Cleomedis Meteora Graece et Latine (Balfour 1605)

...benevolently given to me to use, in whose margins that learned old man Elias Vinetus, from I know not what old copy, had once noted with his own hand all the variant readings. And although not all of them pleased me when I encountered them—many good things, many grievous things—nevertheless they were often a help to me in places otherwise considered hopeless. I have changed absolutely nothing in the entire work, unless it were a manifest error, which I have indicated in the notes in good faith. As far as the Latin interpretation is concerned, I have indeed attempted to express everything, if not as eloquently and ornately as was fitting, then at least in Latin according to my capacity and faithfully. I could, I admit, have translated certain things more elegantly, and changed the flow of the language more frequently; I preferred, however, to have regard for the less sophisticated, and not to strive mistakenly for an affected elegance, but rather to instill the meaning of Cleomedes into their minds in simple and familiar language. For in my own judgment, for some reason, that amathsteron alla saphesteron less learned but clearer has always strongly pleased me, and it continues to please me today. But how much more convenient our Latin version is for all purposes than that old one of Valla, anyone who wishes to compare a few pages of that version with the Greek of Cleomedes and our Latin will easily judge. But we leave it to the learned and candid readers to judge what the difference is between the two, and I bid them farewell: and you, too, tender shoots of Aquitaine, I desire that you may be very well, and that you may grow in virtue toward glory.