Text.Duclo.1590-01.A2r

From Theatrum Paracelsicum
Dedicatory Letter to Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers
Nevers, 1 April 1590

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Source: Gaston Duclo, Apologia argyropoeiae et chrysopoeiae, Nevers: Pierre Roussin, 1592, sig. A2r–B3v = pag. 3–14 [BP.Duclo.1590-01]

Summary: Duclo emphasizes the importance of obedience from the people to their Prince as the foundation of a stable and enduring society. He commends the Duke for his fervent defense of the Catholic faith, which has flourished throughout his province, and highlights the Duke's benevolence towards his people, particularly in Nevers. Duclo details the Duke's contributions, including appointing just magistrates, advocating for the relief of burdensome taxes, and curbing the excesses of soldiers, which have brought peace and prosperity to the region, contrasting sharply with the turmoil experienced elsewhere in France during these troubled times.
Duclo recounts the Duke's personal intervention after the death of King Henry IV of France, which brought stability and security back to the province, sparing it from the widespread violence and lawlessness that plagued other areas. He praises the Duke's paternal benevolence, reflected in various civic improvements and the promotion of education and the arts, such as the establishment of a Jesuit college and the exemption of the city from certain taxes, which has led to a thriving community of artisans and craftsmen. Duclo also mentions the Duke's efforts to make the city more attractive for building and habitation by addressing feudal burdens.
Despite these vast contributions, Duclo states that the Duke asks for nothing in return but the rightful obedience and unanimous support of his people. Duclo personally commits to fulfilling the Duke's commands and expresses his intention to dedicate his work on alchemy (Argyropoeia and Chrysopoeia) to the Duke, defending the validity of the art against critics like Thomas Erastus and emphasizing the pursuit of knowledge over material gain. (generated by ChatGPT)

Text

[p. 3] Illvstrissimo[c1] Principo Domino suo Ludouico Gonzaguæ Niuernensium & Rethelensium Duci Gaston Duclo subpræses particularis Niuernensis, Salutem & fœlicitatem peroptat.

Si quidquam est, Princeps illustrissime, quod ciuitatem semel rectè stabilitam ab euersione immunem conseruare & retinere possit, vnica sanè est obedientia à populo Principi, qui illis præest, præstanda. Ipsa est firmissimum & solidissimum fundamentum, quo superædificatæ ciuitates nusquam postea collapsuræ sunt. Hanc tibi obedientiam, Princeps illustrissime, cum ex præcepto vocis euangelicæ nos tibi subditi debeamus, eò magis debemus, quòd catholicæ fidei & religionis [p. 4] re ipsa sis & semper perseueraueris propugnator acerrimus. Hinc viget eadem fides & religio catholica in tota tua prouinica, nec quisquam est, qui se illius legibus submittere detrectet. Verùm alia etiam est causa obedientiæ tibi præstaudæ inuictissima, beneficia nimirum tua in gentem tuam Niuericam à te collata, Quæ tot & tanta fuere ab initio auspicatissimi & fœlicissimi tui aduentus in hunc vsque diem, vt eadem gens vitam tibi debere & fortunas suas omnes dououere, & velit nolit agnoscere cogatur. Tu vt verus pater patriæ ijs, quæ ad conseruandas huiusce tuæ prouinciæ familias pertinent, eminus semper prouidisti. Cum enim harum conseruandarum ratio partim consistat in constituendis magistratibus, qui iuri dicundo præsint, ipsumque æquabiliter vnicuique reddant, & sceleratos pœnis coerceant, partim in auertendis ijs, quæ maiore vi accidunt, Quis nescit, illustrissime Princeps, te in constituendis illis magistratibus solam probitatis, capacitatis & experientiæ eorum rationem habuisse? Non auro eos stabiliisse, ne venale ius redderent, non pre- [p. 5] cibus ne ijsdem iuri reddendo flecti possent, sed tua sponte, perspecta priùs, & plerumque à te ipso examinata eorumdem conscientia, doctrina & rerum experientia? Quòd ad graues tributorum exactiones & militum insolentes deprædationes attinet, quis etiam ignorat te consilio regum adscitum inopiam patriæ tuæ verè & constanter proposuisse, tuique gratia & fauore moderationem quandam tributorum subitos tuos consecutos fuisse? Lasciuiam autem & deprædationem militum, quibus nihil ægrè magis ferunt imbelles agricolæ & qui ruri habitant, authoritatem tuam & præsentiam, quoties adfuit, quantùm fieri potuit cohibuisse? Maxima hæc quidem sunt, Princeps illustrissime, beneficia tua erga populum tuum collata, quæ tamen conferenda non sunt cum his, quæ ab execranda, deploranda tamen nece regis, eidem populo à te collata sunt. Postquam enim ab exercitu, cui defendendæ catholicæ religionis causa in Aquitania præfectus eras, in aulam regiam euocatus rediisses, atque hinc in hanc tuam prouinciam te contulisses, quantam ex tui præsentia & authoritate vtilitatem [p. 6] patriæ tuæ omnes incolæ tibique subditi perceperint, toti Galliæ est notissimum. Cæterarum ferè prouinciarum omnes gentes hisce calamitosis & miserrimis temporibus assiduis militum incursionibus vexati, nec quid suum sit aliquid habere, iactitare possunt. Omnia & in vrbibus & ruri aguntur vi. Metus, pauor & diffidentia vbique singulis momentis omnium corda obsidet: in vrbibus præsidiorum vis legem dictitat ciuibus & magistratibus, quos olim eadem reformidabant: Perpetua dissidia, iurgia & bella intestina, impune scelerati deprædantur, in imnibus silet vox iudicis. His vrbibus qui præsunt & imperant, nihil ciuibus largiuntur, quin potiùs quod habent, auferunt. Hisce omnibus malis singularis tua prudentia nos liberauit Vnusquisque tam domi quam ruri tutò & nullo metu perterritus res suas satagit, omnia iure aguntur, nondum vox iudicis siluit. Quis autem audeat conqueri te quidquam à tibi subditis exegisse, quin potiùs profiteatur tuis sumptibus liberalitate tua omnium saluti consuluisse? Quibus sanè commodis & bonis nusquam potiti fuissemus, nisi confestim grauissi- [p. 7] mo dissentionum & opinionum morbo succurrisses, quibus non minùs gens tua affecta & penè obruta erat, quàm ceteræ prouinciæ: Neque tamen ferro aut militari manu, cum potuisses, remedium huic morbo adferre voluisti, sed quæ in cæteris Galliæ partibus pax & concordia, bellorum finis, multa cum internecione conquiri non potuit, eandem tua singulari prouidentia & admonitionibus inuictis & summa ratione fultis, hominibus tuis cum omnium salute attulisti. Fœlices nimium nos, si bona hæc omnia à tua paterna beneuolentia fluxisse agnouerimus, & accepta excellentiæ tuæ retulerimus, & sine quibus iam actum esset de nobis. Contra miserrimi & fœda ingratitudinis labe inquinati, si tantorum bonorum gratiarum actionem supplices non retulerimus, iussisque & mandatis tuis proni non paruerimus. Talpa etiam cæciores, si, quæ nobis mala impendebant, nisi ea tua excellentia auertisset, non perspexerimus, cum cœterarum regionum aut vrbium homines quotidie iter transigentes & huc appellentes agnoscant, qui se velut ex orco in elysium quoddam migrasse palam [p. 8] profitentur. Præter hæc memorata beneficia tua, Princeps illustrissime, quæ metropolis ciuitatis tuæ tibi subditis cum cæteris patriæ tuæ Niuernensis communia fuere, alia quoque beneuolentiæ & liberalitatis tuæ dona persenserunt. Primùm meditatus præclaras tum respublicas tum ciuitates florere celebrium virorum numero, qui & vitæ sanctimonia pollerent, & singulari doctrina conspicui essent, easque perpetuò conseruari non posse nisi per subrogationem, collegium Iesuistarum tuis sumptibus instituisti. Ex horum scholis iuuenes instructi plerique, iampridem doctrina præclari & conspicui emersere, & quotidie emergunt magnæ spei & expectationis adolescentes, qui rempublicam aliquando administraturi sunt. Farendum est enim ingenuè in erudienda iuuentute huiusce societatis homines antecessoribus nostris præfulsisse. Deinde, Princeps illustrissime, vt omni beneficiorum genere ciuibus tuis eandem paternam beneuolentiam tuam demonstrares, impetrasti à regibus anteactis immunitatem tributorum, quibus olim exonerata erat hæc [p. 9] tua ciuitas metropolis, eique te sponte delegasti, & quotannis eadem tributa tuis nummis ex proprio tuo ærario desumptus persoluisti, tuosque exoluendo liberos reddidisti. Sunt etiam ex genere eorum, quæ præclaras vrbes efficiunt, ingeniosi multarum artium artifices. Hinc vitrariæ, figulinæ & encausticæ artis artifices egregij iussu tuo accersiti & immunitate tributorum alliciti præstantia opera ciuibus tuis commoda, magisque exteris admiranda subministrant. Sed & nouissimis hisce diebus typographum & sculptores ingeniosos multis tuis sumptibus huc appellere iussisti. Sic viris conspicuis ciuitatem tuam ornatam, ædificiis quoque perpolitam esse voluisti, præsertim quòd & lignorum, lapidum calcis, & arenæ, quæ ad ea construenda sunt necessaria, multa esset copia. Verum obstabat nescio quoddam graue emphytheosis iugum, patrum nostrorum minùs quàm iure liceret ædificiis impositum. Hoc onere deterrebantur, qui proprietatem haberent ædificare, seu ne ob cessationem solutionis vectigalis per triennium in commissum caderent, vel [p. 10] ne ad hæredes, nisi vtrique socij essent, vrbana prædia transirent. Hac igitur in re etiam prouidisti: Et ne ampliùs hac occasione imposterum deterrerentur ab ædificando, apud consilium Regis impetrasti, vt edicto mutatum sit graue illud & velut tirannicum & barbarum vectigalis onus in aliud alterius speciei dominium mitius, scilicet census. Pro his omnibus, Princeps illustrissime, nihil à nobis exigis, quàm obedientiam tibi iure debitam, & vnanimem omnium consensum, quo te magis munitum quàm multis hominum milibus sæpe palam declarasti. Quantùm ad me attinet, Princeps Illustrissime, nolim omnium tuorum ciuium tibique subditorum postremus haberi, qui tuis iussis parere peroptem, non solùm quòd in vniuersum ex eorum sim numero, qui & iure diuino & naturali & ex liberalitate tua obstricti sunt, verum etiam quòd alia peculiaris sit causa, qua idem hoc debeam. Anno enim 1584. cum ego vnus ex decurionibus huiusce tuæ vrbis metropolis, Lutetiam[c2] me contulissem, & publicorum negotiorum rationem tibi red- [p. 11] didissem, tu me subpræsidis particularis officium gerere iussisti. Cum nihil[c3] minùs, quàm de hoc cogitarem, meque huic oneri subeunde imparem mihi conscius essem, meque immeritum agnoscerem, tu nihilominus sufficere me posse existimasti, & præstito iuramento hoc titulo me donasti. Scio, Princeps Illustrissime, pro tot & tantis tuis erga me beneficiis, nihil à me aliud præstari velle te, quàm vt hoc officio, vti virum decet probum, defungar, & quem iuri dicundo præesse voluisti, vnicuique sine iniuria ius reddam. Hæc, sinon vt debui, saltem vt potui, præstiti: Verùm an esset in me aliud, in quo parendi tibi desiderium meum magis demonstrare possem, cogitaui. Sanè ingenij mei vires adeo tenues & imbecillæ sunt, vt obsequio excellentiæ tuæ debito minùs respondere possint: At id nos velle oportet, quod possumus, non autem ex diuerso audere posse, quæcumque volumus. Existimaui igitur excellentiam tuam non omnino aspernaturam, si, quod de Argyropœia & Chrysopœia sentirem, nomini tuo dicarem, & in lucem proferrem. [p. 12] Non me latet artem hanc iampridem multis inuisam, & iisdem de ea disserentes, ridendi, atque imprimis Erasto medico germano, aduersus quem hanc artem tueor, multis argumentis probabilibus eam impetendi occasionem præbuisse. Sed si vera est ars, nihil est quòd inuisa aut irridenda sit. Si argumenta in contrarium adferantur aduersus Erastum probabiliora, & ipsa experientia comprobentur, nihil est quòd Apologiam hanc improbare possit Erastus. Nam ceu multa probabilis ratio vera esse persuadet, quæ falsa esse experientia ipsa coarguit, sic & ex aduerso multa impossibilia probabilis ratio suadet, quæ experientia ipsa vera esse comperiuntur. Finis rerum, aut Aristoteles, non cognitio, sed praxis. Equidem ignarus non sum institutum hoc meum professionis meæ metas transgredi,, mihique, quod vulgo solet, obiici posse. Ne sutor vltra crepidam. Verùm ita à natura comparatus sum, vt quæ abstrusa & à vulgi sensibus longè remota essent sedulo inuestigauerim. Nec propterea tamen quæ propriæ professionis essent partes & officia [p. 13] vsquam huc vsque deseruerim, aut deserturus sim. Quas horas plerique pilæ, chartis, & aliis ludorum generibus collocare solent, easdem in inquirendis naturæ arcanis collocaui. Solent etiam plerique propriis studiis alia alterius generis studia intermiscere. Sic ego iam ab ineunte adolescentia velut à natura impulsus, progrediente etiam ætate, cum per otium licuit, nunc autem non licet, si quid veri & sinceri hac arte præstari posset, inuestigaui: non comparandarum opum desiderio, quas sanctio Iustiniana sufficientes necessariis rebus exhibere solet, sed discendi. Sicut alimentum sumimùs vt viuamus, non autem viuimus, vt beluarum more saginemur, sic hæc ars non expetenda, vt ditiores efficiamur, sed vt ijs sine quibus multæ artes addisci nequeunt, non careamus. Quod si omnia quæ de hac arte tradita sunt, verissima non sint, saltem ea quæ experientia vera esse comperi, nemo nisi iniuria falsitatis coarguere poterit. Mihi sat erit, Princeps Illustrissime, qui de omnibus sapienter & grauiter iudicare soles, si hæc Apologia nomini tuo dicata, authorita- [p. 14] te tua in lucem prodibit. Ipsa enim sola se tueri non poterit. Illam igitur auspicio excellentiæ tuæ, dum à grauioribus studiis respiro, in vulgus emitto. Nec dedignabitur excellentia tua, si illi placitum sit, ab humilissimo seruo tuo, quod parendi tibi gratia offertur, recusare. Deum optimum maximum supplex oro, Princeps Illustrissime, & mi Domine, vt te incolumen seruet, vitamque tuam in longos & fœlices annos protrahat, mihique gratiam hanc largiatur, vt quot vitæ meæ supersunt dies, iussis tuis capescendis & exequendis eos impendere possim. Ex tua metropoli vrbe Niuernensi Calendis Aprilis. 1590.

Apparatus

Corrections

  1. ↑ Illustrissimo] corrected from: Illuttrissimo
  2. ↑ Lutetiam] corrected from: Lutetiam,
  3. ↑ Cum nihil] corrected from: Cum

Modern English Raw Translation

Generated by ChatGPT on 26 February 2024. Attention: This translation is a machine translation by artificial intelligence. The translation has not been checked and should not be cited without additional human verification.
To the Most Illustrious Prince, His Lord, Louis de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers and Rethel, Gaston Duclo, the deputy governor of Nevers, wishes health and great happiness. If there is anything, most illustrious Prince, that can preserve and maintain a city once well-established from downfall, it is indeed the obedience that the people owe to the Prince who rules over them. This is the strongest and most solid foundation upon which cities built will never collapse. This obedience, most illustrious Prince, which we, as your subjects, owe to you not only by the command of the Gospel but even more so because you are and have always been a fervent defender of the Catholic faith and religion. Hence, the same faith and Catholic religion flourish throughout your province, and there is no one who refuses to submit to its laws. But there is another invincible reason for obedience to you, namely your benefits to your people of Nevers, which from the beginning of your most auspicious and fortunate arrival to this very day have been so numerous and great that the same people must acknowledge they owe their lives and all their fortunes to you, whether they wish to or not. As the true father of the country, you have always provided from afar for what pertains to the preservation of the families of your province. Part of preserving them lies in appointing magistrates who preside over justice and administer it equally to everyone and punish the wicked; part lies in averting those things that happen with greater force. Who does not know, most illustrious Prince, that in appointing those magistrates you considered only their integrity, capacity, and experience? You did not establish them with gold, so they would not render justice for sale, not with bribes so they could be swayed in rendering justice, but on your own initiative, having first observed and often personally examined their conscience, knowledge, and experience in affairs. As for the heavy exactions of taxes and the insolent plundering by soldiers, who is unaware that, having been included in the counsel of kings, you truly and steadfastly presented the poverty of your country, and thanks to your grace and favor, your people obtained some moderation in the sudden taxes? And the lasciviousness and plundering by soldiers, which the defenseless farmers and those living in the countryside bear most grievously, your authority and presence, as often as it was possible, restrained as much as possible? These indeed are great benefits, most illustrious Prince, that you have conferred upon your people, which, however, cannot be compared with those conferred on the same people by you after the execrable, albeit lamentable, death of the king. For after you had been called back from the army, which you had been appointed to defend the Catholic religion in Aquitaine, to the royal court, and hence had moved to your province, how much benefit all the inhabitants of your country and your subjects perceived from your presence and authority, is very well known to all of France. Nearly all the people of the other provinces in these calamitous and most miserable times are harassed by constant incursions of soldiers and cannot claim anything as their own. Everything, both in cities and in the countryside, is done by force. Fear, panic, and distrust besiege everyone's hearts at every moment: in cities, the force of garrisons dictates the law to citizens and magistrates, whom the same once feared: Perpetual discord, quarrels, and civil wars, the wicked plunder with impunity, in everything the voice of the judge is silent. Those who preside over and command these cities grant nothing to the citizens, but rather take away what they have. Your singular prudence has freed us from all these evils. Everyone, both at home and in the countryside, goes about their business safely and without fear, everything is done by law, the voice of the judge has not yet fallen silent. But who would dare to complain that you have demanded anything from your subjects, rather than profess that at your own expense and by your generosity you have provided for the safety of all? We would never have enjoyed these benefits and goods if you had not immediately attended to the most serious disease of dissensions and opinions, by which your people were affected and almost overwhelmed, no less than the other provinces: Nor yet did you wish to bring a remedy to this disease with the sword or military force, though you could have, but what in other parts of France could not be obtained with peace and concord, the end of wars, with much slaughter, the same your singular prudence and invincible admonitions and supported by the highest reason, you brought to your people with the safety of all. We would be too fortunate if we recognized that all these goods flowed from your paternal benevolence and returned thanks to your excellence, without which we would now be done for. On the contrary, we would be most miserable and stained with the foul stain of ingratitude, if we did not return grateful thanks for so many goods, and did not readily obey your commands and orders. Even more blind than moles, if we did not perceive the evils that were impending over us, unless your excellence had averted them, when the people of other regions or cities, passing through daily and calling here, acknowledge, who openly profess to have migrated as it were from hell into some Elysium. Besides these benefits mentioned, most illustrious Prince, which were common to your subjects of your metropolis city with the others of your country of Nevers, they also perceived other gifts of your benevolence and liberality. First, considering that both republics and cities flourish by the number of illustrious men, who excel both in the sanctity of life and in singular learning, and that they cannot be perpetually preserved except by succession, you established at your own expense the college of Jesuits. From their schools, many young men instructed have long since emerged prominent and conspicuous in learning, and daily young men of great hope and expectation emerge, who will someday govern the republic. It must be candidly admitted that the men of this society have surpassed our predecessors in the education of youth. Then, most illustrious Prince, to demonstrate the same paternal benevolence to your citizens in every kind of benefit, you obtained from former kings immunity from taxes, by which this your metropolis city was formerly unburdened, and you voluntarily took it upon yourself, and annually you paid the same taxes out of your own treasury at your own expense, and by paying them off made your people free. There are also among those things that make illustrious cities, ingenious craftsmen of many arts. Hence, glassmakers, potters, and craftsmen of the encaustic art, outstanding by your command, summoned and enticed by immunity from taxes, provide your citizens with excellent works, convenient and more admirable to foreigners. But in these last days, you have also ordered a printer and ingenious engravers to be called here at great expense to you. Thus, you wanted your city to be adorned with illustrious men and also polished with buildings, especially since there was an abundance of wood, stone, lime, and sand, which are necessary for their construction. But some heavy feudal yoke, less than rightfully imposed on our fathers' buildings, stood in the way. This burden deterred those who had property from building, either lest by ceasing to pay the tax for three years they should fall into committal, or lest urban estates should pass to heirs unless both were partners. Therefore, you also provided in this matter: And lest in the future they be deterred from building by this occasion, you obtained from the King's council that by edict that heavy and as it were tyrannical and barbarous tax burden be changed into another kind of milder dominion, namely a census. For all these things, most illustrious Prince, you demand nothing from us, but the obedience due to you by right, and the unanimous consent of all, by which you have often publicly declared yourself to be more fortified than by many thousands of men. As far as I am concerned, most Illustrious Prince, I would not wish to be considered the last of all your citizens and subjects who desire to obey your commands, not only because I am generally one of those who are bound both by divine and natural law and by your liberality, but also because there is another special reason why I owe the same. For in the year 1584, when I, one of the decurions of this your metropolis city, had gone to Paris, and had rendered an account of public affairs to you, you ordered me to carry out the office of deputy governor. When I was thinking least of all about this and was conscious of being unequal to the burden and recognized myself as unworthy, you nevertheless thought I could suffice, and after taking an oath, you conferred this title on me. I know, most Illustrious Prince, that for so many and such great benefits of yours towards me, you want nothing else from me than that I perform this office as befits an upright man, and render justice to everyone without injury, whom you wanted to preside over the rendering of justice. These, if not as I ought, at least as I could, I have provided: But whether there was something else in which I could demonstrate my desire to obey you more, I considered. Indeed, the forces of my mind are so weak and feeble that they can less respond to the duty owed to your excellence: But we must want what we can, not dare to be able to do whatever we want. I thought therefore that your excellence would not altogether disdain if, what I thought about Argyropoeia and Chrysopoeia, I dedicated to your name, and brought to light. I am not unaware that this art has long been hateful to many, and the same discussing it, to be laughed at, and especially by the German doctor Erastus, against whom I defend this art, many probable arguments have given occasion to attack it. But if the art is true, there is no reason it should be hateful or laughable. If more probable arguments are brought against Erastus, and they are confirmed by experience itself, there is no reason why Erastus can disapprove of this Apology. For as many a probable reason persuades us that things are true, which experience itself proves to be false, so also on the contrary many a probable reason persuades us that things are impossible, which experience itself finds to be true. The end of things, or Aristotle, is not knowledge, but practice. Indeed, I am not unaware that this my undertaking transcends the bounds of my profession, and that, as is commonly the case, it could be objected to me. Let the cobbler not go beyond his last. But I am so constituted by nature that I have diligently investigated things that are abstruse and far removed from the senses of the common people. Nor have I ever thus far neglected or will neglect the parts and duties proper to my profession. The hours that most people usually spend on ball games, cards, and other kinds of games, I have spent the same in investigating the secrets of nature. Most people also intermix other kinds of studies with their own studies. Thus I, as if driven by nature from early youth, and also as age progressed, when leisure allowed, now it does not allow, investigated whether anything true and sincere could be accomplished by this art: not with the desire of acquiring wealth, which the Justinian law usually provides sufficient for necessary things, but for learning. Just as we take food to live, not however live to fatten like beasts, so this art is not to be sought in order to become richer, but so that we are not without those things without which many arts cannot be learned. But if not all the things handed down about this art are most true, at least those things which I have found to be true by experience, no one can rightly accuse of falsehood. It will be enough for me, most Illustrious Prince, who usually judges wisely and gravely about all things, if this Apology dedicated to your name, will come to light by your authority. For it alone will not be able to defend itself. Therefore, under the auspices of your excellence, I send it forth to the public, while I take a break from more serious studies. Nor will your excellence disdain, if it pleases you, to refuse what is offered by your most humble servant for the sake of obeying you. I beseech God, the best and greatest, most illustrious Prince, and my Lord, to keep you safe and extend your life into long and happy years, and grant me this favor, that I may spend whatever days of my life remain in carrying out and executing your commands. From your metropolis city of Nevers, on the Kalends of April, 1590.
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