The Life of Pope Leo X in Four Books

and Lorenzo the nephew, who are greatly celebrated in these books, were the source and origin of this benefit, by which you will perpetually bind to yourself the minds of students. For they sent certain men, suitable for completing this task, into Greece, and they brought back here a great quantity of the best books. But they also, with the greatest diligence applied, gathered many Latin books from this land of ours and took care to have them copied everywhere at great expense. For it was not right that this also be ignored by lovers of letters, or allowed to be obscured by the passage of time. Indeed, in this work, just as the other singular virtues of your ancestors are illuminated, so too is this remarkable will and effort toward the study of letters, and your excellent generosity toward their students, celebrated. Furthermore (which is the first thing in every undertaking), we wished to auspiciously begin a happy and fortunate start, so that, just as this honorable family grew from these roots and flourished for a long time, and always increased its status by certain more admirable and divine methods; now, however, it thrives among the first and promises better and more immediate goods to men, especially through your virtue and prudence. So too may this immense benefit, born from those ancestors of yours and preserved by the zeal of those who followed, now greatly amplified by you in this new way and spread to the ends of all lands, grow more every day and bring infinite benefits to those who desire the liberal arts. We must wish for this with all our heart: and given the eagerness of your spirit with which you have undertaken the matter, and the constancy of your plans in bringing them to an end, it is permitted to hope. Farewell.