of the aforesaid Peter having disappeared, Fortune has not allowed the memory of so marvellous an enterprise to be entirely lost, inasmuch as a certain noble gentleman of Vicenza called Messer Antonio Pigafetta (who, having gone on the voyage and returned in the ship _Victoria_, was made a Knight of Rhodes), wrote a very exact and full account of it in a book, one copy of which he presented to His Majesty the Emperor, and another he sent to the most Serene Mother of the most Christian King, the Lady Regent. She entrusted to an excellent Parisian philosopher called Jacomo Fabre, who had studied in Italy, the work of translating it into French.[437] This worthy person, I suppose to save himself trouble, made only a summary of it, leaving out what seemed fit to him; and this was printed, very incorrectly, in France, and has now come into our hands; and along with it a letter from one called Maximilianus of Transylvania, a secretary of His Majesty the Emperor, to the most Reverend Cardinal of Salzburg. And this we have wished to add to this volume of travels, as one of the greatest and most remarkable that there has ever been, and one at which those great philosophers of old, hearing of it, would have been stupified and beside themselves. And the city of Vicenza may well boast, among the other cities of Italy, that in addition to its nobility and high qualities; in addition to its many rare and excellent geniuses, both in letters and arms, there has been a gentleman of such courage as the aforesaid Messer Antonio Pigafetta, who has circumnavigated the whole globe, and has described it so exactly. There is no doubt that the ancients would have erected a statue of marble to him, and would have placed it in an honourable position, as a memorial and example to posterity of his great worth, and in acknowledgment of so stupendous an enterprise. But if, in this letter or in the summary, there be seen any discrepancy of names or things, let no one be astonished; for the bent of men’s minds is various, and one notices one thing and one another, just as the things appear most deserving of attention. Let it suffice if, in the principal things they agree, and many parts which are left out in one can be read at length in the other. Fabulous stories, too, are noted for what they are. This may be safely affirmed by anyone, that the ancients never had such a knowledge of the world, which the sun goes round and examines every twenty-four hours, as we have at present, through the industry of the men of these our times. * * * * * Most Reverend and Illustrious Lord, my only Lord, to you I most humbly commend myself.