Ten Books on Architecture

...of the Vitruvians, prepared by the most illustrious man Bernardino Baldo, to which I have also intermixed certain things from the commentaries of the supreme man Claudius Salmasius on Solinus and other authors: together with the same Baldo's commentary on the scamilli impares, which had long been desired by many. Finally, I have subjoined certain treatises on Painting and Sculpture and similar arts, which, although they do not by themselves constitute a part of Architecture, nevertheless adorn it as if it were their mistress, and serve it as handmaidens. Philander, in his commentaries, makes mention of various treatises that he had prepared on these arts, but after a most diligent investigation, I have been able to discover nothing of these, such that I believe it to have happened to him as it has to many other learned men, to promise many things which they do not perform, or to leave them only in an affected state. If you accept this work and diligence of ours in good part, it may perhaps be possible, if God prolongs my life, for the work to be repeated and rendered more enriched and useful. Farewell.