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THE PRINTER

TO THE READERS.

An ornate woodcut initial letter T is decorated with floral and leaf patterns.
Civil Life being sustained by the mutual and reciprocal help of men, one toward another, and the use of the Arts and Sciences primarily serving this purpose, the Inventors of these have always been held in great esteem and were much revered by Wise Antiquity. And the more excellent or useful some Invention has been, the greater praise and honor have been attributed to the Inventors, to the point of their being Deified (men having, by common consent, with such a sign of supreme honor, wished to perpetuate the memory of the authors of their well-being). Likewise, those who, with the sharpness of their wits, have reformed things already discovered, uncovering the fallacies and errors of many, many propositions brought forth by distinguished men and accepted as true for many ages, are worthy of great praise and admiration; considering, moreover, that such a discovery is laudable, even if the discoverers themselves had only removed the falsehood, without introducing the truth, which is in itself so difficult to attain; in accordance with the saying of the prince of orators.

Would that I could as easily find the truth as I can refute the false.

And in fact, the merit of this praise is owed to these, our recent Centuries; in which the Arts and Sciences, rediscovered by the Ancients, through the work of most perceptive wits, have been reduced by many trials and experiences to great perfection, which increases every day. And in particular, this appears in the Mathematical Sciences, in which (leaving aside the various people who have labored therein with great praise and great success), to our Lord Galileo Galilei, Lincean Academician, without any opposition, and indeed with the applause and universal approval of all experts, the first ranks are deservedly due; both for having shown the inconclusiveness of many reasons regarding various Conclusions, confirmed with solid demonstrations (as his works already published are full of), and also for having with the Telescope (which emerged first from our parts, but was later brought by him to much greater perfection) discovered and given, first of all, the Knowledge of the four Stars, Satellites of Jupiter; of the true and certain demonstration of the Milky Way; of the Solar Spots; of the roughness and nebulous parts of the Moon; of the Tricorporeal Saturn; of the crescent Venus; of the quality and arrangement of Comets; all things never known by the Astronomers nor by the Ancient Philosophers. In such a way that it can be said that, through him, a new light has appeared to the World, and Astronomy has been restored; from the excellence of which (insofar as in the Heavens,