PREFACE

...[truth]-loving men The Latin text here picks up mid-word with "-tatis," likely completing "veritatis" (truth). should wish to look to the common good and share with us those things which might otherwise perish with them—yielding no benefit to themselves, but truly resulting in a loss for everyone else. I would wish this to be said not only regarding this art, or science Scientia: in the early modern period, this referred to any organized body of knowledge or "knowing," rather than just the physical sciences, but in all others as well. For if the ancients Veteres: the classic authorities of Greece, Rome, and the mythical past had been born for themselves alone and had hidden the sciences and arts from us, how, I ask, would we differ from the rest of the living creatures? Enjoy these things, therefore, with a grateful heart.

A symmetrical woodcut printer's ornament or cul-de-lampe, featuring intricate scrolling foliate and floral motifs arranged in a diamond shape.