Observatio & demonstratio cometae aetherei, qui anno 1577 et 1578 constitutus in sphaera veneris, apparvit, cum admirandis eius passionibus, varietate scilicet motus, loco, orbe, distantia à terrae centro, &c. adhibitis demonstrationibus geometricis & calculo arithmetico, cuiusmodi de alio quoquam cometa nunquam visa est

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS
PRINCE AND LORD, LORD LUDWIG, DUKE OF WÜRTTEMBERG
and Teck, Count of Mömpelgard, etc., his most clement Lord.

A large ornamental drop cap 'S' features floral and scrollwork motifs.

If anyone examines the actions and operations of all men, he will marvel not so much at their diverse studies as at their intentions. He will wonder what each person has as a goal, and what drives most people to tolerate and undergo immense labors with such alacrity, even though in all affairs that mortals handle, there are frequent vicissitudes where nothing in the world is found that is not momentary, fragile, perishable, and subject to vanity. But perhaps one who considers the industry of the human mind will remove the cause for wonder. For he will see that the mind, conscious of its divinity—which is still illuminated by rays remaining after the fall of our first parents—perceives with a certain secret sagacity in its operations something by which it can vindicate itself from mortality and corruption, and be able to live forever among the living in this age, which everyone uniquely desires.

Although the mind feels that an eternal habitation in this world is denied to it in this earthly prison of the body, and that a certain limit of life is set for it which it cannot transcend, it understands that in the constant, decent, and magnificent handling of perishable things, an everlasting memory of itself lies hidden. With this memory surviving, even when the person is deceased, they are considered to exist no less among the living. Therefore, guided by the human mind, mortals strive to seek their immortality through tireless labors in the very destruction of things, nor are they frustrated in their hope, provided they leave behind a memory of themselves.

To achieve this, just as there are a thousand human senses, so each has fashioned a thousand ways for themselves. The first authors of dissonant languages, so that their name might be celebrated in all future time, attempted to build a tower whose summit would reach the sky. The Egyptians, to transmit their names to posterity, built pyramids of immense height. Hercules attempted to seek the immortality of his name through more than human labors. Thus, a certain Erostratus, an obscure man, when he despaired of having an immortal name among posterity through strenuous deeds, set fire to the Temple of Diana at Ephesus.