EPISTLE

...from where I have taken the beginning of my writing; you will understand. I, therefore, am entirely unknown to you, and you are indeed unknown to me in face; but in spirit—which is the true and inner man—you have recently become most well-known to me. For indeed, when three days ago original: "nudius-tertius," a Latin idiom for "the day before yesterday" or "three days ago" it happened that I was crossing over the bridge of the Rialto Rivi alti: literally "Deep Stream," the Latin name for the Rialto district and bridge in Venice, a certain small book was offered to me by a friend who is also known to you. It was a new publication original: "nunc primo excusus," literally "now first struck," referring to the printing press, marked on the back with the coat of arms of the current Pope, and containing your elegant letter addressed to that same Pope. Its title was On the Ruin of Satan’s Tyranny original: "In Sathane ruinam tyrännidis". I soon purchased it original: "ære redemptum," literally "redeemed with bronze," meaning bought with coin and took it home with me to read more conveniently. And so, given the opportunity of leisure, I began to read; nor did I stop, owing to the delight I took in the desired subject matter, until I had tasted the whole work by reading it through. I read, therefore, your scholarly labors lucubrationes: literally "works produced by candlelight," a term used to describe diligent, late-night intellectual effort, from which I drew my knowledge of you; I read the holy vision-