Although I have not lived the long life of my predecessors, I have looked at their actions, contemplated the reports about them, and journeyed among their ruins until (it was as if) I had become like one of them. In fact, because of the reports that have reached me of their affairs, it is as if I had lived with the first of them to the last of them. Thus I have distinguished their pure from their impure, and their benefit from their harm.
I have extracted for you from every matter the purest of it, and exclusively aimed at presenting you its beautiful aspects and turned away from you its unknown things. Since I am concerned about your affair with the concern of a compassionate father, and I have resolved on bestowing on you good discipline, I considered (it appropriate) that it should be while you are in your youth and in the prime of your life, possessing sound intention and a pure soul.