The Oracles of Leo the Wise

This book, in order that I might declare my loyalty and perpetual respect toward you, I dedicate to your Highness; and I most vehemently ask you, again and again, that you do not despise this modest giftmunusculum A common humanist modesty trope where an author refers to their scholarly work as a "trifle" or "little gift." of your Barozzi, but that you do not disdain to protect and preserve it along with its giver. For it is a work to be embraced with all zeal by your Excellencyamplitudine, partly because of its antiquity (if no small nobility is acquired for any thing from its antiquity), partly because of the gravity and wisdom of the author, and finally because of the supreme learning, truth, timeliness, and curiosity of the matters contained within it. And along with those other countless and most beautiful coins, marble statues, and memorable monuments of the ancients, which your Excellency is about to bring from this Kingdom of JoveIouis regno original: "Iouis regno". A poetic and humanist reference to the island of Crete, the mythological birthplace of Jupiter (Jove), where Foscarini was serving as a high-ranking official for the Venetian Republic and where Barozzi was resident. into the illustrious City of the Venetians, I judge that this one especially outstanding and famous work—which has been longed for by everyone for so many years—should be brought back with you like a most precious gem.

Farewell.