BOOK I OF THE CONICS.

Apollonius to Eudemus, greetings.

If you are recovering in health and the rest of your affairs are according to your wishes, it is well; I myself am well enough. However, at the time I was with you in Pergamum, I saw that you were eager to learn about the conics I have elaborated. Wherefore I have sent the first book to you, after I had corrected it; the rest, however, we shall send when we are content with them. For I do not believe you have forgotten what you heard from me, that I approached these matters at the request of Naucrates the geometer, at the time when he had set out for Alexandria and was staying with us, and that we had shared them with him—having worked them out in eight books—somewhat in haste, because he was about to depart, so that we did not polish them thoroughly, but set down everything that came to mind, hoping that we would polish them later. Wherefore, having now found the opportunity, we are publishing them as they have been corrected. And since it happened that some others, who have associated with us, have obtained the first and second books before they were corrected, do not be surprised if you come across copies that have a different form. Of these eight books, the first four [pertain to an elementary introduction...]