On the Effigy of the Author,

A TWELVE-LINE

EPIGRAM.

If you ask what the external face of MAIER is,
I show you this page, on which it shines well sculpted.
If you ask what the internal face of MAIER is,
I show you the fruits of his genius, I show you his books.
This present volume does not occupy the lowest place among them:
How worthy the matter is of so great a man!
Which now hides its raised head among the clouds:
Now it enters the air, then the barriers of the earth.
Now it crawls upon the ground, now it treats of the vegetable being,
Finally, it gathers every kind of brute animal.
Now it examines man, the most noble work of the Gods:
Go now, and deny that this book has weight.