PREFACE.

The limited time available to complete this work did not allow for more to be done than was originally proposed.

Regarding the Authors who are cited in the Notes, I have been satisfied with merely naming them, without marking the specific location in their works from which the testimonies attributed to them are taken. This is because I have not sought the appearance of erudition as much as the clarity and enlightenment of the things explained: for this discourse would have appeared more confused and cluttered if it had been interrupted by constant citations and intrusive references.

The Figures In this context, "Figures" refers to the detailed architectural plates and diagrams that accompany the text. are of three kinds: there are those that consist only of simple outlines to explain the measurements and proportions prescribed in the text; others are shaded to show the effect these proportions can produce when put into practice; and for this same reason, some of these shaded figures have been rendered in Perspective, intended not for measuring proportions with a compass, but solely for the judgment of the eye. I have also had some of these figures carved in wood—specifically those that did not require great delicacy or a large scale. I have used this type as much as possible because of the convenience they provide, as they can be inserted directly into the discourse, sparing the Reader from having to search for the figure on a page other than the one they are reading. To compensate in some way for the inconveniences necessarily found in the large Figures Likely referring to the full-page copperplate engravings which were printed separately from the text., an Explanation has been placed near each one, repeating what is relevant from the text and the Notes, where the discussion could not be placed directly alongside the Figures. In places where the understanding of an ambiguous and extraordinarily obscure text depended on the explanation provided by the Figure, the Latin text original: "texte Latin" and its translation have been placed side-by-side next to the Figure, with references to the specific parts of which the Figure is composed. This is to make it easier for the Reader to judge the translation, and to leave them the freedom and the means to create another if ours does not please them, after having been fully informed of the matter at hand.

There remains one warning I have reserved for last, because those who read this Book have little interest in it, as it concerns only the design of those who had me undertake this work. It is that I make no claim to have given it all the perfection of which it is capable; for this translation was not made so much for the curious learned as for French Architects. I did not wish to make them wait as long as would have been necessary to seek out various readings in the Manuscripts of all the libraries in the world, to amass observations that could be made on the monuments of ancient Architecture scattered throughout foreign lands, to treat fundamentally all the questions of Physics, History, and Mathematics encountered in this book, to describe exactly all machines both ancient and modern, and finally, to find a person who had enough genius, erudition, and patience to complete such a difficult work. But it must be added that the boldness I had in undertaking it was mainly inspired by the desire to satisfy the command given to me; and that to have the glory of being obedient (for there is glory in being so in difficult things), I was willing to risk making my weakness known—if it is indeed true that one can be judged by the lack of success in a task where no one has yet succeeded.