Vitruvius iterum et Frontinus à Iocundo revisi repurgatique quantum ex collatione licuit

And though I have not been known to you until now, may it not annoy you to know my reputation through these beginnings. For since you will hold under my care a sincere reading—useful and delightful—of this author, for whom you will find few others like him, you will discover no small fruit regarding Latin and Greek terms received by our own people that pertain to architecture, as well as the knowledge of ancient buildings, in which the science of sundials gnomonica study of measuring by shadows and mechanics are contained, such that you could have no greater wealth of these matters from any other source. If you examine it more diligently, you will not only grasp the precepts of architecture, but you will also emerge well-learned in it, as well as in some other disciplines. Thus, you may understand what each craftsman is worth in the art of his profession, and how much the liberal studies add to the mechanical ones, which are like a lively spirit to the body. Wherefore, my Iuliano, as an old man—and perhaps a bit talkative—I ask forgiveness for the things said, and perhaps spoken too insolently. For who could persuade me that you are a man of great virtue and even greater spirit, especially since the powers of virtues are accustomed to grow by praises and to be embraced more ardently by him whom he himself embraces? I reverently warn you that, since you are the brother of such a Pontiff and are easily the leader of the Florentine Republic, you should conduct yourself with everyone so that you are held as the delight of our age, just as that Titus of his own time is read to have been, and that you emulate the justice and piety of the Antonines, Pius, and the philosopher referring to Marcus Aurelius. And although you have those whom you imitate as famous in every kind of virtue—as I said—your father, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, I do not consider it foreign to take examples from those ancient ones as well, especially when proclaimed for such a great space, so that from many various and fragrant flowers you may place a perpetual crown upon your head. You seem not to have been born for yourself alone, but for many others as well, for whose profit, favoring them, you may show yourself to them such as you would wish each of them to show to you, if fortune or virtue had established them in that rank which you hold. Be happy, and fare well, and be mindful of your humble Giocondo.