TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS HECTOR

PIGNATELLO, DUKE OF VIBO,

most distinguished, Franciscus Storella [wishes] happiness.

[S]et to publish the Secret of Secrets illuminated by our vigils, most distinguished Prince, a work truly that was by no means unworthy to be written by Aristotle and sent to Alexander, since by the nobility of your lineage, the excellence of your arms, the love with which you favor those who profess the good sciences, and your knowledge of letters (let adulation be absent from these words, for I speak what is true and known to all), you bear yourself as another Alexander. And since you surpass him not a little in the prudence of governing well (as befits a most Christian Prince), in the sanctity of your life, in the integrity of your conscience, and in the practice of true religion, not only in name but also in deed, not undeservedly have I chosen you alone from so many knights, under whose name I might dedicate this most precious work of Aristotle. If you receive it with that benevolence of spirit (as I hope) with which you have been accustomed, out of innate humanity, to admit other things handed to your highness by the lowliest servants, I shall consider myself not only to have obtained a fierce defender, but even human happiness. Farewell.