CHAPTER XI¶
On the Origin of the Letters of Every Nation, Egyptian Hieroglyphs on Roman Obelisks, the Anecdote on the Piazza San Marco in Venice, and Tribute to the Late Cardinal Galeotto Franciotti della Rovere.
As I recall telling you above (Chapter VI), I placed the Ancient Roman Alphabet in this volume (Appendix I) to demonstrate to everyone that with no other instruments than the straight line and the curved line (libella e circino) one can construct to perfection not only the Latin alphabet, but the letters of every nation—whether Hebrew, Greek, Chaldean, or Latin—as I have many times asserted and proved in practice, even though I do not know all their languages!
1. The Anecdote of the Greek on the Piazza San Marco in Venice and Tribute to Cardinal Galeotto Franciotti della Rovere
Indeed, in speaking a foreign tongue I could easily be bought and sold in the marketplace without knowing it—yet as I once told a certain foreigner one day here in Venice on the Piazza San Marco in the presence of some fifty worthy Venetian patricians: “Provided that the Greek does not alter the geometric figures—that is, provided he does not make a square with five corners!—once the meaning of the words (*quid nominis et quid rei) in a passage of our :person:`*Euclid <euclid>`* is translated for me, I undertake to give him the complete geometric demonstration through and through!”* And so the Friar (el frate, as everyone in this illustrious city always calls me) held the field!
And I have remained here in Venice attending to the printing of my books—for which purpose I came hither with the license and support of my Most Reverend Patron, Cardinal Galeotto Franciotti della Rovere, Cardinal of San Pietro in Vincoli and Vice-Chancellor of Holy Mother Church, nephew of His Holiness our Lord Pope Julius II (mio Reverendissimo Cardinale San Piero in Vincula, Vicecancelliere de Sancta Madre Chiesa e nepote dela Sanctità de nostro Signore Papa Julio II)—who, alas, was taken from me by death all too soon [September 11, 1507], though God be praised for all things!
2. Egyptian Hieroglyphs on the Obelisks of Rome and the Porphyry Tomb Before the Pantheon
I tell you that this Roman Alphabet will be of the greatest profit to you in your sculptural works, where inscriptions and epitaphs are continually commissioned on triumphal arches, friezes, and tombs, lending supreme majesty to the work, as appears throughout Rome and elsewhere.
Concerning the first invention of letters across all nations, I say that they were originally devised at pleasure (ad placitum / a libito): as may still be seen on the ancient Egyptian obelisks in Rome (nelli obelischi in Roma) and on the porphyry sarcophagus standing before the Pantheon (*nanze ala Rotonda*) guarded by the two basalt lions, where feathers, knives, animals, shoe-soles, birds, and pitchers (penne, coltelli, animali, sola de scarpe, uccelli, boccali) were carved and used as their letters and ciphers! Afterward, speculating more deeply, men settled upon the geometric letters we use today, having discovered the exact method of constructing them with the compass (:term:`circino <circino>`, in the curved line) and the straightedge (libella, in the straight line). Follow the canons given for them letter by letter in Appendix I, and you will always carve them with supreme grace!