Of the Vowel Letter

First Rule

Among the twenty-seven Roman letters there are five vowels, which are the subtlety of this art; and certain authors are accustomed to say that these letters are, in respect of syllables, what the body is in respect of all its members before it has received its soul. And as the body cannot operate without the soul, it can produce no utterance nor syllable; thus God, having placed the soul in the body of man to give him the power to perform all his functions, so, in respect of syllables and the construction of discourse, we declare from this that the letters above are the foundation of this art—what they are and how many they are—and for this reason we [hold] that the vowels of the Latin tongue are five: a, e, i, o, u, the function of which is to enable the letters and syllables to be read, and for this reason they are called vowels, and have