A horizontal decorative woodcut headpiece featuring symmetrical floral scrolls and stylized leaf patterns.

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS, MOST POWERFUL, AND MOST CONSIDERATE Prince and Lord,

LORD MAURICE,

LANDGRAVE OF HESSE, COUNT OF CATTIMELIBOCORUM, DIETZ, ZIGENHAIN, AND NIDDA, ETC.

A large ornamental woodcut initial 'I' inside a square frame, decorated with intricate foliage and vine motifs.

Meanwhile, among the various kinds of men, Most Illustrious Prince, who judge differently about the works and labors of others, these two types are also found: the first, truly, are those who decide that one should stand only by the opinions, decrees, and inventions of the ancients, and that nothing new should be attempted. And these men truly seem to be the most inept and ridiculous, because they wish for all the glory of talent to be stolen from learned men, and all freedom of philosophizing and inventing to be taken away, demanding that men be the lazy and most illiberal slaves of others. For I ask, what else do they do, other than seeking justifications for their own and their children's sloth and ignorance from the observations, precepts, vigils, and commentaries of the fathers? It is shameful, having abandoned the freedom of human talent, to steal the light of nature, the power of discerning and creating, from posterity, solely from the honey-making of others, of the drones