An ornate horizontal woodcut headpiece featuring a central floral arrangement with symmetrical acanthus leaf scrolls and botanical motifs extending to the sides.

PHALEUCIAN VERSES

OF MARTINUS PRAETORIUS OF SILESIA,

PRECEPTOR TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE,

Administrator of the Bishopric of Strasbourg, Margrave of Brandenburg, &c.

An ornamental woodcut drop cap 'V' featuring a seated figure in academic attire amidst a detailed landscape with foliage and architectural elements.

Avenger of the honor of Paeon, Libavius,
And likewise eloquent devotee of the Muses,
After it was granted to me to see your writings,
And to read them through in full light:
I straightway bid farewell to all the works
Of so many dealers in darkness,
Crammed with so many evasions and so many obscurities.
Now no longer do I anxiously seek
What the noble lily may be, what the gold
Of life, what the celebrated stone, what the egg
Of the wise, what the green lion, and the Rebis;
What the virgin’s milk, and the red blood
Of the lizard, or what Realgar and Xenechdon;
What the regulus is, and the liquid grease
Of flashing Phoebus; what the chemical star;
What the risarisa of the cock, and the laudanum
Sufficiently praised until now throughout the world;
And the angelic powder, and the saffron of Mars;
What the bird flying by night, and red
Henry; what the homunculus; what Azoth;
Not at all do I care for so many new monsters of new words;
Nor for so many feigned and hidden liquids,
Nor for foolish ravings and absurdities,
Nor for your trifles, vain Paracelsus,
Nor for enigmas and obscurities.