D E D I C A T I O N.

The author continues a list of historical figures ...sketched with his own hand) and wrote many things to Nero regarding the properties of plants. Truly, these illustrious men whom I have mentioned pursued the botanical artsoriginal: "rem herbariam" with such great veneration for no other reason than that the skill of this "divine art" original: "θείᾳ τῇ τέχνῃ" brings the greatest benefit to Medicine. For as Oribasius A 4th-century Greek medical compiler rightly states: The knowledge of simple medicines, and the powers within them, has been established as so necessary, that it is not even possible to heal correctly without it. original Greek: "ἡ γνῶσις τῶν ἁπλῶν Φαρμάκων..." Indeed, the Medicine of the ancient heroes, as the commentator on Homer frankly admits, proceeded solely from the knowledge of plants; saying, Ancient medicine lies in herbs. original Greek: "ἡ ἀρχαία... ἰατρικὴ ἐν βοτάναις κεῖται" Homer himself agrees with this in many other places, but especially in that passage where Patroclus, tending the wound inflicted on Eurypylus by Alexander Paris, after he cut out the arrow with a knife and washed away the blood with warm water:

original Greek: "Ἐπὶ δὲ ῥίζαν βάλε πικρήν" from the Iliad

Why say more? Even Isaiah healed the wound of King Hezekiah with a Fig, by the command of Jehovah. Certainly Galen, the leader original Greek: "κορυφαῖος" of Physicians after Hippocrates, advises that a physician should have knowledge of all plants, if that were ever possible: since they are endowed with such excellent faculties. If I had a full perspective of all these (as Galen pronounced regarding the differences of temperaments), I would not yield even to Aesculapius The god of medicine in the art of healing. And Egypt was celebrated for skill in healing for no other reason than that it naturally possesses a soil fertile in simple medicinesMedicines made from a single natural ingredient, usually a plant: so that for this reason the ancients claimed medical skill for that land, just as the land claimed it for itself. For:

original Greek: "Αἰγυπτίη, τῇ πλεῖστα φέρει..." from the Odyssey

But, since the plants original Greek: "φυτά" which the Earth—that most beneficent parent of living beings—embraces in her bosom, reach an almost infinite number, they create the greatest difficulty for this study. Add to this that the disagreement among Authors concerning them, and their lack of method original Greek: "ἀμεθοδία", increases and exaggerates this difficulty original Greek: "δυσκολίαν". Lest these things frighten anyone away from this most pleasant and most useful contemplation for the human race, we have reflected upon a method and a list of synonyms for plants; both of which we have cast into this TABLE original Greek: "ΠΙΝΑΚΑ" (Pinax), referring to the title of the book.

To whom, then, should I offer this work—prepared with immense labor, many sleepless nights, and the greatest zeal—so that it might be defended against the venomous bites of critics original: "Aristarchorum Zoilorumq;" referring to harsh ancient critics, and come forth more safely like Teucer under the shield of Ajax? As I considered this, it seemed right to choose YOU, STRENUOUS, MOST NOBLE, MOST AMPLE, MOST ILLUSTRIOUS, REVEREND, MOST CONSULTED, MOST EXCELLENT, AND MOST LEARNED MEN, as the most just Patrons and Presiders over this, my offspring: You, I say, who are most practiced in every kind of virtue and science...