A man whose death is great harm for many a poor man must needs have been a good master, and a king need want no finer epitaph, though the phrase is full of the one thought which makes the prospect of death terrible.[5] One rather wonders what the workmen of Plato de Benedictis had to say about _him_ when he died; for, if the colophon to his edition of “Bononia illustrata” (Bologna, 1494) was worded with his consent, he had a nasty readiness to take all the credit to himself and leave all the blame for his workmen. [Illustration: Bononia illustrata. Bologna: Plato de Benedictis, 1494.] Ad lectorem. Bononiae: anno salutis .M.cccc.lxxxx.iiii. Ex officina Platonis de Benedictis huiusce artis exactoris probatissimi Libellus quam pulcherrimis caractheribus impressus. In quo Origo, situsque Bononiae. Hinc uiri illustres: qui ingenio claruerint tam domestici quam externi. Templa quoque ac corpora sanctorum ibidem consepulta. Postmodum oppida, uicus, factiones: quae quondam hic uiguere. Gestaque Bononiensium sub breuitate contenta: una cum illustri Bentiuolorum genologia [_sic_] connumerantur. Si quid tamen in eo mendae et erroris insertum fuerit: non impressoris negligentia sed potius famulorum incuria pretermissum putes. Nam ille ingenio litteraturaque non mediocri dotatus: et tali exercitio inter caeteros excultissimus est. To the Reader. At Bologna: in the year of salvation 1494, from the workshop of Plato de Benedictis, a most skilled master of this art, a book printed with very beautiful types, in which the origin and position of Bologna, its illustrious men, both native and foreign, who have become famous for their ability, its temples also and the bodies of the saints there buried, moreover the towns, villages, and parties which formerly flourished here, and the exploits of the Bolognese, briefly set forth, together with the illustrious descent of the Bentivogli, are all enumerated. Should anything faulty or erroneous have been inserted in it, you must think it was overlooked, not by any neglect of the printer, but rather by the carelessness of his workmen. For he himself is endowed with exceptional ability and literary gifts, and in such practices is preëminent among the rest. Better than this is the frank plea that misprints in a learned book are very hard to avoid, put forward by Anima Mia at the end of a book by Raphael Regius containing discussions on a letter of Pliny’s and on passages in Persius and Quintilian: