A horizontal ornamental headpiece featuring a repeating pattern of scrolls and foliage.

JULIUS CAESAR VANINI

VINDICATED

FROM ATHEISM.

Pliny, Natural History*, book 1.

I am undertaking a vast work, not because of the bulk of the task, but because of the dignity of the subject matter and the devotion to hidden truth.

It is a difficult thing to give novelty to old things, authority to new ones, luster to the obsolete, light to the obscure, favor to the rejected, and credit to the doubtful. *

The reputation and fame of Vanini, an Italian Philosopher, has suffered for nearly a hundred years, branded with the stain of a wicked crime. It would continue to suffer, I believe, among future generations, had I not dared to defend it and free it from infamy at your command. Receive now the reasons for this plan with your usual tranquility of mind.