PREFACE

[...judged] The text begins mid-sentence, continuing from the previous page. by setting aside (as I shall immediately demonstrate) those things which belong to another kind of judgment, I shall neither blush nor cease to pursue those men with the praise they deserve—a praise that is solid and truthful. Just as I do not consider this a cause for shame, so it should not be held against me that I do not grant equal eulogies to a great number of such men. I leave it open whether the fault lies in the narrowness of my own studies—in that I have perhaps not read all who might deserve equal acclaim—rather than in my judgment, which simply does not find others worthy of equal praise elsewhere.

As for the charge (a hasty and reckless imputation of certain minds) that it is arrogant for me to publicly promise that I consider myself as capable as anyone else in explaining or illustrating Becher; that appearance of arrogance will immediately vanish if the fates of the author, his writing, and the subject matter he handled are properly understood. It is, therefore, worthwhile to unfold and trace these matters as far as necessary.

As to who JOHANNES JOACHIM BECHER Johann Joachim Becher (1635–1682) was a German physician and alchemist, best known as the father of the phlogiston theory, which Stahl later refined. was personally, I have not labored to investigate; indeed, I did not even think it worth the effort to trouble that most learned man, Mr. Detlev Cluver Detlev Cluver (c. 1645–1708) was a German mathematician and fellow of the Royal Society., with such a question, even though he recently mentioned Becher in his scholarly Observations, noting in a few words that: Becher was of Jewish descent. original Latin: "Beccherum gente Juda-um fuisse." Stahl is addressing contemporary rumors about Becher's origins. For truly, wherever in the world a man may have come from, provided he is good, upright, truthful, learned, and skilled—a man whose words and deeds are free from ambition, vanity, and falsehood—I would no more think he should be lightly valued than I would think those born in my own country, or even (heaven forbid) in my own house, should be highly esteemed if they were of the opposite character.

For I know, recognize, and feel—not through the elegance of words or maxims, but through the reality itself—that I live in such a way that I value external gifts of fortune no more than a decorated garment or horse-trappings original Latin: "phaleras." In the Roman world, these were decorative medals on horse harnesses; Stahl uses it here to mean empty status symbols.; these things can add no more value to a man than they do to a horse if the individual lacks internal gifts and character. Hence, since my youth, I have been pleased by that phrase of Barclay John Barclay (1582–1621), a Scottish satirist and poet., which is as honest as it is ingenious, where he describes a good man of proven virtue as someone whom the prayers of all nations would desire as a citizen.

Therefore, I do not think it matters who our author was, but rather of what quality he was. Again, I set aside not only his reputation but the general testimonies of his life; for a man may deserve praise in one respect while being worthy of blame in another. Although I detest the modern custom where praising virtue seems to belong only to the school benches—and indeed, where people now learn to praise vices with flatteries and conceal crimes if there is even a small profit for their mercenary tongues—I nonetheless do not believe that what lacks praise should be approved or overlooked. However,