Theses hasce

A decorative initial V contains floral motifs.

You may perhaps wonder, most illustrious man, why I have sent you nothing in writing for such a long interval of time, or you may even suspect that I have traveled further into France for the sake of my studies, or returned to Padua with the intention that not a few are accustomed to, or—what could happen that would be most sad for my dearest parents—that I have perished among the Swiss from the plague. Therefore, to free you, to whom I owe all things of the highest importance, from such anxiety, I am alive and well, by the kindness of God the Best and Greatest; I am ever mindful of the merits you have shown toward me, and in this royal city, in this most pleasant marketplace of learning, I am cultivating my intellect under the most renowned physicians and philosophers. I do so with such success that I now dare to emerge from the shadows into the field, by the permission of the Gracious Order of Physicians, and to confirm the private censure of my teachers concerning me in the arena of a public disputation. Just as historians report that in ancient Rome the temples of Virtue and Honor were contiguous, and that no one was given access to one except through the other, so too among the citizens of Basel, the Augusta of the ancient Romans founded by Munatius Plancus, the internal Academic Brabeuterion place of judgment/prize-giving encompasses the external Asketerion training ground, and deters the profane lovers of the Apollonian laurel, like the Gorgon’s head, from their rash undertaking. While I feel that I lack the strength for this conflict, because in great matters to have even willed is enough, and because I do not refuse to spare the praiseworthy custom of this Academy, I trust that I shall have fairer antagonists. To you, most adorned man, it has pleased me to dedicate these inaugural THESES, the first-fruits of a small field—as they are few in number, so perhaps they are but little elaborated and unworthy of your excellence—which may at once bear witness to my grateful regard for you and, by the splendor of your name, be safer from the darts of adversaries. You certainly—which I freely and gladly acknowledge—have turned out to be the author of these studies, if not the only one, then at least the first; you conceived high hope for me long ago, and have also vigorously confirmed the same before my parents and friends; you directed our travels, first to Padua, and recently also to Basel. Receive, therefore, this meager testimony of our effort, if not of our progress, and continue to promote our studies with the kindness you have begun. Farewell, most illustrious man, and expect my return as soon as it is granted. May Christ the Best and Greatest grant that I may be able to embrace you in safety and happily imitate your virtues. From Palladian Basel, the 9th day before the Kalends of June, in the year of restored Salvation 1578.