D E D I C A T I O N

surround your subjects. These foundations—namely that divine Pythagorean Tetractys original: "Pythagoræ Tetractyn"; a mystical Pythagorean symbol representing the number four, here used to group the four cardinal virtues, that is, Piety, Justice, Fortitude, and Wisdom—along with the accompanying retinue of all virtues necessary for a ruler of the world, look most closely to you. Thus, you have also judged that these must be preserved and established as a unique example for others to follow in supporting the safety of your kingdoms. Indeed, your tireless devotion to the cultivation of such virtues, especially Piety, will be commended to late posterity by the remarkable works and monuments of these virtues which exist everywhere. Throughout every corner of Hungary, Bohemia, Austria, and the hereditary provinces, these are inscribed with great titles of merit in an indelible character for all eternal memory. But these lands are too narrow for such august piety, which by no means allowed itself to be confined by these limits, but extended itself even to the very borders of Roman territory. There, your Majesty’s zeal restored at your own expense a noble monument of ancestral piety that had nearly collapsed from the age of the times—the church and mountain sacred to the Mother of God and Saint Eustachius likely referring to the Basilica of San Eustachio in Rome or a related shrine. Having furnished it with most abundant support, you have newly consecrated it to the perpetual devotion of those nations. If men are silent, these things will speak of you: the churches restored to their beauty, the altars restored to the churches, and the lamps upon the altars shining with the eternal fire of Austrian piety. This fervor, Most Pious Caesar original: "Cæsar Piissime"; a traditional title for the Holy Roman Emperor, will be witnessed by the splendor of the votive offerings, paintings, and various ornaments; finally, the stones themselves and the colossal statues, though mute interpreters and heralds of such great virtues, are greater than any witness. What furthermore shall I say of the incredible knowledge of arts and sciences, both divine and human, in which you excel? You who, in order to reach your crowns, paved a way for yourself with laurels: for you knew most skillfully that saying: He who performs the duty of wisdom in a great empire, knows the least unless he knows more than all others. A common Renaissance political maxim regarding the intellectual superiority required of a monarch. Thus, as many words as you pour forth, you seem to establish as many laws—no less irrefragable by the dictate of Themis The Greek goddess of divine law and order than they are unshaken and proven by your own work and example. The solid foundations of such great erudition and wisdom were laid by you long ago, when you informed your youth with the frequent reading of histories and the studious investigation of past events, for no other [purpose] indeed...