Problemata Aristotelis

Fortuna, as Sallust Roman historian says, prevails above all in all things, as it does in us and in our affairs; it occasionally lifts one man up undeservedly, while justly bringing another who has long been hidden into the light. Therefore, let us not be enticed or drawn by the authority of fortune, but be led by the most exacting judgment of nature, which, even if few truly grasp—as is commonly said, "it is given to the few"—nevertheless, nothing prevents one from being able to judge better of all things against the opinion of fortune. Thus, I would easily believe that just as this work of the Problems surpasses other writings of Aristotle due to a more complete knowledge of all things, so too was it subject to a certain great fate: that it should come to light in this time, rather than in many centuries past, through the interpretation of Theodorus, by whom it is most easily understood. Thus, the arts of oratory, military science, medicine, poetry, painting, and many of that kind, have met their own fate through the variety of time: at one moment they were hidden, at another they emerged, at another they were unknown and worthless, and at another precious and highly commended. So that it is not without reason that it is commonly said: "Human affairs are a circle." Therefore, infinite thanks are to be given to the immortal God that the Problems have their own vicissitude in our age, so that they may now be understood, and understood in such a way that Aristotle himself now seems to speak plainly in Latin. Who can easily judge how useful this work is? For if Aristotle is seen to philosophize in all his writings, he is seen to do so most of all in this one, since he asks about the specific causes of almost every single thing, and by thus determining and assigning the cause of each thing,