P R E F A C E

...reaching them, they might cause harm to someone. What, then, should be done? Let envy original: "invidia". In this period, scholars often spoke of "the envy of the philosophers"—the tendency to keep secrets hidden to prevent others from gaining power or knowledge. be driven out and cast away; let the pleasure of helping future generations prevail. The great wonders of most majestic Nature must not be hidden or kept silent, so that in them the supreme power, kindness, and wisdom of GOD may be praised, honored, and venerated. However small these findings may be, I present them to you. May you recognize that my diligence and most ready goodwill have been directed toward you; indeed, I would fear incurring the crime of a wicked man if I had kept these secrets hidden in silence. Cicero translates this sentiment from Plato:

We are not born for ourselves alone, but our country claims a share of us, and our parents and friends claim another. original: "Non nobis solum nos esse natos..." This famous quote from Cicero’s De Officiis (1.22) attributes the idea to Plato’s ninth letter. It justifies the publication of scientific secrets as a civic duty.

Therefore, let those things which until now lay hidden in the womb of wondrous Nature emerge into the light from the storehouses of most reliable men, without pretense or deceits. We reveal those things that have long been silent—whether through the envy of those who knew them, or the ignorance of those who did not. Here you will not hear empty trifles, nor riddles, nor the mere citations of other authorities. Nor did it seem honorable to us to wander in error simply by following even the best leaders.

The magnificent and most excellent things we have veiled with some artifice, such as by the transposition and lowering of words Porta is admitting to using a form of "coding" or intentional obscurity. He rearranges words or uses technical jargon to ensure that only "ingenious" readers can recreate the most powerful experiments.. Those things which are harmful and malicious we have obscured—not so much, however, that every most ingenious person cannot discover and perceive them, nor so clearly that they lie open to the ignorant crowd. We have not hidden them so deeply that the mind of a seeker cannot grasp them, nor made them so obvious that they promise the same things on the surface as they do in their inner depths.

We have also included some useful and well-known things because they are most true. From the most familiar and sometimes even the commonest things, one arrives at the useful and the exalted—at things that the mind can scarcely grasp. Our intellect, unless it rests upon the truest principles, cannot contemplate high and sublime things. Mathematical science mathematica scientiaIn Porta's time, "mathematics" often included not just geometry and arithmetic, but also optics, mechanics, and astronomy. proceeds from certain commonplace and popular things to...