To GIULIANO de' Medici, Brother Giovanni Giocondo Giovanni Giocondo (c. 1433–1515), known as Fra Giocondo, was a Franciscan friar, architect, and renowned classical scholar who produced one of the most important early editions of Vitruvius. sends heartiest greetings.

Both the liberal and mechanical arts original: virtutes tam liberales quam mechanicae. In the Renaissance, "liberal arts" included subjects like grammar and logic, while "mechanical arts" included architecture and engineering. thrive and are perfected all the more when they are practiced by those who are captivated by their delights and pursue them with tireless and skillful study. This is what I hear of you, Giuliano de' Medici Giuliano de' Medici (1479–1516) was the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and the brother of Pope Leo X.—an excellent man most devoted to these pursuits—whose reputation is spread abroad: that you do not fall short of your father and ancestors, who were endowed with excellent talent and the greatest virtues.

Indeed, to whom is the most famous Medici family unknown? Through every age, it has been most illustrious with so many and such distinguished leading men. Through you and your brother—though both of you were tossed about by various adverse fortunes in your younger years—the family’s splendor has not diminished; rather, by the wondrous grace of God, it has increased to such an extent that it has even given to our Christian religion a Supreme Pontiff This refers to Giovanni de' Medici, who was elected as Pope Leo X in 1513, just before this edition was published. in your elder brother. He had not yet reached the fortieth year of his age, yet he has surpassed the rank and dignity of kings and empires. To this height he was raised not by the wickedness of simony Simony is the act of buying or selling church offices. Fra Giocondo is praising the Pope by contrasting him with others who might have "bought" their way into the papacy. (as it has done for many others), nor by frauds, nor by immoderate ambition, but by the integrity of his life, the holiness of his character, and the sincere reputation of his virtues.

For these qualities so bind the affection of souls that we are compelled to love and venerate even those we do not know and whose faces we have never seen. This has recently happened to me; for when I had heard many things worthy of a man about you, as I have said, spread with the highest praise, I did not hesitate to dedicate to you these monuments of my labors concerning the studies and writings of Vitruvius. Since I understood these were to be submitted for a second printing The first edition of Fra Giocondo's Vitruvius was printed in Venice in 1511. This 1513 edition includes revisions and was produced in a smaller, more portable format. under my name, I did not think I should pass them over negligently. Instead, I revised them to make them somewhat better and added them to the treasures of your studies, especially since the person to whom the dedication of the first printing was to be entrusted—which now seems preserved for you by the will of God—passed from this life before he could see the work itself completed.

Receive, therefore, [these tokens] of my spirit's love and veneration, and /