P R E F A C E.

and with the gravity and constancy of his life and morals, in such a way that the virtues shone forth most brilliantly in him, all of which it would be either invidious or long to recount in this place. As for the present treatment and the exposition of the two epistles, I leave that to the judgment of learned and good men, yet in such a way that the shoemaker does not go beyond the sandal a reference to the Latin proverb "Ne sutor supra crepidam," meaning one should not criticize beyond one's own expertise. In my own opinion, nothing is more elaborate, nothing more learned, and nothing more moderate than these Commentaries. For just as works that are treated a second and third time turn out more refined and polished, so these very lucubrations, which he wrote in England in the year 1538 in the house of the most famous man Charles Mountjoy, and expounded in the Theological school at Marburg in the year 1543, and again revised in the year 1556, are more complete than his other labors: this is a fact that those who have brought a more sound mind of judgment to this work will easily admit with me. You will find nothing idle in these, nothing obscure, and finally, nothing alien to the profession of the orthodox faith and the purer religion. Each of the Apostle's arguments is recalled and explained by such a lucid and clear method back to its own fountains that one can discern the highest ornaments and the highest virtues that are required in a teacher. Let those, therefore, be gone who slanderously infect the name of this dead teacher and his method of teaching: let those be gone who do not shudder to insult the dead prophets: let the wasps be gone that buzz against the cicadas: let the magpies be gone that contend in song with the nightingales, and the hoopoes that contend with the swans: nevertheless, the swan's song will meanwhile retain its own praise and sweetness intact. I now betake myself to the third part of the preface, which I said at the beginning I would expound: this pertains to the cause and reason for this initiated dedication and contains the celebration and praise of your most noble name. For I did not run to this recommendation rashly, but was led to do so partly by the advice of friends and partly by a willing disposition toward you. The common cause that compelled me to bring these Commentaries to light was that I might both recall the memory of the deceased man and gratify the church of Christ and the pious who had desired to see these monuments for a long time. But in order that I might transmit the patronage of these Commentaries primarily to you, several causes exhorted me. Among these, the primary one is virtue and religion, which for many years has long been distinguished and observed in you, and has caused you, not only born of a most noble lineage, to claim ancestral and olden praises for yourselves, but also, being endowed with virtue, faith, and excellent religion, to attain the true honor and name of nobility. To glory in the nobility of birth, just as in any other honorable thing, is not indecorous: but true nobility is situated in the study and possession of virtue: whence the most excellent voice of Phalaris is cited not without reason, speaking thus:

Σημνύνεσθαι μὲν ὥσπερ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν καλῶν ἐπ’ εὐγενείᾳ, οὐκ ἀπεικός ἐστιν. ἐγὼ δ’ μίαν ἀρετὴν οἶδα, τὰ δ’ ἄλλα πάντα τύχην. καὶ γένοιτ’ ἂν, ὁ مὲν ἐκ φαύλων ἀγαθὸς, καὶ βασιλέων καὶ πάντων εὐγενέστατος, ὃς ἐξ ἀγαθῶν φαῦλος, αὐτὸς αὐτῷ καὶ τῇ ταπεινότατῳ δυσγενέστατος. ὥσε ψυχῆς ἔπαινον αὔχε, μὴ προγόνων τεθνηκότων εἰς ἀδοξοτέρους ἐυγενείαν, ὃ δὲ ἀρετῇ γεννηθεὶς ἐκεῖνος εὐγενὴς ἐκονίζεται. To be proud of nobility, just as one is of any other good thing, is not unreasonable. But I know only one virtue; all other things are fortune. And it can happen that he who is from the base becomes good, and the most noble of all kings; while he who is born of the good becomes base, and to himself and the most humble is the most ignoble. Therefore, boast of the praise of the soul, not of the nobility of dead ancestors among the more inglorious descendants; he who is begotten by virtue, that man is reckoned noble. that is
Noble