ON THE ART OF WEIGHING,

WATER-WEIGHT, AND

* AIR-WEIGHT.

These terms—Weeghconst, Waterwicht, and Lochtwight—are Stevin's Dutch coinages for what we now call Statics, Hydrostatics, and Aerostatics.

This book even today shuns the light, and has as yet few witnesses. original Latin: "Liber hic hodieq. lucifuga, paucorumq. adhuc testium." This suggests that the mechanical principles discussed were not yet widely known or accepted.
An ornate woodcut initial letter 'C' depicts a central seated figure within a landscape, framed by intricate scrollwork and decorative motifs.
CEASE, bright Rhodes, to celebrate the bright Colossus with your Apollo,

for so small a mass holds nothing worthy

of such a great miracle, though it was the labor of twelve years.

It had stood for fifty-six years, and some change, when it collapsed in an earthquake.

It had stood hardly five times that long when the

spirit acting within the bowels of the earth shook the vast limbs apart.

It collapsed; the ignoble body lies on the shore,

the foot, the head, and other parts of uncertain name.

Fool, why do you gaze, and why do you ask in wonder

as it lies there, who might have raised it, and by what method and means?

But ah! How much more wonderful and much more awesome

is this: how a light breeze might blow the whole mass away?

Truly, that a light breeze might blow the whole mass away?

But this was neither to be wondered at, nor foolishly feared.

If you are able to learn the deep causes of things,

you will see greater things, and marvel at these not at all.

>> Let the greatest weights rest upon small weights,

>> so that the strongest things may be moved by the slightest movements.

The phrase "Pondera ponderibus nitantur maxima parvis" expresses the fundamental principle of the lever and statics: that a small force can balance or move a much larger weight.

Mother Nature, and the Mind that came before Nature,

established this in all things, and keeps what has been decreed.

Behold this burden of the Mother of the Gods, and whatever she brings forth,

The opinion of Thales is not to be dismissed; it is supported by both sacred scripture and by experience itself, which is never deceptive. Thales of Miletus (c. 624 – 548 BC) was a Greek philosopher who famously proposed that water was the primary substance of all matter.

the Azure Father carries it, as it leans upon him: that same—

original: "Cœruleus Pater" (Azure Father) is a poetic reference to the Sea or Neptune, introducing the concept of buoyancy.