TO THE MOST HOLY

LEO THE TENTH, SUPREME PONTIFF,

Johannes Reuchlin, humbly

commends himself.

A large historiated initial 'I' set within a decorated square frame. The design features two winged putti or cherubs climbing or supporting the letter 'I' amidst floral or foliate ornamentation.

ITALIAN PHILOSOPHY original: "ITALICA PHILOSOPHIA" — referring to the Pythagorean tradition which flourished in southern Italy, or Magna Graecia, MOST BLESSED LEO the Tenth, Supreme Pontiff of the Christian religion—first brought forth by Pythagoras, the father of that name, and once passed down to the highest men endowed with excellent talents—had for many years perished under the immense barking of the Sophists. It lay buried in darkness and thick night for so long, until the sun of every kind of noble study, the most illustrious Lorenzo de' Medici, your father, a descendant of the Great Cosimo and prince of the Florentine city, arose by the favor of God. Although we know him to have been so masterly in spirit and in the science of governing the Republic, and in conducting all affairs of home and war with counsel and prudence, that no one in his age seemed more worthy of praise in civil practice, yet we must confess it was even more beneficial for us that he was born—as if sent down from heaven—so that, after the disciplines of eloquence and the arts of fine speaking had been handed down to the Florentine youth by Petrarch, Philelphus, and the Aretine Referring to Leonardo Bruni, a famous humanist from Arezzo rhetoricians, the citizens might (beyond controversy) be more distinguished than all foreign nations by a more polished pen and a greater purity of tongue. He finally brought into his homeland that wisdom which expels vices and that method of investigating secrets which had lain hidden in the books and monuments of the ancients until his own times.

For this task, he diligently summoned from everywhere the most learned men and those most skilled in the ancient authors, who possessed sufficient eloquence alongside their knowledge of things: Demetrius Chalcondyles, Marsilio Ficino, Giorgio Vespucci, Cristoforo Landino, Valori, Angelo Poliziano, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and other most erudite men of the world, through whom the skill of the ancients and the secret antiquity—obliterated by the malice of chance—might return to the light. These great men labored in competition; for one taught, another commented, this one read, that one interpreted and translated languages into other languages. Marsilio [Ficino] led Greece into Latium meaning he translated Greek works into Latin. Poliziano brought the Romans back to Greece. All pressed on with the work, everyone bringing the highest praise to the Medici. Upon these heroes, Most Blessed LEO, your divine "birth-wand" original: "natalis uirgula" — a metaphorical reference to a lucky or divine influence present at birth, as they say, happily fell by the grace of the Gods; certainly so that there would remain no kind of more elegant learning in which you did not...