DEDICATION.

...and showing all the world that there is nothing so strong that it does not yield to Your Highness’s efforts. I will perhaps be reproached, then, that my fortifications on paper will be held in no esteem by a Spirit raised so far above the rest of men—one who is not accustomed to seeing any fortress or "impregnable" place except to show that it is not invincible, but rather to demonstrate the contrary in a few short days and to humble such glorious pride. I must indeed confess that I have no answer to such an objection. However, I recall that the invincible King of animals The lion, a symbol of both royalty and the House of Nassau., while showing his rigor to all who oppose his powerful effort, shows himself otherwise gentle and gracious to all that bows before his feet. We have seen enough that nothing could resist Your Highness, but rather that everything which opposed you was broken like glass; it is in this way that we see your brilliance spread throughout the world. But also, those who submit to you, and those who show you obedience, are always treated with a gracious kindness.

And notably, Your Highness has always been seen to honor great minds; which allows us to recognize a sovereign Prudence married to an invincible Courage in the Greatness of Your Person. For these glorious feats of arms cannot be better immortalized than by learned men, who will provide the account for posterity for all ages to come. Not that I wish, nor am I able, to place myself among the number of these great minds, but I have only tried to do my best so as not to appear entirely ignorant; and I present here, to Your Highness, a small treatise which begins where the masters of fortification have left off. But whatever this work may be, if it is well received by Your Highness, I do not doubt that it will acquire an eternal reputation. This is why I cast myself at the feet of Your Highness, most humbly begging you to hold this small work in your favor; and believe that if everything found within is not worthy of Your gracious eye, at least the unbearable labor which I have undertaken for a full five-year period original: "lustre." A lustrum was a Roman unit of time lasting five years. will touch the heart of Your Greatness and give some hope of patronage to its author, who desires nothing with more passion than to have the happiness of being, all his life,