Lucae Paeti ... de mensuris, et ponderibus Romanis, et Graecis

TO THE MOST EXCELLENT AND HOLY PRINCE,
PIUS V,
POPE

LUCAS PAETUS WISHES HAPPINESS.

An ornamental capital letter 'C' is decorated with the figure of a putto nestled within scrolling acanthus leaves.

Since your divine mind and spirit, most blessed Father, were intent on restoring the collapsed customs of the Christian Commonwealth to their original piety, and on uniting Christian Princes with yourself against the monstrous tyrant of the Turks, who rages against the Venetian Republic—and intended to assist them not only with counsel but also with money and most valiant commanders and soldiers: I did not dare to offer these writings, which I had composed for the understanding of ancient weights and measures and for the benefit of human life, and which I had dedicated to your Beatitude, for fear that I might interrupt your divine mind, occupied with so many and such great concerns, at an inconvenient time and incur the displeasure of your spirit. But after I learned that you persist in these actions with the greatest vigilance and leave nothing untouched that pertains to living well and happily—namely, that you have caused the Churches, even those collapsed by antiquity, to be fortified and adorned not only with walls, roofs, altars, and sacred vessels,