DEDICATION.

original: DEDICATIO

-ness, the consideration of the duty I owe commanded my reverence for You; yet, just as one nail drives out another, shame drove out fear. For I felt ashamed that, whenever I brought certain choice Greek and Latin coins original: numismata; ancient coins or medals, which were highly prized by 17th-century collectors and scholars for the historical information they provided.—by which he is wonderfully moved and delighted—to your Most Serene Father, I should come to You without some small gift. Nor had I heard that You were more captivated by any other kind of gift than a literary one. I have therefore extorted from an angry fortune—or rather snatched and carried away, more than obtained—these few pages: and these I now proclaim, dedicate, and inscribe to Your Name, Most Serene and Most High Prince: with that confidence that, since your Father the Elector, truly the Best Prince, recently deigned to grant me singular grace and favor, Your Most Kind