DEDICATORY EPISTLE.

...violently shaken, may GOD BEST AND GREATEST original: "DEVS OPT. MAX." (Deus Optimus Maximus), a title for God borrowed from the Roman title for Jupiter., through His mercy for the Church—redeemed by the blood of His Son—favorably strengthen it. May He turn His anger, finally turned away from us, toward the nations that devastate the Church; and may He prosper the rule of the August Emperor, Ferdinand II Ferdinand II (1578–1637) was the Holy Roman Emperor whose reign was dominated by the religious and political conflict of the Thirty Years' War., now mitigated by a healing breeze of Mercy, once the provocations of wrath have been extinguished.

By this means, may both Styria A region in modern-day Austria where Kepler began his professional career as a teacher and mathematician.—the first cradle of my career—and along with it you, Most Reverend and Most Noble Nobles, endure for countless years, safe under the wings of the Eagle A reference to the Imperial Eagle, the heraldic symbol of the Holy Roman Empire, representing the Emperor's protection. from the vulture at the border, and enriched with an abundance of all things. To you, with due veneration, I commend myself. Farewell. Given at Frankfurt, June 20/30, in the year 1621.