Dedicatory Letter

...those things, I might be judged to have well deserved. Whether I have achieved this or not is not for me to judge. Unless it should perhaps seem rashly said by us, I have gathered from this that the work was neither unwelcome nor useless to the Italians, because within a few years, it was printed and sold for the third, fourth, and fifth time (if I am not mistaken). I would add that the judgment of learned men concerning it was no common thing, from which I also learned that I have clearly not wasted my "oil and labor" original: "non oleum nec operam planè lusisse." A Latin idiom for wasting time and resources on a fruitless task, referring to the oil in a lamp used during late-night study.. This surely ought to have moved me to attempt to clearly deserve well of foreign nations as well, so that I should not seem to have been born for the Italians alone.

But in addition to this, there was the fact that I understood some of them were delighted by our commentaries, even though they were written in Italian, and that they gathered some fruit from them. A clear proof of this for me was that I found among recent writers, both German and French, those who were pleased to translate our various opinions and interweave them into their own writings; and not only did they frankly acknowledge receiving them from us, but they also (such was their kindness) spoke of us quite honorably. To increase their goodwill toward us and to assist the studies of all foreigners if I could, and so that I might repay some gratitude to them and enter into a relationship with all others, no more convenient way appeared to me than to translate our Italian commentaries into the Latin language.

Therefore, as soon as I could, I made these Latin, in which I nevertheless changed many things (as the great difficulty of the subject required), added many things, and in some way clarified everything. Moreover, we added very many images of plants and animals in a smaller format, rendered in imitation of nature, for no other reason, by Hercules original: "me hercle." A common Latin oath used for emphasis., than to present a sort of "little garden" term: "hortulum" — a modest botanical garden. to those who cannot travel the lands or have no teachers, in which they might look upon almost living likenesses of plants at any time, without any cultivation being applied.

Furthermore, while in the year of our Lord 1558 I took care to have these same commentaries reprinted, we added many more images, which represent partly plants and partly indeed some animals, concerning which we have specifically discussed in these commentaries beyond what was handed down by Dioscorides; indeed, we have even expanded the commentaries themselves in very many places. But now, since I have lived for ten consecutive years in the court of the Most Serene Prince Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, etc., and serve as His Highness’s physician, I have devoted what leisure time I could steal away to cultivating the study of medical matter even more diligently.

There, we have not only written specific Herbals for the Germans and Bohemians in their own language and seen to their printing, Mattioli wrote Herbals for the Germans and Bohemians. but we have also expanded these same Latin commentaries of ours in more than a thousand places. We have also seen to it that all the images, crafted in a much larger format and with more diligent effort from the artists, were printed along with them, adding several hundred original: "centurijs." Literally "centuries," referring here to groups of a hundred plants. new and foreign plants, rendered from life, which have never before been published by me or anyone else. For these (as the thing itself reveals) have been rendered so skillfully (let this be said without the crime of boasting) and diligently, and drawn so precisely, that even without any colors added, they can be easily recognized by all students of botany.

And so it happens that where until now students of plants used "Mattioli's little garden," they may now delight themselves in his most extensive pleasure-garden term: "viridarium" — a large, lush garden or park, contrasting with the smaller "hortulus" mentioned earlier., whose doors stand open to all who enter. For such has always been our readiness to help the public good in general, that we have never spared the enormous expenses we incurred in painting and carving so many plates of images, The author’s labors and expenses in producing this work. nor have we spared our vigils or labors. What sort and how many inconveniences these brought to our life, it is better to remain silent about than to explain at length, lest by listing them I seem more occupied with capturing the readers' favor than with helping posterity—especially since I know that these things were not hidden from many before now, who both saw and understood them all. Indeed, I hope there will be many in the future who, having scrutinized the magnitude of the work, will rightly weigh how much of a burden, how much labor and care, and finally how much time, zeal, and diligence I have exhausted in producing this volume of plants. I shall also remain silent about the travels and journeys...