Reminder

...[ma]ke it The word "chen" completes "machen" (to make/do) from the previous page.: then they will receive from the wise that praise which they could never obtain through unfounded charges. This rule stands firm in the realm of truth: One should not criticize something until one is able to do it better. But he who can do it better will not desire to criticize others. For who would strive for a petty and often merely imagined fame, when he could possess a greater and well-founded one? They are wretched souls who think to hunt for praise by belittling the work of others! Each person's own work must be his praise.

He intends to answer objections that are presented with modesty.

Furthermore, I will especially take pleasure in undertaking the response to objections raised, provided they are presented in a decent manner—that is, without bitterness and with modesty original: "Bescheidenheit", as is fitting for sensible and virtuous minds. For just as reason original: "Verstand", scholarship original: "Gelehrsamkeit", and virtue original: "Tugend" ought to be linked together, it is also no small shame if a man, in his manners, seeks to equate himself with the lowest rabble Pöbel: a derogatory term for the uneducated or vulgar masses, often used by Enlightenment thinkers to distinguish the "rational public" from the "irrational crowd", from whom he nevertheless believes himself distinguished by his intellect. And in my opinion, it is a greater praise to moderate one's passions Affecten: from the Latin 'affectus', referring to strong emotions or impulses that were thought to hinder rational judgment and in one's conduct to [virtu-]