On the Art of Fermentation

— VII —

and are scorned both publicly and privately, yet the reading of them both greatly aids and brings much utility to those who know how to wisely mingle the old with the new, and for whom the customs and conversation of the dead are sweeter than that which the crowd of the living not rarely exhibits. Very few return from that crowd with their character intact and their reputation unblemished; the evil examples of the multitude overflow into their associates, nor are there wanting those who either commend vice to others, or imprint a deadly wound upon the mind, or smear an indelible stain upon those who are unaware. Therefore, while I spend my time somewhat more attentively among these monuments of the ancients in leisure and literary solitude, and follow the footsteps of our ancestors, I uncover the beginnings and various experiments of brewing beer, though hidden as if in darkness, like tender plants suppressed in the greenery of the groves. I gladly receive those guests abandoned by the negligence of readers as witnesses of an ancient art, and I restore each to its proper place; I mingle here and there my own conjecture and opinion, whatever it may be worth, and I shape and reshape this little work, thus adorned, as diligently as possible, so that it may appear pleasant to the sight and not unworthy of being read. Behold, dear reader (L. B.), the rationale of this little book, by which the antiquity of beer is renewed and drinkers themselves find a new solace for their cares! Thus the cups of authentic drink are quaffed more sweetly, crowned with their origins as if with stars; thus there is given to those who drink, while sucking the smoke of tobacco from a pipe of immense length, a broad subject for discussion; thus