APPROVALS.

I have more than once inspected and admired this elaborate work by the Most Illustrious Lord Count Carlo Cesare Malvasia of Bologna, which is titled AELIA LAELIA CRISPIS, etc. Admiring the weight of such sharp insight, I wished to survey it again and again from every angle. I have seen that the most learned Author (as far as I was able to judge) has not produced something foreign or borrowed, but has instead extracted a sense truly innate to the letters and consistent with the original sepulchral Epitaph. The "Aelia Laelia Crispis" is a famous, real-world cryptic inscription found in Bologna that baffled scholars for centuries with its contradictory statements. He has reached the very essence of the Inscription’s meaning, confirmed by the weight of so much erudition. Since nothing has emerged from these many words that is discordant with the Catholic faith or the integrity of morals, or anything unseemly, I therefore judge it entirely worthy of the light of publication, and indeed, that it should be sent to the press as soon as possible (if it so pleases those whom it concerns).

I, Lord Charles Gorran, original: "D. Carolus Gorranus." Penitentiary of the Metropolitan Church of Bologna, on behalf of the Most Eminent and Reverend Lords Cardinal Boncompagno, Girolamo Boncompagni (1622–1684), the Archbishop and Prince of Bologna. Archbishop and Prince, etc.

With a sword borrowed from Astraea, The Greek goddess of Justice, whose sword symbolizes the power to cut through confusion to find the truth. the Gordian knot A legendary metaphor for an intricate, unsolvable problem; to "cut the Gordian knot" is to solve a complex riddle with a bold stroke. with which the sepulchral Epitaph of AELIA LAELIA CRISPIS—placed by LUCIUS AGATONE PRISCIUS The name traditionally attributed to the creator of the mysterious stone inscription.—was bound, has been loosened by this legal exposition by the Most Illustrious Lord Count Carlo Cesare Malvasia, the sole guardian of the laws. I have read this work with great delight of the soul, and I have wonderfully admired AELIA LAELIA CRISPIS NOT BORN RISING AGAIN, original: "Aeliam Laeliam Crispidem non natam resurgentem." A reference to the paradoxical nature of the riddle, which suggests the subject was never born yet exists. contemplating her as she is adorned with every kind of erudition. I have found nothing in it contrary to Piety, the Christian Religion, or good morals. Wherefore, this book is declared worthy of both the press and of Cedar original: "praelo et Cedro dignum." A Latin idiom meaning a work is worthy of being preserved for eternity, as cedar oil was used in ancient times to protect precious scrolls from decay. by your Reverend Paternity’s witness,