"I chanced, many years ago, as I lived in the stupendous city of Venice, to converse frequently with the Signor Giovan Francesco Sagredo, a man of noble extraction and most acute intellect. There came thither from Florence, at the same time, Signor Filippo Salviati, whose least glory was the eminence of his blood and magnificence of his estate, a sublime intellect that knew no more exquisite pleasure than elevated speculations. In the company of these two I often discoursed of these matters before a certain Peripatetic philosopher, who seemed to have no greater obstacle in understanding the truth than the fame he had acquired by Aristotelian interpretations. Now, seeing that inexorable fate has deprived Venice and Florence of those two great lights in the early summer of their years, I did resolve... to perpetuate their lives to their honor in these leaves... Nor shall the honest Peripatetic want his place, to whom, for his excessive affection towards the commentaries of Simplicius, I thought fit, without mentioning his own name, to leave that of the author he so much respected. Let these two great souls, ever venerable to my heart, please to accept this public monument of my never dying love; and let the remembrance of their eloquence assist me in delivering to posterity the considerations that I have promised."