NOTICE TO THE READERS

Anxious that our Codex should be brought to light in its full integrity, those obscure passages that made no sense—perhaps through the fault of the one who wrote it—we have emended, placing them in comparison with the Latin work of Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), the famous Italian author who originally wrote "De mulieribus claris" (Concerning Famous Women) in Latin. and with the translation by Betussi Giuseppe Betussi (c. 1512–c. 1573), whose 16th-century Italian translation was a standard reference for Boccaccio’s Latin works.; nevertheless, we have recorded the corrupted words or passages at the bottom of the page exactly as they are read in the Codex. Furthermore, as our Codex is lacking the Proem An introductory preface or prologue to a literary work. that Boccaccio placed at the beginning of his work, we have reproduced the one translated into the vernacular by Betussi, and thus the mind of the author of these Lives will be opened to all.

May the readers look favorably upon this work of ours, printed for their benefit, and to clarify to others that the Cassinese The Benedictine monks of Monte Cassino, an abbey famous as a center of medieval learning and manuscript production. have not ceased their industriousness in studies, being mindful of the glory that the wisdom of the ancient Monks of Monte Cassino brought to our country.