The Preface.
Indeed this was a ſtrange courſe of Theirs, and much different from that of Triſmegiſtus, in whoſe genuine works there ts not one Barbarous ſyllable, nor any point aſſerted, without moſt pregnant and Demonſtrative Reaſons. Certainly Hermes as to his courſe of life was public and princely, in his Doctrine clear and Rational, and hence it was that not onely his own times, but even all ſubſequent Generations were moſt conſtant Tributaries to his Honour. On the contrary (if we may conjecture by Effects) there ſucceeded him in his School certain Melancholy envious Spirits, whoſe obſcure inſcrutable writings render’d their Authors Contemptible, but made way for that new noyſe of Ariſtotle, which men call Philoſophie. I may ſay then of theſe later Magicians what Solinus ſometimes ſaid of thoſe contentious ſucceſſors of Alexander the Great: That they were born, Ad ſegetem Romanæ gloriæ, non ad Hæreditatem tanti Nominis.
It is equally true, That ſome skulking Philoſophers whiles they enviouſly ſuppreſt the Truth, did occaſionally promote
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