On Agriculture (De Re Rustica)

GEORGIUS Alexandrinus to Petro Priolo, son of Marcus, a Venetian. Greetings.

I have very briefly annotated for the time being the ancient terms concerning the three writers on rural affairs, to satisfy you, a patrician studious of Latin elegance. Although I would have either annotated more, or interpreted them more explicitly, if more leisure had been left to me from public reading, or more space had been granted by the printers. For you are the best witness that these books were read through rather hurriedly and in turmoil, than corrected with care, so urgently did the printers press me, as I was severely afflicted by illness. As for the rest, my Peter, if you examine the rural precepts ἀκριβέστερον more accurately, you will recognize them in large part without a teacher. Yet I advise you and the others who will read the books of Cato, Varro, and L. Columella to consult physicians about many things, to learn other things from herbalists, and to request some things from veterinarians. But before all else, let them approach that man who they know has spent a long time in the country, who has given excellent effort to cultivating the field, tending to the flock, storing fruits, and making pickled preserves, since rural affairs and discipline are held primarily through practice and teaching experience.

A faint bleed-through of a printer's mark from the verso side, depicting an anchor with a dolphin entwined around it (the Aldine device).