On the Magnetic Cure of Wounds

That I have dared to ascribe to you—you who flourish in prudence, learning, virtue, the splendor of glory, wealth, and authority—and to place under your protection a treatise concerning the magnetic cure of a wound (which many who are ignorant of the nature of things think to be an imposture), along with an oration on the luxury in the banquets of our century, you do not wonder without cause. But you will cease to wonder if you learn that I was persuaded to this by the fame of your virtue and humanity, of which you have most praiseworthy heralds everywhere. For with how much desire and love for letters you are led, how great you are as patrons of the Muses the goddesses of arts and sciences, how benevolent, well-disposed, humane, and beneficial you are—