To the Reader.

Unhappy man! What can I say that I am doing?
How do I lead my life? Restlessly pursuing
Nature, who is always fleeing, though by chance
She may now and then grant me a brief glance;
Immediately, like Proteus a Greek sea god capable of changing shape at will, she is dressed in a thousand shapes,
And so mocks my toil and distresses my pensive heart.

We read of Pentheus a mythological King of Thebes who appears in Euripides' play The Bacchae that upon climbing a tree to observe the hidden sacrifices of Bacchus the Roman god of wine and ecstasy, he was struck with such a madness that everything seemed double to him. Two suns and two versions of Thebes an ancient Greek city-state appeared before his eyes; so that when he hurried toward Thebes, he would suddenly see another Thebes and be pulled back. In this way, he was continually driven back and forth in a restless state.