this work of yours intends only toundermine the authority and wide acceptance that books ofchivalry have in the world and among the public, there is no reasonfor you to go begging for maxims from philosophers, counsel fromHoly Scripture, fictions from poets, orations from rhetoricians, ormiracles from saints; instead you should strive, in plain speech,with words that are straightforward, honest, and well-placed, tomake your sentences and phrases sonorous and entertaining, andhave them portray, as much as you can and as far as it is possible,your intention, making your ideas clear without complicating andobscuring them.

only has to make use ofmimesis in the writing,

And

Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro.

Mybook will lack all of this, for I have nothing to note in the marginor to annotate at the end, and I certainly don’t know which authorsI have followed so that I can mention them at the beginning,

without notes in the margins or annotations at the endof the book

deficient in style

ou can sayanything you desire about this history without fear that you will bereviled for the bad things or rewarded for the good that you mightsay about it.