DEDICATORY EPISTLE.

...it is noted: In History, all the causes of events—whether resulting from chance, wisdom, or rashness—are wisely integrated; and not only the deeds of the men themselves are described, but also those who excel in fame and name, and the lives and natures of many are abundantly portrayed. Finally, the rewards and punishments of their actions are set before the eyes so clearly that History is most rightly called a "Speaking Picture," and by contrast, a Picture is called "Silent History." original: "Historia Pictura loquens, & contra Pictura Historia tacens"; a famous aphorism often attributed to the Greek poet Simonides of Ceos, emphasizing that history provides the narrative detail that a painting can only suggest.

For this reason, Valentin Rotmar Valentin Rotmar (died 1580) was a professor of humanities at Ingolstadt and the original compiler of these university records., for whose soul I wish well, a man of profound learning in every respect, having succinctly written the Annals of the Academy of Ingolstadt not long before he departed from this human life, wisely judged that he would perform a worthwhile service if he did not merely recount, simply and briefly, the names of those who have thus far brought renown to our school, but rather if he also set forth their virtues and honors more extensively. For the Academy of Ingolstadt is—as much as any other in the common Fatherland of our Germany—a most noble and famous home of the highest disciplines for over a hundred years, in which the most upright studies and liberal arts have always prospered and flourished, and where men most distinguished in every virtue and abundant learning have lived.

Indeed, having been guided by such exquisite Teachers, there have emerged from this Academy—as if from the Trojan horse A classical metaphor for a source from which a great number of heroes or significant figures emerge.—Princely men and many ornaments and supports of the Christian Commonwealth Christianæ Reipub.: The collective political and social body of Christian Europe, and they continue to emerge even now. Truly, so that the illustrious names of such great men might not only be commended to immortality, but also that studious youth might be more and more inflamed by these examples of virtue and learning, the good Rotmar wished to fruitfully serve the Republic of Letters literatæ Reipub.: The international community of scholars, scientists, and intellectuals with these labors he had begun. However, what I myself have provided in accurately and faithfully completing this first volume of the Nursing Mother Almæ: From "Alma Mater," meaning "nourishing mother," a traditional title for a university Academy of Ingolstadt after the untimely death of Rotmar, the kind reader will understand more fully and clearly from the second Preface.

And yet, Most Illustrious Prince, since a most worthy Patron Mæcenate: A "Maecenas," referring to Gaius Maecenas, the Roman patron of Virgil and Horace; here it means a generous supporter of scholarship had to be diligently sought out, under whose name and protection this work might be brought to light, surely no one else could be thought of—either by me or by Rotmar while he was still alive—who could claim our works by a greater right than Your Most Illustrious...