BY VITRUVIUS

DEDICATED TO THE KING.

SONNET.

Just as when Fortune, once too fickle,
Had stabilized the Empire of the Caesars everywhere,
A Roman original: "Vn Romain"; referring to Vitruvius, the Roman military engineer and author of the treatise enamored with the most noble of Arts,
Depicted its beauty in this Famous Work.

Today, while LOUIS King Louis XIV of France driven by his courage,
Leads Victory behind his Standards,
This same Author Vitruvius rescued from a hundred mortal dangers A reference to the perilous survival of ancient manuscripts through the Middle Ages
Learns our language through the efforts of a Frenchman. Refers to the translator Claude Perrault (1613–1688), who provided the first major modern French translation of the work

Finish, fortunate LOUIS, the conquest of the Universe;
The secrets of the Art that beautifies it are revealed;
Come, Great King, to revitalize learned Architecture;

This Book assists you in so noble a purpose,
And shows that Heaven owed to Nature,
Under a new Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus, the first Roman Emperor and Vitruvius's patron; Louis XIV was frequently compared to him to suggest a new "Golden Age" a new Vitruvius.

CHARPENTIER,

François Charpentier (1620–1702) was a scholar and a leading member of the Académie Française, often tasked with composing inscriptions and praises for the King's monuments.

of the French Academy.