Carmina I - To whom am I to present my pretty new book

To whom am I to present my pretty new book, freshly

smoothed off with dry pumice stone? To you, Cornelius: for

you used to think that my trifles were worth something, long

ago when you took courage, you alone of Italians, to

set forth the whole history of the world in three

volumes, learned volumes, by Jupiter, and laboriously

wrought. So take and keep for your own this little book,

such as it is, and whatever it is worth; and may it, O Virgin

my patroness, live and last for more than one century.