TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS

AND MOST RENOWNED PRINCE, AND

LORD, LORD WOLFGANG, PALATINE UPON THE RHE-

LIBRARY OF THE CITY OF LYON 1897

A large ornamental woodcut initial Q featuring a fleur-de-lis in the center, surrounded by symmetrical foliate flourishes.
THOSE WHO ARE ACCUSTOMED to dedicate original: "nuncupare," a legalistic term for naming or dedicating a work. their literary labors to kings, princes, or great men, most illustrious Prince: they seem to me to be moved by three reasons in particular. For they not only think that a certain ornament is added to their nighttime studies original: "lucubrationibus," referring to works produced by candlelight or intense study. in this way: but also, since it has always been the lot of good men that, in exchange for the immense labors exhausted for the benefit of the Commonwealth original: "Reipub." or Respublica, meaning the state or public good., they are in turn burdened by envy: and such is the depravity of wicked men, they can rarely escape calumny: they are compelled by necessity to seek defenders and champions against their unfair critics.

There is added to this another cause, no less serious than it is just, which impels learned men: that they should place at the front of their studies the praises and commendations of great princes—especially those who are famous not only for the nobility and antiquity of their lineage, but also for their virtue and clearly distinguished deeds. For if virtue alone makes those in whom it resides praiseworthy and deserving of immortality—both in every class of men and truly in princely men, especially when it is joined with a zeal for true religion, with erudition, and with the splendor of wealth—then I judge the practice of those men to be in every way approved, followed, and imitated. Nor truly [should] the suspicion of flattery...