People interested in athletics
and in the care of their bodies
think not only of condition and exercise
but also of relaxation in season;
in fact, they consider this
the principal part of training.
In like manner scholars, I believe,
after much reading of serious works
may profitably relax their minds and
put them in better trim for future labor.
It would be appropriate recreation for them
if they were to take up the sort of reading that,
instead of affording just pure amusement
based on wit and humor,
also boasts a little food for thought
which the Muses would not altogether spurn;
and I would hope that they will consider
my work something of the kind.
May then they and you find it enticing
not only for the novelty of the subject,
for the intricacy of the scheme,
and because I tell all kinds of tales
in both plausible and specious ways,
but also because much within my pieces
is more or less a squib on the foibles
of yours truly or of one or another
of my fellow human beings.
Carpe poema!