Apo kōpēs eis to bēma: Positiones Peri tēs tōn katamēniōn epochēs

according to the powers of talent that are required, I would choose your family’s magnificently performed deeds and truly generous virtues to be pursued and studied by me above many others, both for the dignity of the subject and for the august fame of the name. For all those things are so significant and almost royal, that one who praises you, your family, and your affairs, cannot rightly be considered a flatterer, but one who does not praise them can be considered malevolent. Finally, descending to where I intended, I ask with all my might, by your kindness and strenuous magnificence, that you accept these Theses dedicated to your illustrious and Magnificent name, HEROES OF PREEMINENCE, with the same spirit with which I wrote them, and that you embrace not so much the gift, which if you look at the matter is indeed small, as the intention, by reason of which it is very great. I pray to God, the Best and Greatest, that you and yours be most happy and august in a fortunate succession of events. From our Basel Museum note: a term for a study or library, on the Calends of April, 1582.