DEDICATION

...they are forced to grow old at the rocks of the Sirens original: "Sireneos scopulos." In mythology, the Sirens lured sailors to their destruction with song; the author uses this to symbolize the seductive but ruinous false leads in alchemy that waste a seeker's life.. For if, as that greatest parent of eloquence original: "summus ille eloquentiæ parens." This is a traditional honorary title for the Roman orator Cicero, whom the author is quoting here. says, those who are already being carried into port from the deep sea are accustomed to advise those setting sail from the harbor with the greatest zeal, regarding the nature of storms, and of pirates, and of locations (for nature prompts us to favor those who are entering the same dangers that we ourselves have survived); with what spirit, finally, ought I to be, now that I am finally seeing land after such great tossing on the waves, toward those who I see must undergo the most violent tempests? Therefore, so that I might immediately halt the course of countless curious men in their excessive meddling original: "περιεργίας" (periergia), referring to a restless or over-refined curiosity that leads one astray. and empty zeal original: "κενοσπουδίας" (kenospoudia), which describes a foolish devotion to worthless or futile pursuits., and so that I might snatch away the opportunity for squandering their wealth, and [limit] the infinite formulas (accepted...