E P I S T L E.

Dedicatory Letter

sufficiently for what may be lacking on the part of the one who presents it. Indeed, SIRE, to restore this mistress of the fine Arts to the luster it possessed in the age of Augustus The first Roman Emperor (r. 27 BCE – 14 CE), whose reign was considered a golden age of peace and cultural achievement, it was necessary that it should encounter a Prince who, through conquests and through extraordinary Virtues, deserved its most beautiful and most magnificent monuments. For one may say with much reason that Marbles and Bronzes, and all that Nature can provide of richness to the most ingenious Art, are not what give the greatest value to works of Architecture: They possess neither the brilliance nor the Majesty of which they are capable, unless they have as their object exploits so great and so heroic that one regards with less wonder the power and industry that made them than the marvels of the actions to whose memory they are consecrated. Those who are passionate for this noble Science In the 17th century, "science" referred to a systematic body of knowledge or a learned skill, including the arts and engineering, and who ardently desire to see it rise again to the high point where the greatness of Augustus had elevated it, are not at a loss today to find such Subjects; And if there were any reason to fear that the progress of the Arts might not meet the hopes conceived of them in this flourishing Reign, it is only through the suspicion one might have that this beautiful knowledge—which languishes in minds if not animated by the favors received from the affection of the Great—might not share in that of Your Majesty original: "V. M." (Vostre Majesté), as You are too occupied with your great projects to be able to think of lesser things. It is for this reason that Vitruvius, presenting his Book to Augustus, believed he had cause to doubt that his meditations on Architecture would be well received, and would find some place in a mind filled with the cares due to the government of a great Empire. But there is nothing to fear today of the like, and it is in this, SIRE, that I am much more fortunate than he. I present this work to the Prince of the World most occupied by great affairs, without fear of coming inappropriately to draw upon myself eyes that must incessantly watch over the entire U-
The text cuts off here at the start of the word "Universe."