Preface.

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...wanted to fix firmly. It is certain that no matter how well one helps ungrateful guests to their feet, it is all for naught; they may come along in sheep’s or lamb’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. No matter how much is preached to them, they remain as they are, or even become worse—like that fellow in Joachimsthal Joachimsthal (St. Joachim's Valley) was a famous Bohemian mining town, central to the development of metallurgy and the source of the silver for the original "Thaler" (dollar) who said: "I shall remain as I am."

Under what manner of sins ingratitude is numbered, one can read in the Book of Wisdom, Chapter 14, especially verse 26 The Book of Wisdom 14:26 lists "ingratitude for benefits" alongside various moral and social disorders.

Many a person, if they do not immediately find what they want—being a wolf for greed, gold, and money—becomes desperate, and it is rightly said: Despair makes one either a monk, a soldier, or a husband original: "Desperatio facit aut Monachum, aut Militem, aut Maritum"; a common proverb suggesting that extreme circumstances or loss of hope drive men into these three restrictive states of life. Such a person thunders, storms, and fumes, wanting to finish quickly with this or that. Thus, this is rightly called a stumbling block original: "Stein des Anstossens", which rattles their brain, so that such a person loses wisdom and understanding.

Such people are by no means satisfied with a magnificent medicine made from dissolved gold The symbol $\odot$ is the alchemical sign for Sol (the Sun), representing gold. "Ex solut. $\odot$" refers to gold in a liquid or dissolved state, often intended for medicinal use (aurum potabile), but instead they want physical gold and silver. Thus it is said: Greed is the root of all evil A reference to 1 Timothy 6:10, for afterward no sin is too heavy for them, [it]...