Letter 5: To Braulio, most beloved brother and son in Christ,

To Braulio, most beloved brother and son in Christ, The Etymologiae is finished — or at least I have stopped adding to it, which is not quite the same thing. I am sending it to you now, twenty books of it, in the care of the bearer of this letter. He is trustworthy, and I have wrapped the volumes carefully, but I ask you to check them on arrival and write to me if anything has been damaged in transit. I want to say something clearly before you read it: this work is imperfect. There are passages where my sources were thin and I have guessed more than I should. There are definitions that I am not entirely confident in. The section on warfare and the section on ships both reflect the limits of what a Spanish bishop can know about such matters. If you find errors — and you will find errors — I ask you not to propagate them. Correct what you can. I am trusting you with this work in a way I have not trusted many others, precisely because I know you have the learning to distinguish my good judgments from my bad ones. The dedication of the work is a matter I leave to you. You pushed me to complete it; it is fitting that your name be attached to it somehow. May God protect you and keep you in his mercy. Isidore, your unworthy father in Christ