D E D I C A T I O N

June 9th

...cited; and they prophesied that you were not given to the world in vain on that day, namely the 5th day before the Ides of June June 9th, on which the most auspicious memory of the Saints Primus and Felicianus is celebrated. They rejoiced that he was brought forth to the world who would restore the happiness so long hoped for to these unhappy times; and again, that he would bring the name of "Primus" Latin: "The First"—a name not heard for a long time, yet always a sign of great hope—into the register of Caesar-like names. These joyful beginnings of your most august birth were eventually proven by the outcome of a matching fortune, when, distinguished and inaugurated as Emperor by the name of LEOPOLD I—and this is not without mystery—you, the fiftieth of all the Caesars and Kings of Germany, decorated the Annals of the August Ones under the initial letter of your name, L The Roman numeral L represents 50. Thus, by a pure calculation, you did not only complete the sacred jubilee of Emperors, but also began another under an even greater omen of happiness.

The Christian world had long been raised toward this hope and faith by your most august endowments: the supreme eagerness of a most lively disposition; the sharpest force of intellect; a joyful serenity of mind blooming in your countenance; a judgment capable of great thoughts; a prudence to be revered even in the flower of youth; a mature heart in a young Prince; and in the springtime of life and such indulgence of fortune, a decency of character refined to all the rules of modesty; and in a youth, the maturity of all paternal virtues. And lest I pile up the catalog of your praises here to the tiresome annoyance rather than the delight of your sacred ears, I shall say it in a brief summary: that your supreme graces destined you alone as the Atlas for such supreme dignity and for a greatness of soul even more sublime than so sublime an empire, so that you seemed not to receive a crown from the empire, but rather to confer a crown upon the empire yourself.

Therefore, with these protections and guides of virtue, which like so many brightest stars seemed to shine before you toward the high throne of the imperial seat, having been moved to the helm of so great a state, you began above all else, MOST WISE CAESAR, to imprint upon the intimate depths of your heart the lessons of Christian Politics left to you by your most wise father, and to studiously cultivate them as they remained ever before the eyes of your mind. You did this by exactly surveying not those impious dogmas of deceitful Politics, but the most secure and true protections; those foundations by which kingdoms and the princedoms of the world are made solid; those bases upon which diadems and the thrones of Kings safely rest; and finally, those hinges upon which the state of republics, the security of empires, and safety...