Iacobi Acontii Tridentini de methodo, hoc est, de recta investigandarum, tradendarumque artium, ac scientiarum ratione

A decorative headpiece features two putti flanking a central lyre and scrolling foliage.

IACOPO ACON-
CIO OF TRENT
TO FRANCESCO BETTO
OF ROME
SENDS MANY GREETINGS.

A decorative drop cap 'E' with floral motifs.Since I am about to publish my little book on Method, to whom rather should I give it as a gift, my sweetest and most excellent Betto, than to you? We have endured almost shared labors and anxieties for a long time, we have pursued almost the same studies, we share the same desires and dislikes, and what surpasses all things, we share the same opinion on religion and the same decision to leave our fatherland for that reason. These things have bound us with such a tight knot that nothing could now be more closely joined. Certainly, all that can be desired from a perfect friendship has always flowed from you to me. Indeed, I trust that my love for you, even if you have never tested it in any great matter, is so well known to you that I would be clearly unjust to you if I even suspected that it needed any proof. Where, therefore, I am aiming, you can easily understand: I desire, so long as my writings may live, that some monument of our close relationship should exist. I ask, therefore, again and again, that, according to your kindness, you may not be unwilling to allow these vigilances of mine, such as they are, to go forth under your name. Farewell and love me, as you do.