On Agriculture (De Re Rustica)

The Preface of Iucundus of Verona on the Books of Agriculture, to Pope Leo X.

I have always been incredibly delighted by the study of rustic matters, Blessed Father, because the pleasures taken from them seem to approach very closely to the life of a wise man: for they have a relationship with the earth, which never refuses command, nor does it ever return without interest that which it has received. For this reason, desiring this life—a rest at last and a pleasure for my old age, if I should ever arrive at it through the gift of Jesus, the best and greatest God—I have always read the books on the cultivation of fields, especially those of Cato, Varro, Columella, and Palladius, so studiously that I could never be sated with the delight.

For by reading them, I seemed to be in the country: to inhabit villas, to live that happy life of M. Curius and L. Quinctius Cincinnatus, the latter of whom, after he had triumphed over the Samnites, the Sabines, and Pyrrhus, spent the final period of his life in the fields. When the Samnites brought a great weight of gold to him as he sat by the hearth, he spurned the gold and uttered that magnificent statement: that it did not seem distinguished to him to possess gold, but to command those who possessed it. The other, having been made dictator, was summoned from his villa to the Senate.

With my greatest goodwill toward these books, I compared them with ancient copies and accurately corrected them, having nonetheless applied the judgment of friends and learned men. I then gave them to our Aldus, so that he might take care to have them struck off with his type. Since this has been done not without diligence, I have dedicated them to the most happy name of Your Holiness, both because of my highest observance toward it, and also because you were the most worthy of all to receive such a gift. For to whom can books that treat of vines, shepherds, and fathers of families be more appropriately dedicated than to Him who is the most fruitful vine: who is the good shepherd: who is the father of all? He himself said: "I am the true vine, you are the branches. I am the good shepherd, who cares for my sheep, and I know my sheep, and they know me."

You, however, Blessed Father, I would wish to accept this gift, such as it is, from your servant Iucundus with a kind face: as I hope you will, for you are very like God, whose place you hold on earth. He loves a pious heart: he loves a pure mind: he loves the simplicity of the one offering, not the gift itself.

Venice, the Ides of May, 1514.