EPISTLE

eminent original: "praeillustrium"; completing the word from the previous page., and it is the nature of souls like yours and those similar to you, that just as they far surpass others in performing praiseworthy deeds, they yet require a certain modesty The Latin "requirant" here suggests a desire for restraint or a lack of need for external validation compared to the greatness of the deeds themselves. in the celebration of their own praises. Furthermore, I have decided to bring to You, in the place of a gift, the Horn of Amalthea Amaltheae cornu: better known today as the "Cornucopia" or horn of plenty; a symbol of abundance in Greek mythology, most rich and most fertile. This is a gift which, since it cannot receive luster from the giver, will take its splendor from the recipient.

This horn, if we believe the Poets at all, stood fixed upon the goat that was the nurse of Jove Jove is another name for Jupiter, the king of the gods in Roman mythology.. For when Saturn In mythology, the Titan Saturn (Cronus) feared his children would overthrow him and thus ate them at birth.—that whirlpool and glutton helluo: a person who greedily devours; a spendthrift or glutton of his own sons—strove to sacrifice original: "perlitare"; meaning to sacrifice in a way that obtains favorable omens, here used ironically for Saturn's attempt to "consecrate" his son to his own stomach. Jove to his own [belly] The text cuts off here; the catchword "ventri" indicates the next page begins with the word for "belly." as he was barely emerging from his mother's womb,