A Nuncupatory Colloquy. Interlocutors:

Bonus & Lacinius.

c

Bonus. It has been the custom, my Lacinius, for all those who have published or restored, purified, or enlarged something excellent and worthy of memory in the various studies of literature, to give it to the light for the common utility of students, so that it may be most excellently done for the uses of future men. Since you, therefore, have collected my labors together with those of good authors, and have enriched them: I pray, do not allow me to lie hidden forever under the dust, but make an effort so that I may go forth into the public eye, together with Arnaldus, Raymond, and others, through my own prayers and those of all my friends. So that it may now be manifest to all the learned what great light has been added to all authors of alchemy, and what splendor has accrued to them.

Lacinius. Although the ancients were of great authority and much doctrine, I confess, nevertheless, that there is nothing so ornate that it cannot be polished and nothing so full that it cannot receive increment. But because it has been demonstrated and preserved for us by most learned men that any argument should be rightly dedicated to Popes or princes, or offered primarily to him from whose kindness they hope for the most abundant reward of their labors or some relief for living their lives: choose whom you wish to whom I may offer you as a gift, or under whose name this work may be able to go forth safely.

Bonus. Some are accustomed to observe what you describe, thinking their works are held in the highest price if they have been dedicated to Popes or Kings. Some, however, fearing the insolent peevishness of certain people toward their newly born books—men who reject and despise them before they taste them,