INTERPRETATION

OF THE PRECEDING FRONTISPIECE

IN WHICH THE ARGUMENT OF THE EN-
tire work is explained as if by a certain emblem.

Behold for you, what the wonderful Power of sound and voice
Accomplishes, and produces Marvelous things for the World!
The golden stars are filled with clear-sounding Voices,
They boast of always having Angelic Choirs.
The Saints do not cease to thicken their songs of command original: Celeusmata; a Greek-derived term for the rhythmic calls given by a ship's pilot to rowers, here used for heavenly praise. for the Most High,
The blessed crowd sings a threefold Applause.
The restless Winds breathe out contests among themselves,
They perform a Song with the hair-raising murmur of the Air.
From one side Zephyrus The West Wind. whistles, Boreas The North Wind. roars, as do Eurus The East Wind. and Auster The South Wind..
Struggling, they make sounds travel to and fro.
Birds recite melodies with hymn-sounding beaks,
Which the light breeze rotates as they are reflected by the sphere.
By stretching heart-swaying strings, the famous Phonascus original: Phonascus; a Greek term for a voice trainer or master of music. of Pindus A mountain range in Greece, sacred to Apollo and the Muses., Apollo,
Circles Helicon Another mountain sacred to the Muses; home of the springs of poetic inspiration. throughout the World, and teaches his Muses
To sound forth Wonders,
While he makes his resonant Work eternal with a charming voice.
The Dryads Tree nymphs or nature spirits. compete in Song, and two-horned Satyrs
Redouble their pipes through the joyful fields.
They rouse the wild beasts with the sound which the twisted horn
Brings forth, so that he may soothe the whole grove with his mouth,