On the Ancient Synagogue

DEDICATION.

...I have striven to avoid error, as much as lay within my power. But I am human. And who is so lynx-eyed original: "lynceus"; a reference to the mythological Lynceus of Argos, famed for his keen sight, often used as a metaphor for extreme perceptiveness. that in such great darkness he stumbles over nothing and never runs into an obstacle? Much less I, for whom I am not unaware that much is lacking. Aside from the fact that truth, as Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman and philosopher. The author refers to the idea that proving a lie is often easier than discovering a hidden truth. says elsewhere, is more difficult to find than falsehoods are to be refuted; and that Nature has generally so provided for human wits that men are far more sharp-sighted in weighing past events than future ones.

But however these things may stand, Reverend Father-in-law Father-in-law: original "Socer." In academic Latin, this often indicates a close familial and professional bond, as scholarship was frequently a family trade., and however much this labor of mine is to be valued by the Learned, I could not, I ought not, allow it to be dedicated to any other among mortals than to You—not only my Father-in-law, but also a Learned and Wise Man, to whom I had already previously inscribed my first Observations on the Governance of the Synagogue original: "Synagogæ Regimine Observationes"; this refers to an earlier treatise by the author on how ancient Jewish synagogues were managed., which have now been gathered into the Third Book of this Work and arranged in a better order, as a mark of my respect and honor.

Indeed, if your modesty and mine permitted me to proclaim it, I would say that I venerate in You—above all among so many Men of our order—the perfection of every excellent Gift and Virtue, the singular gravity and dignity of your Character, and also your outstanding merits toward the Church, sealed by more than forty years of untiring labors. Which of the mortals who know You would accuse me of flattery? But neither...