Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants

...the plant of which he speaks. This happens most especially when he depicts plants he has not seen himself, but rather according to the opinions of others. Furthermore, we shall not be ashamed to acknowledge our errors, if we are proven to have committed any, and to sing a song of recantationoriginal: "palinodiam canere." A classical reference to a poem or song retracting a previous statement.. Far be it from us to take it poorly if others—whether we were hindered by negligence or a lack of judgment—should find or repair what we could not, provided that they set aside insults and taunts, as befits those eager for the truth. Let them instead overturn and disprove our opinion with reasons and the testimony of the most highly approved writers.

But if anyone persists in being entirely resentful and spitefully breaking out into insults, we believe this person will harm his own reputation more than ours; for no one considers him a good man who dares to rashly disparage another’s fame. And certainly, those who are so ready and prepared to diminish, despise, or utterly reject the labors of others mostly hide in the shadows and keep themselves in corners, where they triumph marvelously among their own kind and ignorant assesFuchs uses the phrase "imperitis asinos" to disparage critics who have no actual knowledge of botany.. But if those Momusesoriginal: "momi." In Greek mythology, Momus was the personification of mockery and unfair criticism. should ever burst out of the shadows and come into the open, everyone would immediately understand with what vain pride of learning they swell, and what shameless triflers they are. And we would certainly receive those railers in such a way that they would wish they had stayed in their hiding places and never sought the light. For in dealing with them properly, and in bravely repelling and turning back their arrows and darts, we are confident that neither strength nor skill will fail us.

I would say more in this place about the industry and diligence of Michael Isengrin, the most careful printer of Basel, in printing this work, were it not that we know these qualities are sufficiently known and attested by many other works which have come out of his workshop for several years now. Indeed, the work itself speaks enough for how diligent he was in printing it. Anyone will easily estimate the great expenses he incurred who is willing to weigh the magnitude of the work and the pictures themselves according to the dignity of the subject. Therefore, students of botanyoriginal: "rei herbariae," literally "the herbal matter." owe much to this man, as he spared neither expense nor labor to serve their convenience and aid their studies. Since it is well known that today there are many printers who, like dronesoriginal: "fucorum." In Latin, "fucus" refers to a drone bee that does no work but lives off the labor of the hive; Fuchs is accusing rival printers of piracy., lie in wait for the labors of others, and through their clumsy imitation deface and contaminate books printed with the best and most elegant type and adorned with the most excellent pictures—and this for no other reason than to secure their own advantage from the disadvantages of others—consideration had to be had for Isengrin, who incurred immense expenses in printing this work. Therefore, lest anyone else print these commentaries of ours anywhere with impunity, it has been provided for and guarded against by an Imperial decree, which we also noted at the beginning of the work.

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS PRINCE, LORD JOACHIM

Praise of JOACHIM, Elector and Margrave of Brandenburg.

Since, following the usual custom, I was seeking a patron for these commentaries of mine who is excellent in nobility and the splendor of virtues, no one occurred to me to whom I thought these should more justly be dedicated than to you, most illustrious Prince JOACHIM, most famous hero. For if I look at the antiquity and nobility of your lineage, no Prince today is either better or more excellent than you, since it is well established that your ancestors The text here refers to the House of Welf (Guelph), one of the oldest noble dynasties in Europe. arose from the Welfs, a nobility than which there is hardly any older in Germany. And if I weigh their virtues, I see that no virtue worthy of great and good Princes was lacking in them. That they were famous for every kind of virtue can be gathered especially from the fact that the part of Franconia situated on the Main—whose people have always been most eager to protect their liberty—began to obey them, invited by no other name than their nobility and virtue. I could now commemorate the virtues of each of your ancestors who performed great deeds, if the nature of a letter allowed me to wander further; therefore, I pass over the others and bring forward one, and he the foremost, that ALBERT,

Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg, the German Achilles and Ulysses.

whom just as the rest celebrated with the nickname “the German Achilles” because of his remarkable courage and his dexterity and success in battles; so I think he should rightly be called “the German Ulysses” because of his singular prudence and wonderful industry and skill in conducting affairs. Concerning his many and varied virtues, many excellent testimonies exist in their books,