Georgii Agricolae medici Bermannus, sive de re metallica

Since this is so, I believe we must take care from now on that we do not fall into the same crime among our descendants that we object to in those people. Neither talent nor the very rich fruits of talents have been or are lacking in our century. It happens, however, mostly that learned men do not publish the monuments of their own talent, moved partly by modesty, which is wont to be present in liberal minds, and partly by fear, as they clearly understand with how much danger one provokes the judgments of the whole world upon oneself. But if this, whether it be shame or fear, is the cause, since it proceeds from an honest source, as it must be tolerated in them in some way, so I think each of us must ensure, if any of their work happens to come into our hands, that by which public studies might be helped, that we do not seem to have envied the comforts of the human race rather than having consulted the reputation of such men, which among fair readers will be safe enough. When, therefore, I visited Georgius Agricola, the physician, a man most learned in both languages Latin and Greek beyond his other erudition, familiarly and almost daily, and became acquainted with the man's even more secret studies, there happened to come into my hands among other things...