M. Vitruvii, viri suae professionis peritissimi, De architectura libri decem, ad Augustum Caesarem accuratiss. conscripti: & nunc primum in Germania qua potuit diligentia excusi, atque hinc inde schema tibus non iniucundis exornati

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ALTHOUGH among ancient writers one is more useful than another, and worthy of greater praise: yet since there is no one who does not deserve to be read, none of them ought to be neglected, especially in such a great scarcity of authors. Nor do I think this should be granted to antiquity alone, but because no one dared to appear in public in those better ages who did not bring some utility with his labor. The same must be thought concerning the subjects in which they were occupied. For they were not accustomed to undertake the treatment of any matters, except those which it was worth the effort to understand. And yet we see that some of the ancients, even those who are of the highest merit, are either completely despised, or lie hidden in the libraries of a few, and are never touched by the greater part of students. In that number is this M. Vitruvius, whose work on Architecture, though all acknowledge it to be excellent and especially worthy of reading, is nevertheless passed over by almost everyone. The name itself is indeed famous: and there are very few, even among the moderately learned, who are unaware that Vitruvius wrote on Architecture. Yet hardly one in a hundred knows what the book contains. This does not happen because the author is bad or inept, or because the kind of subject is useless to know: but because those who pursue the study of letters today are too delicate. For they choose either lighter writings or more pleasant ones, from which they may obtain pleasure without great labor. Therefore, because this book of Vitruvius is believed to be somewhat obscure, they mostly recoil from reading it because of the difficulty. For they cannot reject the writer himself as less suitable. He lived in that age and published this work, in which true and solid learning flourished, or at least was still vigorous. And he has always been considered by learned men, to whom the authority of judging is granted by the common consent of all, a good writer of no ordinary value. It must certainly be admitted, as the matter itself declares, that he does not have a well-polished style. For he speaks Latin more than he is splendid or eloquent.