Forerunner of the Cosmographic Dissertations

...they have been exempted from [life]: I would return this book with a new dedication to their sons or successors (some of whom the Monarchs of the World Kepler refers here to the Holy Roman Emperors and other high-ranking European rulers who promoted his former students and associates. have since elevated to the highest peak of dignity as a reward for their virtue), and finally to this most honorable body of the community, supported by whose stipends I once wrote this little book.

No small incentives were provided to me as I weighed this decision, looking on one hand at the modern state of Styria and on the other at the surrounding provinces. For from that region, I saw many of the nobility who either heard me teaching or knew me more closely through a shared table or companionship; since that time, they have preserved toward me the goodwill inherited from their fathers. They demonstrate this through the resources they command, demanding the fruit of Imperial dignity and grace through their own generosity. Nor is there a lack of those among the clergy who, no less than their predecessors, love both the mathematical arts and me as their practitioner. They have sent word that they would summon me from nearby to visit them if only the turmoils A reference to the early stages of the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), which caused massive displacement and danger across Central Europe. had subsided. It was therefore worthy of my gratitude to both groups that I should honor such great patrons with whatever mutual services I could and strive to deserve their favor even more.

On this side, indeed, from the direction of Austria, the surrounding dangers, terrors, calamities, and hardships repeatedly warn a fearful and peace-loving Astronomy Kepler personifies the science of Astronomy as a refugee seeking a safe harbor during wartime. to look about for aid. In the year 1600, she moved from Styria to Bohemia Kepler moved from Graz to Prague in 1600 to assist Tycho Brahe and eventually became Imperial Mathematician. so that what had taken its first roots under the shadow of the House of Austria The Habsburg dynasty. might also reach maturity under their protection. There, tossed about by the storms of war—both internal and external—she finally returned to Austria after the death of Emperor Rudolf in 1612, thanks to the steady devotion of the House of Austria. I wish she could have been cherished as kindly as she was received, and honored by the dedication of noble minds as much as by me, her restorer. But alas, with what great mutual blessings do wretched mortals strip themselves through this most shameful itch for conflict? How deep an ignorance of destiny overwhelms those who have so deserved it? By what lamentable counsel do we find that:

I wish indeed that even now, following the recent upheaval in Austrian affairs, there might still be room for that oracle of Plato. When Greece was burning on all sides with a long civil war and was plagued by all the evils that usually accompany such conflict, Plato was consulted regarding the "Delian Problem" The "Delian Problem" or "doubling the cube" is a famous ancient geometric puzzle. According to legend, the oracle at Delphi told the citizens of Delos they must solve it to end a plague; Plato interpreted this as a divine command to study geometry to calm their passions.. Using the question as a pretext to offer the people life-saving advice, he replied that Greece would finally be peaceful, according to the mind of Apollo, only if the Greeks turned themselves toward Geometry and other philosophical studies. He argued that these studies draw minds away from ambition and the other greedy desires from which wars and evils arise, leading them instead toward a love of peace and moderation in all things.