De dentium affectibus

A decorative initial letter V contains floral and vine motifs.

Very clear and illustrious things reveal themselves easily by their own splendor, and they insinuate themselves into the eyes of all, so that to hold a torch before them is nothing other than what is commonly said in the proverb: τῷ ἡλίῳ φῶς λαρέζειν to bring light to the sun. Meanwhile, on the contrary, those things that possess nothing of native light remain forever hidden in deep shadows, unless an alien light shines upon them. Therefore, pondering this in my mind, when I was about to publish in print the Theses proposed for disputation according to the custom of this famous school, being conscious of my own obscurity, I decided to set Your name, known everywhere by fate, at the head of them. This was done perhaps without Your will, yet, as I hope, not entirely against it. For I am led to persuade myself of this with certainty by many and undoubted testimonies of Your remarkable benevolence toward me: of which, to say how few things there are, it is better to be silent in this place.

But as for the matter of these conclusions themselves, although it may seem to some to have been taken from the common crowd