To the Most Reverend in Christ,

Father and Lord, John Bellay, Cardinal of the Title of Divine Cecilia, Most Eminent Bishop of Paris,

Guillaume Postel of Barenton

It seemed to me that Aristotle in his Ethics original: "τῇ ἠθικῶν δ'" spoke most excellently when he said that magnanimity is a kind of ornament of the other virtues original: "τὴν μεγαλοψυχίαν δι' κόσμον τινα εἶναι τῶν ἀρετῶν". He who is endowed with it cannot fail to have the other parts of duty in the most abundant measure. For this reason, the same author adds that it makes the virtues themselves greater, and without them, it does not come into being original: "μείζους γὰρ αὐτὰς τὰς ἀρετὰς ποιεῖ καὶ οὐ γίγνεται ἄνευ ἐκείνων". Therefore, he says, it is difficult in truth to be magnanimous; for this reason, in truth, it is arduous to exercise greatness of spirit. The scope and goal of all disciplines that treat morals seems to be the task of performing one's duty according to the prescription of reason. He seems to me to have attained that end who places the relief of the poverty of mortals through the aid of mortals among the foremost parts of all virtues, and teaches that, in the thing itself, liberality is the first of virtues. For this reason, Christian philosophers who have written most holily about morals have left no doubt that he who exercises charity (for our people call the same thing by names differing from the pagans) has enough of the others. And it has been rightly established as such. For since the intention of all our actions, after the observation of what is just and fair in human interaction, is to procure wealth for the use of our life, and since that is most difficult (although our parent Nature, as if by design, has brought us forth into this state naked and destitute of all things), in truth he is rightly esteemed as the greatest who desires to share the fruits of his labors with another. But why—