De politia judaica, tam civili quam ecclesiastica, jam inde a suis primordiis, hoc est ab orbe condito, repetita

A decorative headpiece featuring floral scrolls and a central urn or vessel motif.

TO THEODORE BEZA,
Most Illustrious Man, and most faithful pastor
and doctor of the Genevan Church,

Bonaventure Corneille Bertram, Greetings.

A decorative drop cap 'T' featuring floral and scrollwork patterns.Thirteen years have passed, Most Illustrious Man, since Franciscus Rhoaldus, a Jurisconsult most learned in Roman Laws and all of Antiquity, urged me at Cadurcus to labor on the discussion of the Jewish Polity and its double jurisdiction. Yet, at that time, so little was available on that subject that I had to resort to excuses. I pretended, namely, that because I had devoted myself to the study of law at Toulouse for six years, I had rather cast aside than interrupted my studies of the Sacred Scriptures and the Hebrew language, upon which the explanation of this question depended. It also seemed to me that the magnitude and difficulty of that argument were so great and so insolent that I thought it should be left to men trained in Theology and the history of foreign nations. And he, even then, acknowledged this such that he easily accepted my excuses. Therefore, while both of us waited for someone to arise who might treat these matters—