The Marriage of Philology and Mercury

original: "Eleemosynarios," referring here to those who receive or manage charitable patronage
the foremost. So that Your Excellency may more clearly and fully recognize my affection, which is most devoted to you, I wished to consecrate the readiness of my soul to your memory with this small gift. I ask you, by that Genius of yours In the Roman sense, a "Genius" is a person's guiding divine spirit or innate talent, that you do not cease from what you have begun, but continue in the study of letters with the same foot with which you started. And, because there is no need to set before you other Princes and Heroes—whom you will easily surpass, given your age, your talent, and your diligence—take your example from yourself. We offer to you, therefore, this little work by MARTIANI CAPELLÆ Martianus Capella was a 5th-century author whose work became a foundational textbook for medieval education, in which not only is the circle of education original Greek: "κυκλοπαιδεία" (kyklopaideia), the origin of our word 'encyclopedia,' meaning a well-rounded education of the seven liberal arts seven liberal arts: the core curriculum of the Middle Ages, consisting of the Trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy) taught by profession, but also, beyond the usual order, the little flowers of Philosophy and venerable antiquity are scattered throughout. In the first two books