The Vestibule of Comenius

At the top of the page are three decorative borders: a row of asterisks, followed by two rows of small, heart-shaped or leaf-shaped ornaments. Below the heading is an ornate woodcut drop cap 'V' showing a figure seated in an interior space, used to start the word 'Ut'.

Just as every house has its Doorway original: "Januam", so every Doorway has its own Vestibule original: "Vestibulum," an entrance hall or porch: where it is permitted for one who has entered to pause, to contemplate the exterior of the house, to look through the doors at the atrium, and to wait until they are welcomed and led inside by the household. Therefore, it may not be out of place that it came to our mind to now build a Vestibule for the Gate of Languages The Janua Linguarum Reserata (The Gate of Languages Unlocked) was Comenius's most famous textbook; this "Vestibule" serves as a simpler introduction to it. which was recently constructed: and of this matter, we appoint you, wise Reader, to be the judge.

I had declared in the preface of that "Gate" of mine that it was prepared for beginners in Latin original: "Latinitatis tironibus": and indeed, it was publicly received in that way. However, I truly think it is to be feared that for Beginners to be cast suddenly into such a vast forest of things and words might be too much. It would be safer for them to be held in the vestibule, and for the general features of the entire structure (that is, the primary hinges original: "cardines," meaning the fundamental points or essential categories of Things and Words) to be shown to them before they are let in to examine the particulars. With this plan, the present little work was written, so that it might be the first material for absolute beginners to practice Declensions declinationes: the way nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change their endings to show their grammatical role (at least the regular ones), and a way of access to the Gate itself.