Blessed Father, to forge one's own works than to scrutinize those of others. I, too, have not been lacking in this for myself, although I have been without leisure, which is most necessary, and working on another's domain rather than my own. I have written many things on architecture and on the use and practice of the mathematical disciplines, though they are not yet fully elaborated or sufficiently polished. In abundance, rarity, variety of works, and doctrine, I would yield to no one who has written on the use of these things, if only I had that leisure which is usually most busy for the studious, and which you alone, Most Blessed Father, can grant me. FAREWELL.

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