“Images of false gods, worldly philosophers, or other entities having their statues among the pagans can hardly be of use to Christians, and to discuss them in detail only satisfies curiosity, or serves to lengthen the discourse (for we read that in Rome there we so many statues that one could say that a people of stone kept company with the people of flesh). So I shall not devote any effort to describing them, for as its title indicates, my book is about sacred painting and not about painting in general. However, let us say that they can be for some the object of useful observations and discoveries; that is why I will indicate briefly some references where this subject is developed, and which I have come across at random.”

“Quia vero Imagines, tam falsorum deorum, quam mundi istius philosophorum, ac similium qui apud Ethnicos statuas habuerunt, parum aut, nihil utilitatis adferre possunt Christianis hominibus, sed plus satis curiositatis et simul prolixitatis, si per singula discuntiantur (Romae enim tantam legimus fuisse copiam statuarum, ut alter adesse populus lapideus diceretur) ideo in eis describendis nullam operam dabo. Inscribitur enim hic liber non de picturis, sed de sacris picturis. Possent tamen fateor ex eis nonnulla utiliter observari et erui à quibusdam. Quare loca aliquot quae modo occurrunt, ubi eiuscemodi tractantur paucis indicabo.”