WHY WE HAVE CAUSED BOOKS OF GRAMMAR TO BE SO DILIGENTLY PREPARED
While we were constantly delighting ourselves with the reading of
books, which it was our custom to read or have read to us every day, we
noticed plainly how much the defective knowledge even of a single word
hinders the understanding, as the meaning of no sentence can be
apprehended, if any part of it be not understood. Wherefore we ordered
the meanings of foreign words to be noted with particular care, and
studied the orthography, prosody, etymology, and syntax in ancient
grammarians with unrelaxing carefulness, and took pains to elucidate
terms that had grown too obscure by age with suitable explanations, in
order to make a smooth path for our students.
This is the whole reason why we took care to replace the antiquated
volumes of the grammarians by improved codices, that we might make
royal roads, by which our scholars in time to come might attain without
stumbling to any science.